News

December 29, 2008

What a Year!!!!

Rob Davies

The year 2008 will be remembered for many things. Even though it included some of the wildest gyration in base metal prices it is more likely that the year will be stand out for the collapse of the investment banking business model, the election of Barack Obama and the beginning of a nasty, and possibly long global recession or maybe even depression.

Although the year started with the knowledge that economies were probably already running at peak levels and observers were predicting lower metal prices and activity in 2008,  the full scale of the rout in the final quarter took everyone by surprise. After all HSBC had warned two years ago that it was experiencing some problems with sub-prime mortgages and Northern Rock collapsed at the end of the third quarter in 2007.  But it wasn’t until the investment bank Bear Stearns was forced...