The London Stock Exchange has fired a broadside in the battle for domination in European shares trading, as it prepares to launch an electronic trading platform with Lehman Brothers which will go head-to-head …

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“In an interesting twist to the massive wave of foreclosures in residential mortgages, a Condo Association Seeks Foreclosure On Wells Fargo.”

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Barclays Capital has advised clients to batten down the hatches for a worldwide financial storm, warning that the US Federal Reserve has allowed the inflation genie out of the bottle and let its credibility fall “below zero”. … Barclays Capital said in its closely-watched Global Outlook that US headline inflation would hit 5.5pc by August and the Fed will have to raise interest rates six times by the end of next year to prevent a wage-spiral. If it hesitates, the bond markets will take matters into their own hands. “This is the first test for central banks in 30 years and they have fluffed it. They have zero credibility, and the Fed is negative if that’s possible. It has lost all credibility,” said Mr Bond. … Traders said the Fed seemed to be rowing back from rate rises. The effect was to propel oil to $138 a barrel, confirming its role as a sort of “anti-dollar” and as a market reproach to Washington’s easy-money policies. The Fed’s stimulus is being transmitted to the 45-odd countries linked to the dollar around world. The result is surging commodity prices. Global inflation has jumped from 3.2pc to 5pc over the last year. … David Woo, the bank’s currency chief, said the Fed’s policy of benign neglect towards the dollar had been stymied by oil, which is now eating deep into the country’s standard of living. “The world has changed all of a sudden. The market is going to push the Fed into a tightening stance,” he said. … Rob McAdie, Barclays’ credit strategist, said: “The core issues have not been addressed. We’re still in a very large deleveraging cycle and we’re seeing losses continue to mount. We think smaller banks will struggle to raise capital. We’re very bearish - in the long-term - on high-yield debt. The default rate will reach 8pc to 9pc next year.” He said investors had taken their eye off the slow-motion disaster engulfing the US bond insurers or “monolines”. Together these firms guarantee $170bn of structured credit and $1,000bn of US municipal bonds. Is it just coincidence that the very areas the Fed has removed from its beloved “core” inflation metrics are precisely where inflation is raging the most out of control? Probably not. Oil and foreign currencies. How long can the Fed pretend its easy-money actions are not having severe deleterious effects? So far they’ve quietly sat back and let congress and the media blame “crude speculators” for the problems. But what happens as dollar pegs get dropped and more oil is left in the ground by producers? Then the Fed will have truly lost its chance — and lost control.

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Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. could report $5.43 billion in writedowns in the second quarter, according to a June 27 report from Lehman Brothers analyst Roger Freeman.

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“A group of highly respected, universally loved, financial experts gathered early today in a secret meeting to discuss what can be done to reassure overly nervous investors.”

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This just in, and confirmed by the Allegheny Times: “… just finished the court hearing against Joey and Frank. They were found guilty and are going to jail. They left the courtroom in tears and handcuffs. Make sure…”

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“The difference between yields on the Bloomberg index for Fannie Mae’s current-coupon, 30-year fixed-rate mortgage bonds and 10-year government notes widened 2 basis points, to 191 basis points. The spread has climbed 16 basis points since June 18.”

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“Schumer presses regulators for action to avoid disaster from IndyMac; stock plunges”

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Ever wondered what credit card companies spend their billions on? During the first quarter of this year, Visa and Mastercard spent $860,000 and $720,000 respectively fighting against rules proposed…

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Faced with a potential cash shortage, General Motors crashed yesterday to close at its lowest price since the dark days of 1974.

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