Submitted by Leo Kolivakis, publisher of Pension Pulse. Following up on my last comment on CPPIB getting grilled in Ottawa, I received a few questions on benchmarks. I will elaborate on benchmarks in this post. But first, CPPIB contacted me to tell me that they posted Ms. Warmbold’s opening remarks to the Standing Committee on […]
Read more...UK wages collapse at fastest rate in 60 years Telegraph Timing of Goldman bond sale raises questions Financial Times Why Congress Won’t Investigate Wall Street Thomas Frank, Wall Street Journal. How Government Guaranteed Bank Debt May CRUSH Public Borrowing Clusterstock Jobless Rate Rises In All US Metro Areas In March Huffington Post Gagging on Google […]
Read more...The WHO has designated swine flu an “imminent” pandemic, and raised its alert to a level 5 out of a possible 6. The World Bank guesstimates the cost of a severe pandemic at 4.8% of world GDP (yikes!). Yet the US had a very nice day for equity investors yesterday, and the Japanese stockmarket is […]
Read more...The New York Times reports that the Chrysler brinkmanship continues, with some small hedge funds acting as pigs in the hope of extracting yet more concessions from the government, as the bankruptcy deadline looms. The reason the funds can play such hardball is that the Administration does not want to BK Chrysler. Despite all the […]
Read more...Submitted by Edward Harrison of the site Credit Writedowns This is an updated version of a post that I wrote yesterday at Credit Writedowns. Today we are going to see whether shareholders are going to back Ken Lewis, the embattled CEO of Bank of America, and his board. I see this as a watershed event […]
Read more...Submitted by Leo Kolivakis, publisher of Pension Pulse. The third meeting of the Standing Committee on Finance focusing on pensions took place on Tuesday morning, placing more senior pension executives on the hot seat. Before I continue, let’s recap what happened at the two first meetings. I went to Ottawa last week to expose the […]
Read more...Chemical ‘caterpillar’ points to electronics-free robots New Scientist. Rudd sides with the bigots Larvatus Prodeo.I had found Australians to more tolerant of gays than Americans (you see a gay angles played up in advertising, which is inconceivable here) so this is surprising. The Last Temptation of Risk Barry Eichengren (hat tip reader Dave) Fed Is […]
Read more...Well, that isn’t exactly how the Financial Times’ Martin Wolf put it, but his comment today does carry a sobering message. Bank balance sheets need a tremendous amount of additional shoring up. Some not too pretty factoids: We appear to be less than halfway through writedowns, and the fundraising and recapitalizations to date are falling […]
Read more...I’ve been waiting for estimates of what the impact of a pandemic would be. Although the swine flu has now been elevated by the WHO to pandemic status, it’s far too early to say what that might mean in costs, both lives and dollar costs. Moody’s has made a first cut. From the Financial Times: […]
Read more...The chicanery never ends. The latest bit of looting fobbed off as a win for homeowners is a program to shovel money to second mortgage lenders: The Obama administration unveiled a new program to help borrowers with second mortgages stay out of foreclosure, offering cash to servicers, investors and borrowers who modify loan terms. Guess […]
Read more...Submitted by Leo Kolivakis, publisher of Pension Pulse. The New York Times reports that the plight of carmakers could upset all pensions: Decisions that the government will make soon on the future of General Motors and Chrysler could accelerate the decline of traditional pension plans, which have sheltered generations of workers from an impoverished old […]
Read more...Submitted by Edward Harrison of the site Credit Writedowns The leaks about who failed the stress tests are already starting. Who got a big fat ‘F’? Apparently, Citi and BofA for starters. But is that any surprise? Regulators have told Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. that the banks may need to raise more […]
Read more...Shark fins protection welcomed BBC. Sharks are alpha predators, so their importance is well out of proportion to their numbers. Dumped pets pay price of recession Guardian Dying is no reason to give up online social life The Daily Record Man Downloads Movie While In Mexico, Receives $62,000 Wireless Bill Consumerist. Ouch Monetarism Defiant City […]
Read more...As readers may know, I view the credit default swaps market with more than a bit of skepticism. I can point to cases where it has caused harm: 1. Bagholders. Dealers claim that CDS are really not bad at all because they haven’t been taking risk, oh no, they hedge their position with offsetting swaps. […]
Read more...Ah, in Lake Woebegone, all the women are beautiful and all the children are above average. And in the stress tests, no one fails, they just need to get more equity, preferably not from Uncle Sam, but he is always there to help his best bankster buddies. Recall many observers, including yours truly, deemed the […]
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