Uber Ways: Beer is still Cheap in China - Froth Indicator Included

by Fern Phan

MWF (Friday) Links:

With commodities prices around the globe rising at a quick pace, it's nice to know that beer is still cheap in China. (Economist) If beer were a commodity...stats from the Economist article pulled from (pintprice.)

Also, Shiller's home pricing index going over the past century shows that US housing price drops currently (at close to 18%) exceeds the housing price drop at the height of the depression at 10.5%.  (Economist)

"[Contrary view] to Michael Masters' testimony regarding the role of speculation in commodity prices has drawn a lot of comment since last week. [See, for example, Cassandra, James Hamilton, Tim Iacono, John Mauldin,Michael Shedlock, Yves Smith.] According to Masters', portfolio investors' increasing participation in commodities via futures markets has been driving a speculative price boom, over a period of years." (Interfluidity)

Current crisis will be much bigger than the S&L crisis.  Bank failures to surge in coming years IndyMac, Corus, UCBH under pressure as credit crunch slows economy.  (MarketWatch)

Oil price-fix probe widens.  Legendary hedge-fund chief George Soros and Chicago Mercantile Exchange executive are among those slated to testify next week in Congress. (MarketWatch)

"VIA Nano processor announced, prepare ultraportable at ludicrous speed.  Imagine an Asus Eee PC... something of that size running Photoshop without a hiccup...playing Blu-ray movies without a snag...running Crysis at a frame rate that's actually playable."  Hot. (Wired)

"New era of higher food prices.  Agricultural commodity prices should ease from their recent record peaks but over the next 10 years they are expected to average well above their mean levels of the past decade, according to the latest Agricultural Outlook from OECD and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)." ( FAO)

"Cliff dive? UK edition. Remember this gradient? We may be headed for a home-grown variant.  Nationwide’s latest house price data revealed the largest monthly drop in the survey’s 17-year history, and marked the seventh successive monthly fall in house prices." (FT)