The 2,200 page report prepared by examiner Anton Valukas detailing the collapse of Lehman Brothers, will be declassified, as, according to wifebeater Judge Peck, it reads like a "bestseller", and is " one of the most extraordinary pieces of work product I have ever encountered." Now, for the first time, we will get an objective analysis into Dick Fuld's allegations that short sellers were responsible for the death of his firm, and just how it is that Barclays managed to (metaphorically) steal the perfectly solvent North American brokerage division for pennies on the dollar (with the Judge's blessing in the first place). Reuters reports : Valukas said in court he expected the report would be made publicly available within the next few hours, and before the close of business. The 2,200 page report was filed under seal with the court in February, and has been withheld from public view because the examiner obtained much of the information subject to confidentiality agreements.
America's labor unions are finally waking up from their deep slumber and noticing the vast schism in American society between the haves and the have nots. The catalyst: Wall Street's $16.2 billion bonus pay day. As a result Richard Trumka, head of the AFL-CIO, the nation's largest union organization, and a firm supporter of the transaction tax which was proposed in late 2009 and then promptly buried after some serious lobbying by Wall Street, will announce today "two weeks of protests aimed at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the most profitable securities firm in U.S
Bring back the capitalist model ( Washington Times ) Initial claims at 462,000, higher than consensus, continuing claims higher by 37,000; snow not implicated ( Bloomberg , Reuters ) Naked swap crackdown in Europe rings hollow without Washington ( Bloomberg ) Volcker rule gets lift in Senate amid reform talks ( Reuters ) Greeks strike over budget cuts, stocks decline ( NYT , Bloomberg , Reuters ) China inflation surges ( Bloomberg , Reuters ) NY lieutenant governor proposes deficit plan ( Reuters ) Roubini: beware a double dip recession ( Forbes ) With $13 billion 30 Years on deck, 2s30s spread at record wides ( Bloomberg ) Unemployment benefits have now become yet another entitlement program ( CSM ) Bernanke's dilemma: hyperinflation and the US dollar ( Seeking Alpha ) Greek debt crisis could raise problems for US and other countries ( WaPo )
The Washington Post reports that the next "Lehman-sized" event may be just around the corner , as the European Commission is now supporting a ban on trading sovereign CDS. While we are in process of tracking down whether this is actual news or just some exaggeration based on semantics, we will caution, once again, that the consequences of a CDS trading ban will be severe and very likely result in the opposite of what the EC intends on achieving. Keep in mind that everyone expected the Lehman bankruptcy to be contained as it was at best a fringe cog in the financial system
A new report by Moody's "U.S. Bank Asset Quality: Negative Trends Slow Down, But The Pain Isn't Over" has some gloomy observations about the asset quality of the US financial system, and its implications for future charge offs and overall profitability
Regulators tell US banks to hold money ( FT ) Even as Italy is expected to go bust next , Italy's Romano Prodi Says " Greek Crisis Is Over, Rest of Region Safe" ( Bloomberg ) Race to the bottom with G4 currency rhetoric ( Reuters ) Finance: an exposed position ( FT ) Todd Harrison: The witch hunt widens on Wall Street ( MarketWatch ) Simon Johnson reviews Hank Paulson's memoir ( The New Republic ) O'Krugman's Keynesian blarney ( IBD ) Buyout firms can't spend $503 billion as fund deadlines loom ( Bloomberg ) China's exports, property prices add pressure to pare stimulus ( Bloomberg ) GDP growth expected to slow down, keep rates low ( Reuters ) Dubai made "some progress" in debt talk, U.K.
This is just getting ridiculous. First the NYT had some choice words over the weekend in describing the whole CDS fiasco, which alas did not have quite the desired effect, and now the BBC is out with a primer on SPECULATION ANALYSIS (yes, a primer), in which it has the following stunner: Government bonds come with an insurance policy, called a credit default swap (CDS).
Two months ago we first presented a very gloomy outlook on Japan by Dylan Grice , one of the more erudite skeptics currently out there. Dylan's thesis was simple, and was subsequently taken up by a variety of other pundits to express comparable concerns about developed countries with burgeoning debt levels, namely that an aging population, now actively engaged in asset sales, will have less of an ability to participate in its traditional role of purchasing JGBs
The most probable replacement to Trichet, Axel Weber who is a member of ECB's governing council said earlier on Bloomberg TV that extend and pretend is now shifting to Europe warning that Germany's Q1 growth could be negative, of course qualifying the statement that everything past this quarter will be stronger. Weber said that "a very weak first quarter means that the second and third quarters will be stronger." Even so he said there was still no reason to revise the expectation of German growth in 2010 to just over 1.5%
Merkel urges ‘quick’ regulation as Greece takes plea to U.S. ( Bloomberg ) Eaton Vance dumps dirt bonds as Florida land districts default ( Bloomberg ) Collapse of the American Empire: swift, silent, certain ( MarketWatch ) Gold "unlikely" to be main China reserve investment ( Bloomberg ) M&A target IRRs lowered, what does it say for CapEx IRRs: Exxon lowers bar, buys assets previously deemed unattractive ( Bloomberg ) China committed to US debt, wary on gold ( Reuters ) Worries rebound on bull's birthday ( WSJ ) Unemployment benefits: in it for the long term - 11.4 million Americans collecting $10 billion a month ( WaPo ) The best way to measure company performance ( Bloomberg ) Why the SEC sued me and why you should care ( Daily Reckoning ) Greece seeks US help regulating speculators ( WaPo ) Nakheel bonds rise as JPM see repayment at par ( Bloomberg ) Shorting US Treasuries could be a mistake ( FT ) Market defies fear of real estate bubble in China ( NYT ) Why every nation cooks its book ( MSN ) Disgusted ( Alhambra Investments ) And the token puff piece on Tim Geithner ( New Yorker )
Thursday, March 11, 2010
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