Today's Econ Round-up

The big news of the day was the rise in foreclosures:

This week the stock market seems a little more stable, and the fed has injected more liquidity in the markets. But don’t be confused. Things are bad and could get much, much worse.

The top-line story is that July foreclosures are 9% above June.

And,

During the month of July there were a total of 179,599 foreclosure filings. That works out to be a 93.4% jump from the same month last year when there were 92,845 filings. Definitely not a pretty picture.

Mortgage lender Mangus files for bankruptcy protection...

The financial job sector continues to get the axe:

The industry has announced 87,962 job cuts so far this year, 75 percent more than the 50,327 recorded for all of 2006, Challenger said. Nearly one-fourth of this year's cuts have been announced in August alone.

Of this year's cuts, 35,830, or 41 percent, were tied to housing market troubles, including riskier subprime mortgages. Job cuts by real estate and construction firms totaled 21,620, more than twice the number for all of 2006, Challenger said.

Bankruptcies are also up in the 2Q:

The slowing economy is taking a toll on more companies. Business bankruptcy filings hit 6,705 in the second quarter, up 7% from the first quarter and 28% from the second quarter of 2006, the credit insurance firm Euler Hermes ACI notes today.

Here's an IMF working paper on the subprime crisis...

Treasury Secretary Paulson says there will be no quick fix in sight for credit problems:

Mr Paulson said the overall strength of the economy was sound, but added: ”Economic growth will be less than it ordinarily would have been.”

Today's kicker: Yoram Bauman, the Standup Economist, sends Greg Mankiw his latest routine...