Category: Credit Crisis 2008
The analysis published under this category are as follows.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Bernanke Joins G7 to Stem Global Financial Meltdown / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
By: Mike_Whitney
In a recent interview with the New York Times, former Secretary of the Treasury Paul O' Neill, was asked how the problems with subprime mortgages could lead to a financial crisis of global proportions. O' Neill said, “If you have 10 bottles of water, and one bottle has poison in it, and you don't know which one, you probably won't drink out of any of the 10 bottles; that's basically what we've got here.” Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
US Fed Prepares for More Bank Failures In Wake of Housing Market Collapse / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
By: Dr_William_R_Swagell
It seems that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is getting ready for more financial institutions to fail as world credit markets convulse in the wake of the US housing collapse and a flight from SIVs... structured investment vehicles which are highly leveraged, complicated, based on assumptions now proven to be plain wrong, and now considered “toxic”.
“The FDIC is looking to bring back 25 retirees from its division of resolutions and receiverships.
Many of these agency veterans likely worked for the FDIC during the late 1980's and early 1990's, when more than 1,000 financial institutions failed amid the savings-and-loan crisis.‘Regulators are bracing for well over 100 bank failures in the next 12 to 24 months'...” Damian Paletta, Feb.27, 2008 Wall Street Journal .
Monday, April 07, 2008
Fed Bailouts vs. the Free Markets / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
By: Money_and_Markets
Mike Larson writes: The Wall Street Journal 's website — once again — pretty much summed up the current state of the housing and mortgage markets this week.
One key headline: "Fannie Mae Tightens Rules for Mortgages"
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Monday, April 07, 2008
The Federal Reserve Playing a Dangerous Game / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
By: Dr_Martenson
Be careful what you believe - television ad for Morgan Stanley's brokerage service flickers across the screen, showing a retired couple walking across a beach with a dog and their grandchildren. Smiles and ease and comfort drip off the screen. It is a happy, shiny future they are selling. Separately, a letter goes out from Morgan Stanley to their private clients warning of a “50% chance of a systemic crisis." Which do you believe?Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, April 07, 2008
Banking Crisis- You Can Fool Some Of The People Sometimes / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
By: Captain_Hook
But you can't fool all the people all the time. This is a truism that will become increasing trite in coming years as more and more people discover the vulgarities being perpetuated on them by the banking / investment community. As an example of this, without solicitation last week Visa informed me I will soon be receiving my ‘First Class Travel Infinite Card', which apparently has ‘no credit limit'. Now for some this might be ‘good news' if planning to live increasingly off credit. But for me, the message I got was the credit givers want people who pay their bills on time to take on even more of the credit growth burden until they too are overextended, which is the brand of thinking that has gotten us into the precarious position we are in today. In this respect credit givers should know they are barking up the wrong tree with people like me if they expect a run-up in balances that can be taxed at exorbitant rates, as most like minded people pay their balances off each month and don't plan on altering this practice. Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, April 07, 2008
Credit Crunch To Spill Over The World / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
By: Regent_Markets
Despite slew of negative headlines, stock markets around the world still managed to close the week up around 4%. The FTSE and CAC managed 4.7% and 5.4% gains while the Nasdaq 100 was the pick of the US markets, closing the week up 5.2%. The rally was sparked by Lehman Brothers announcing the sale billion of dollars worth of shares late on Monday night.Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, April 06, 2008
The Real Reasons for the Credit Crisis / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
By: Clif_Droke
I've purposely kept my comments concerning the credit crisis at a minimum since it began dominating the daily news headline. My reasoning for this is because I knew the crisis was overblown and overstated in the press and that there had to be a very good reason for it. The only problem is I didn't know exactly what the reason was.
Time tells all, however, and I knew that sooner or later the truth must out!
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Saturday, April 05, 2008
Market Manipulation on Hedge Funds Margin Calls to Trigger Distressed Selling / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
By: John_Mauldin
Thoughts on the Continuing Crisis - If the Rules are Inconvenient, Change the Rules
- Let's Re-arrange the Deck Chairs
- Regulations Coming to a Hedge Fund Near You
- More Fun in the Unemployment Numbers
- A Muddle Through Recession
- How Much do we Borrow for a $1 growth in GDP?
There is so much that is happening each and every day as the Continuing Crisis moves slowly into month 8, so much news to follow, so many details that need to be followed up that it can get a little overwhelming. Where to begin? Maybe with a "minor" change of the rules on how we value assets, then a look at the proposed changes in regulations, some comments to my hedge fund friends, a quick look at the employment and ISM numbers which are clearly showing we are in a recession and then finish up with some thoughts as to what it all means. There is a lot of ground to cover, so we will jump right in without a "but first" today.
