October 9, 2008
People keep talking about the perils of nationalizing the banking system. Newsflash: There currently is no banking system, if by that you mean a network of organizations lending to one another and to quality companies in a predictable way. (Look...
Here is the Paulson Problem in a nutshell: If he doesn't speak, people panic because nothing is improving in the financial system If he does speak, people assume things are getting worse in the system, or that Paulson is doing...
Fascinating piece over at RGE Monitor by Nouriel Roubini on the back-room machinations that led to today, where the emphasis with respect to the $700b bank bailout is now on equity injections, not the flawed idea of purchasing banks' toxic...
This is completely anecdotal, but in flying around North America in recent weeks I have had fewer departure delays and more early arrivals than at any time in recent memory. I'm regularly getting in 10-30 minutes ahead of schedule, which...
Nothing to do with the looming financial apocalypse, but it's sunny and there is a fresh coat of snow up at Whistler BC. Life will (eventually) be okay....
Here is (according to Reuters) the timeline for what will be an epic CDS auction tomorrow related to the Lehman bankruptcy. There are huge losses to go around, confusion about counter-parties, and I expect a host of releases tomorrow afternoon...
Russia is trying out the time-tested "What me? No crisis" approach to managing its current market problems: The main channels have either downgraded or ignored altogether Russia's financial turmoil since it began in mid-September, according to media monitoring companies and...
Provocative comment from Jim Chanos this morning on CNBC: Given that it was the bank CEOs and broker CEOs who went to Washington calling for the ban, the question I would have loved to seen asked of (Lehman Brothers CEO...
Nice video from the people at Marketplace explaining collateralized debt obligations in terms of wine and wine glasses. Crisis explainer: Uncorking CDOs from Marketplace on Vimeo ....
Harrowing/amusing/disturbing chart from the folks at Bespoke today. It shows the percentage of the S&P 500 financial sector that a Paulson Buck ($700b) bought you over the last month since the TARP plan was announced:...
Fairly astounding data nugget on the collapse in daily rates charged by bulk shipping carriers: UNCONFIRMED reports a panamax was fixed for a voyage that covered bunkers and port costs only stunned London brokers today, as bulk carrier charter...
With the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor) at record levels, thus hurting short-term borrowing, as well as blowing up many mortgages linked to the floating rate, it's useful to remind yourself how exactly Libor works. [via Bloomberg]...
Some quick links to items of interest: New special report from The Economist on current crisis (Economist) U.S. home equity extraction has hit lowest levels in more than a decade (Bloomberg) Nick Leeson: The government got you into this mess,...
Some harrowing if unsurprising data from S&P and PE Week Wire: Year-to-date, 60 of the 2,238 companies tracked by S&P with speculative grade debt are in default 22 of those 60 are are private equity backed, implying a 37% default...
With short-selling set to come back into the markets today, there are lots of worried people out there. I'll confess to being somewhat more sanguine, if only because I struggle to see how things could have been materially worse in...
Canada is not China. -- An anonymous ex-Fed official explaining U.S. eagerness to find Canadian buyers for U.S. banks. "Fed Trolls Canada to Rescue U.S. Banks" Let no-one say, pace Al Capone, that the U.S. still doesn't know...
After all this time Treasury is now getting around to saying it might start actively taking equity stakes in banks as part of a recapitalization program. Gosh. Now where have I heard that idea before? I can't quite recall. Oh...
I'll let this go more or less without commentary as it's just too good, but it is a headline from the NY Times on December 4, 1914. More here....
A piece tonight in the WSJ is painful reading about what is happening in California, the state first and most severely struck by the subprime credit crisis. There is the odd glimmer of light -- like that San Diego real...
