The obstacle to a bailout of Chrysler is the still large bid and ask spread between what the secured creditors are now willing to agree to in the way of a haircut, versus what Treasury is willing to give them. The drop dead date is next Thursday. But news reports tonight differ on what a […]
Read more...Submitted by Tyler Durden of Zero Hedge It is no secret that the administration, and especially Barney Frank, has made public enemy number one out of the rating agencies (and particularly Moody’s), mostly in line with populist rhetoric and scapegoating. Of course, when the rating agencies satisfied a role that helped housing prices go higher, […]
Read more...Bionic penguins take to the water – and the skies New Scientist 1970s lifestyle ‘protects planet’ BBC The Wail of the 1% New York Magazine. Drama at GE shareholders meeting The Hollywood Reporter (hat tip Tyler Durden) GM to shut many US plants up to 9 weeks Associated Press (hat tip reader Dwight) Worth Checking […]
Read more...Perhaps I am reading too much into a late breaking Wall Street Journal story, but inquiring minds do wonder. The Journal tells us that Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis told the New York attorney general’s office in February that he had been told by Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke to keep quiet about deteriorating […]
Read more...Submitted by Leo Kolivakis, publisher of Pension Pulse. Morneau Sobeco released the results of its Performance Universe of Pension Managers’ Pooled Funds for the first quarter of 2009: According to the report, in the first quarter of 2009, diversified pooled fund managers posted a median return of -2.2% before management fees. According to Jean Bergeron, […]
Read more...A 1.3% fall in global GDP may not sound that bad to some readers, but in fact it is a horrid outcome. Most of us deal with advanced economy growth statistics, which are lower than those of emerging economies. And a negative world result of this level again confirms the sychronized nature of this contraction. […]
Read more...Served by Jesse of Le Café Américain The action in the SP futures market has been particularly heavy handed and blatant since the heads of the money center banks met with the Community-Organizer-in-Chief at the White House. This market is being shoved around like a gaijin granny on the Tokyo subway in rush hour. To […]
Read more...Submitted by Edward Harrison of the site Credit Writedowns We are a few weeks into earnings season and it should be abundantly clear that financial institutions are firing on all cylinders. In fact, financials are leading the broader market for the first time since 1993. Yet, loan losses have been absolutely enormous. What gives? The […]
Read more...Fertility expert: ‘I can clone a human being’ Independent (hat tip reader Carrick) World’s major rivers ‘drying up’ BBC (hat tip reader Steve L) Climate Change Schizophrenia Marc Gunther, The Big Money We Fought A.I.G. and A.I.G. Won Steve Davidoff, New York Times Why the ‘green shoots’ of recovery could yet wither Martin Wolf, Financial […]
Read more...Submitted by Tyler Durden, publisher of Zero Hedge Zero Hedge regularly gets visits from the SEC and FINRA, and we can only hope they are taking some of the troubling behavior we have identified seriously. Today’s case looks like a clear regulatory violation. A few weeks ago I noticed Merrill Lynch/Bank of America on an […]
Read more...Submitted by Leo Kolivakis, publisher of Pension Pulse. I was invited to Ottawa today to speak at the Standing Committee on Finance on matters relating to pensions. I was there as an independent analyst. This was the first time I ever attended one of these committees so I was a bit nervous. I had lots […]
Read more...Since the Associated Press has not yet had its position on fair use defeated in court, you’ll have to go visit them to read the text of their “exclusive” story. It is a doozy. But by any standards, the broad outlines confirm yet again that crony capitalism trumps taking the best course of action for […]
Read more...‘Quiet Sun’ baffling astronomers BBC More Wii Warriors Are Playing Hurt New York Times Thrice-Married Former House Speaker Charges Democrats With “Breaking Down Traditional Marriage” Matthew Yglesias 70% Off Sale! James Kwak AIG Mystery Trades – Who Knew? Bruce Krasting Self-Regulation Doesn’t Work Mark Thoma Japan reportedly to slash GDP outlook to 3% fall MarketWatch […]
Read more...Checks and balances may not be completely dead in the US after all, but we need to see what transpires after the release of the report by Neil Barofsky, special inspector general for the TARP, which is out tomorrow. The New York Times appears to have gotten its hands on the whole report; the Financial […]
Read more...The move to clip the wings of TARP overseer Elizabeth Warren was predictiable. The fact that it took so long, and the angle is that she is anti industry (as opposed to anti industry bad behavior, a distinction that will hopefully be lost on the masses) and it took comparatively long to mount the salvo […]
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