While I have been taking a break from posting, the world has been ending. There is nothing really new in that so I don’t know if I should make a point of recapping what these pages have missed. But just in case you are interested….

Macro Man says “Bloody Hell…..”

That is generally how a lot of people reacted to this week. It was the TIC data for august that had Macro Man all excited but most of the excitement has been centering on the structured investment vehicles of this world (other wise known as SIV’s). All anyone really knows for sure is that something is really wrong with the SIV’s of the world.

We know this because the Treasury department and Citigroup (the largest bank in US) have been banging heads together to try to create one big bail out fund. Seeing as how Citigrou’s own personal pet SIV demons have it on the hook for about 100 billion, the suspicion is that this is a plot to bail out Citigroup. But seeing as how even SIV’s that are not associated with Citigroup are starting to go bankrupt, I think that it is safe to say that this problem is broader then just Citigroup.

In other news, oil has almost managed to break $90 a barrel.