Paris economic crisis summit

According to Bloomberg there is little agreement on anything amongst those gathering in Paris, read the full article here and weep - it begins: Oct. 4 (Bloomberg) -- As European leaders convene today on the global financial crisis, they have so far agreed on only one thing: Europe likely won't emulate the response of the U.S., where Congress gave final approval to a $700 billion rescue yesterday........ The real world is better reflected in two items I have picked almost at random from other normal Saturday reading: The Economist, 'World on the edge' linked here: By some measures, many European banks look more vulnerable than their American counterparts do—and that is saying quite something, given the past week’s forced sale of Washington Mutual, America’s biggest thrift, and Wachovia, its fourth-biggest commercial bank. In America, outside Wall Street, the banks have lent 96 cents for each $1 of deposits. Continental European banks have lent roughly €1.40 for each €1 of deposits. They have to borrow the rest from money-market investors, who are not especially confident just now. Some Europeans, including the British, Irish and Spanish banks, have housing busts of their own. And they must contend with the toxic American securities they bought by the billion, as well as their own slowing economies. The Buy to Let Market is in serious danger according to a report in Financial Advice, linked here: Saturday 4th October 2008 While the fall and fall of the Bradford and Bingley is a true reflection of troubles in the buy to let market it seems as though the situation has got much worse over the last couple of days. Buy to let products on the market had fallen from the heady heights of 3,662 at the peak of the market to just 456 in July but had recently shown improvement to 700 last week. However, concerns that money markets were again about to freeze over has seen 80% of the buy to let offers on the market pulled over the last few days. This has come at a time when those offers left on the market have seen headlines rates jump by almost one percentage point in some cases. In affect landlords are being robbed of the chance to remortgage their properties or indeed expand their portfolios in these troubled times. When you also add in the inevitable increase in rental defaults it seems as though the ill wind of change is blowing through the market. After a decade of huge growth it seems as though the buy to let market is most definitely holed below the water line and in serious trouble. Could this be the next sector to collapse? Everywhere it seems, people are about to feel the squeeze, inaction at the Paruis summit this weekend or EU business as usual is unacceptable.