The bank funding market continues to be under stress. To some degree, this was anticipated, as various market participants saw signs that the year-end liquidity squeeze, and the months preceding it, would be worse than last year, which was bad enough to lead to the creation of the first special liquidity vehicle, the Term Auction […]
Read more...It is becoming clear that Bernanke simply does not get it. Just as he once thought subprime was contained, and has continued to misread the nature and trajectory of the credit crisis, so too he has said that there is a way out of it that involves little or no cost in terms of growth. […]
Read more...The latest “Let’s do something, anything” move to rescue the financial system is yet another example of expediency trumping sound long-term measures. The motivation for making Goldman and Morgan Stanley banks seems obvious: the powers that be seem determined to prevent either firm from going under. Being banks gives the firms access to a expanded […]
Read more...The credit markets had a seizure on Wednesday. To recap the mind-numbing events: Three month T-bills finished at a two basis point yield, and may even have traded at negative yields. Signs of ZIRP. Gold rose $68 and is still going up in Asia. The dollar fell against the yen, a sign of continued carry […]
Read more...The Chicago Tribune, in a truly remarkable story with an anodyne title, “Economist recounts talk with Fed chairman” (hat tip reader Dwight who pointed to Michael Panzner) contains this stunner: “Ben, you are playing a very unique role in world economic history,” {economist David[ Hale recalled telling Bernanke, an expert in the Great Depression. “You […]
Read more...the Treasury is applying some elbow grease too. From Bloomberg: The U.S. Treasury said it will sell bills to allow the Federal Reserve to expand its balance sheet, a day after the government agreed to take over American International Group Inc. “The Treasury Department announced today the initiation of a temporary Supplementary Financing Program at […]
Read more...Dunno about you, but I need some levity right now. Enjoy!
Read more...The outlines of a deal to prevent the world’s biggest insurer from filing for bankruptcy may be emerging. In concept, the outline of provisions is about as good as the government could likely extract, absent taking control, which runs the risk of loss of talent (and having considerably lost by various “helpers” as Warren Buffet […]
Read more...I guess someone at the Fed figured that letting the financial system blow up on its watch was not such a hot idea. But as far as the Fed’s purview is concerned, lending to AIG is just about as far afield as lending to General Motors. What is surprising (at least based on this report) […]
Read more...Twp readers, Steve and Julian e-mailed us about the Bloomberg story below, that the Fed repaid JP Morgan for an advance made to Lehman after its bankruptcy filing: Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the securities firm that filed the biggest bankruptcy in history yesterday, was advanced $138 billion this week by JPMorgan Chase & Co. to […]
Read more...Due to the lateness of the hour, I will be a bit more terse than I perhaps should be. We discussed yesterday that one of the emergency measures implemented by the Fed was the suspension of the rules prohibiting banks from using deposits to fund their investment banking subsidiaries. Reader dh helpfully pointed to background […]
Read more...The numbers and the measures become more and more extreme. For AIG to get permission from regulators to move $20 billion in capital from its subs to the holding company and have significant asset disposals teed up wasn’t sufficient to shore up the embattled insurer., The Fed has reportedly convened yet another emergency session to […]
Read more...The Fed made a $70 billion reserve injection today in two operations in response to a sharp increase in the Fed funds rate, indicating bank reluctance to lend to each other. One reader informed us the rate was 3.75% mid-morning after the first, $20 billion addition (versus the 2% target level) and according to Bloomberg […]
Read more...Reader Michael M called our attention to this statement in a Financial Times article: The Fed also suspended rules that prohibit banks from using deposits to fund their investment banking subsidiaries. Was this the quid pro quo for Band of America buying Merrill? If so, the repercussions extend beyond BofA. This is a time when […]
Read more...I guess it is now official. We no longer have functioning trading markets, at least in terms of serving their alleged purpose of giving companies access to capital. The Fed is no longer the lender of the last resort. It is increasingly becoming not merely a lender, but by adding equities to its list of […]
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