October 6, 2008
It isn't much, but the most positive thing I've seen today is this paragraph hidden deep in a release from the President's Working Group on Financial Markets: The new legislation also enables Treasury to directly strengthen the balance sheet of...
Lots of chatter in various circles, including my weekend comments, that we could see the banking crisis in the U.S. and Europe mutate into a currency crisis in Europe. It is not an idle question to wonder what it might...
I'm also fond of this Lehman email, where the company's fine and upstanding executives plot to use a capital raise to buy back stock and hurt Lehman short-seller David Einhorn. Nice to see they have such productive capital uses in...
My current favorite Lehman email released for today's hearing is this one. I'm not sure whether I'm more amused by the "huge brand" comment, or the "kill the bad hfunds" thing....
You know, those public radio folks sure do good capitalism talk. Or at least This American Life does. The two most intelligent and accessible media segments on the credit crisis have now both appeared on that excellent Public Radio International...
Lest anyone think that having big-footed government beasties running through credit markets can happen without unintended consequences, think again. From a story in the WSJ about the Fed's plan to backstop the commercial paper market, this disturbing nugget: In mid-September,...
Something Wall Street has done very successfully in the current crisis is export risk. Through syndication it was able to move a lot of toxic paper around the world, perhaps not as much it wishes it had, but a surprising...
Yesterday's 60 Minutes segment on subprime and the evolving credit crisis was surprisingly good. Watch it....
Pimco's Bill Gross has out his latest missive, and if recent history is any evidence then it has a solid chance of being causal, as opposed to being merely predictive. The key part is this: A systemic delevering likely requires...
An interesting visualization of pulses and periodicity of the word "cramer" on Twitter today during the stock market festivities....
On days like today when the abyss seemingly yawns open, only to (at least temporarily) shut again, it's good to remind yourself that market participants are mad. Watch the classic Bird/Fortune skit again for a reminder -- especially the first...
Quick tag cloud of Lehman's Dick Fuld's testimony in the House this morning....
Former Fed chair Paul Volcker has chaired a new report/survey on global financial market regulation. It's very, very long, but it is worth reading. See here. One thing that jumps out, for better worse, is how much of an exception...
Some screenshots from the carnage out there today: WSJ NYT NYT Cramer's sell call...
Amidst all the equity carnage, some neck-snapping stuff going on today in exchange rates....
Quote of the day comes from 92-year-old investing legend Seth Glickenhaus: People are frightened and very angry. They feel that everything that has been done is to benefit Wall Street and these preposterous salaries and termination pay packages that leaders...
In about 10 minutes you'll be able to watch Dick Fuld of Lehman at Congressional hearings at this C-Span link. Should be amusing, and possibly market-moving....
Nice to see that the Feds aren't the only ones bailing people out. Tonight I see a release from BofA wherein it essentially bails itself out itself via a $8.4-billion mortgage modification program for people with home mortgages obtained through...
Lots of people are newly smart and chattering away about the essential stupidity of value-at-risk modeling. Oh, those dumb financial engineers, they keep saying, How stupid do you have to be to imagine that the real world would conform to...
There is a true keeper of a gloating column in Monday's Wall Street Journal from an Australian journalist explaining how wonderful, sound, and profitable her country's banks are, and how Australians long ago figured out that not everyone needs a...
