Student loan debt piles up to $1.16 trillion:
NY Fed - (www.cnbc.com) Even with an improved job market, those student
loans are getting harder to keep up with. While households are generally doing
a better job making payments on their mortgages and credit cards, the
delinquency rates on student loans worsened in the last three months of 2014,
according a new report from the New York Federal Reserve. "Although we've
seen an overall improvement in delinquency rates since the Great Recession, the
increasing trend in student loan balances and delinquencies is
concerning," said New York Fed researcher Donghoon Lee in a statement.
"Student loan delinquencies and repayment problems appear to be reducing
borrowers' ability to form their own households." Overall, household debt
levels rose one percent—to $11.8 trillion—in the fourth quarter of 2014, after
a steady decline in loan balances following the Great Recession reversed course
in the fourth quarter of 2013. Outstanding balances were up for mortgages ($39
billion), student loans ($31 billion), car loan ($21 billion) and credit card
debt ($20 billion).
[Bloomberg] Libya’s
Chaos Puts Neighbors on Alert as Italy Weighs Action - (www.bloomberg.com) The
beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians by Islamic State’s affiliate in Libya is
giving impetus to calls for broader military action against Islamist militants
in the oil-rich country. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, whose air
force bombed Islamic State targets in Libya on Monday, said his country will
ask the United Nations Security Council to authorize intervention in the North
African nation. Italy, Libya’s former colonial ruler, said it would consider
sending a force under a UN mandate. The Egyptian military also deployed
soldiers at home to “secure vital institutions and installations,” it said in a
statement. Tunisia, Libya’s western neighbor, said helicopters and fighter jets
were conducting reconnaissance missions to monitor the border. More than three
years after NATO-led airstrikes helped Libyan rebels end Muammar al-Qaddafi’s
four decades of autocratic rule, the crisis in the holder of Africa’s largest
oil reserves is posing a threat to its neighbors as well as European interests.
Italian oil company Eni SpA is Libya’s biggest foreign oil producer.
The
North Sea oil industry needs tax cuts for Scotland's sake - (www.businessinsider.com) North Sea oil companies are running out of
time. That's according to Scotland's first minister Nicola Sturgeon,
other politicians,
oil industry groups, and companies. Already, BP and a range of other energy giants cut jobs and investment in the sector as
oil prices still remain starkly lower than the triple digit highs of June 2014.
So, despite the Scottish National Party's (SNP) line that any talk about
dwindling North Sea reserves was "scaremongering," Sturgeon begged Britain for tax breaks. "I
believe that North Sea oil is a fantastic asset for Scotland and will continue
to be so for decades to come," said Sturgeon in a press statement.
Turkey
Central Bank Head Faces 2 Years In Jail For Not Lowering Interest Rates - (www.zerohedge.com) Having questioned the need for an independent central bank a
week ago, saying
that if they can’t cope with their duties, they will be held accountable, Turkey's
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has filed a lawsuit against the head of Turkey’s
central bank, Erdem Basci. As Trend
reports, the
prosecutor accuses Basci of serious material damage inflicted to Turkey’s
citizens as a result of an erroneous interest rate policy of the central bank. As Trend
reports,
A prosecutor of a court in Ankara, Serif Aydin, filed a lawsuit against the
head of Turkey’s central bank, Erdem Basci. Turkish news channel Haber7
reported that the prosecutor accuses Basci of serious material damage
inflicted to Turkey’s citizens as a result of an erroneous interest rate policy
of the central bank. The prosecutor said that, in case of a trial, the
Turkish central bank’s head can be imprisoned for up to two years. On Feb. 10,
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized Basci’s work, saying that if
the central bank’s head can’t cope with his duties, he will be held
accountable.
Greek
Banks Need More Emergency Funds as Deposits Drop - (www.bloomberg.com) Greek
lenders are urging central bank Governor Yannis Stournaras to seek additional
emergency cash as deposit outflows accelerate, according to three people
familiar with the situation. Deposit withdrawals picked up after talks between
Greece and its euro-area creditors on extending its bailout ended in acrimony
in Brussels Monday night, said the people, who asked not to be identified
because the information is private. Stournaras meets European Central Bank
Governing Council colleagues in Frankfurt tomorrow as Greek banks exhaust their
current allocation of emergency funds, the three people said. The lenders,
unable to tap investors for funds, are bleeding deposits amid uncertainty over
their country’s future in the euro area and concern capital controls might be
used to stem outflows. Banks are being kept afloat through the Emergency
Liquidity Assistance lifeline extended by the Bank of Greece, subject to
approval by the ECB. The ELA pool, which currently stands at 65 billion euros
($74 billion), is extended to solvent lenders as a temporary measure to cover
liquidity shortages.
EU
hangs tough, waiting for Greece to bend as euro wilts - (www.reuters.com)
Greece’s Bonds Decline for a Second Day After Debt Talks Halt - (www.bloomberg.com)
Greek Banks Fall on Concern of Capital Controls as Aid Talks End - (www.bloomberg.com)
Greece’s Bonds Decline for a Second Day After Debt Talks Halt - (www.bloomberg.com)
Greek Banks Fall on Concern of Capital Controls as Aid Talks End - (www.bloomberg.com)
Greek Euro Exit Risk Increases as EU Delivers Ultimatum on Aid - (www.bloomberg.com)
Greek Finance Minister Varoufakis: 'Austerity Has Done Nothing to Solve Greece's Problems' - (www.spiegel.de)
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