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Friday, April 04, 2008
US Tax Payer Bail-out Ideas Stabilize US Dollar, Sovereign Wealth Funds to the Rescue? / Interest-Rates / Credit Crisis 2008
By: Gary_Dorsch
It was “April Fools” day, and Wall Street was busy spinning bad financial news into bouts of irrational exuberance. News of a $19 billion write-down of toxic sub-prime mortgage debt at Swiss bank UBS and a $4 billion hit at Deutsche Bank might have sparked a panic sell-off in global stock markets a few weeks ago. But on “April Fools” day, the Dow Jones Industrials soared 391-points, and the broader S&P 500 Index jumped 3.6%, posting its best 2nd-quarter start since 1938. Shares of UBS soared 18%, after the Swiss bank said it could plug the craters in its balance sheet with a $15 billion rights offering, led by a syndicate of JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, BNP Paribas and Goldman Sachs. Shares of Lehman Bros jumped 22% after it raised $4 billion from the sale of convertible preferred shares, and squeezing bearish speculators in LEH puts in the process.
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Friday, April 04, 2008
US Housing and Credit Crisis- Why Keep Analyst X a Mystery? / Housing-Market / Credit Crisis 2008
By: Fake_Ben
"The crisis from which we are now suffering is also the outcome of a credit expansion. The present crisis is the unavoidable sequel to a boom. Such a crisis necessarily follows every boom generated by the attempt to reduce the 'natural rate of interest.'" - Analyst X
Do you have a troubled friend or relative whose misguided attempts to solve their problems only make the situation worse? As human beings, it is hard to see our own short-comings. But to ever truly solve our problems, we must strive to understand them.
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Friday, April 04, 2008
Worst of Credit Crisis Over? Watch the Stock/ Bond Ratio / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
By: Prieur_du_Plessis
Is the worst of the credit crisis behind us? Some of my perma-bear friends will probably think of hospitalizing me for merely raising the question. The short answer, however, is that nobody actually knows. Sure, one can deliberate the fallout of the subprime saga to the nth degree, but even a crystal ball regarding the economic variables doesn't necessarily mean getting the markets right. Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, April 04, 2008
Credit Crisis Reflections and Mark to Market Myths / Interest-Rates / Credit Crisis 2008
By: Ty_Andros
The tumultuous 1st quarter is now behind us and what a quarter it was. VOLATILITY IS OPPORTUNITY and wonderful fireworks of volatility exploded across all asset classes providing bucket loads of OPPORTUNITIES for prepared investors. Your investment portfolios should be considerably higher in value, for rarely do we see moves of this magnitude across all sectors almost without interruption. This phase is now coming to an end and, as we all know, markets are NOT one-way affairs and the inevitable intermediate term corrections now appear to be beginning to unfold. Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Credit Crisis Trend Exhaustion- Supermarket Tabloids to the Rescue! / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
By: Clif_Droke
A sure sign that a trend has exhausted itself is when news tabloids start printing stories about economic depression and forecasting stock market crashes.
I can vividly recall some of the U.S. supermarket tabloids that were forecasting a second Great Depression in the wake of the 1998 stock market debacle. The '98 sell-off, which was catalyzed by the Asian currency crisis and the LTCM meltdown, saw the S&P decline some 20% from July-October of '98. About the time that bearish tabloid stories hit the news stands, the stock market had bottomed and was on its way to new highs while the super-charged U.S. economy regained its strength and was running on all cylinders.
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Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Why Government Rescues Don't Work / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
By: Paul_Tustain
"...Just like natural organisms, the financial system must have death to evolve into a better form..."
NOW THAT HE'S wearing some sort of do-good government hat, even Hank Paulson is not thinking straight.
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Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Make it a Margin Call: The Change to Fix the Risk / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
By: Paul_Petillo
It would probably be best to talk about what we know. Getting those headlines out of the way will, without a doubt, give us some insight into where we are headed. At least in theory.
Bear Stearns avoided bankruptcy when JP Morgan, who seized a unique opportunity to pick apart the firm for its brokerage business and clearinghouse operations at a price” that, despite being revised upwards from $2 to $10, left most folks inside Wall Street speechless.
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Tuesday, April 01, 2008
How to Fix the Credit Markets / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
By: John_Mauldin
This week we will look at what will be a fairly controversial essay by good friend Michael Lewitt of HCM. In light of today's speech by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson of the re-organization of the regulatory system in the US, Michael suggest we look at what the real problems are before we begin the process of re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. For many, some of what he says will be considered economic heresy. I do not agree with all of it (though I am in solid agreement on most of it), and look forward to talking with him in a few weeks in La Jolla when we are together. But the point of Outside the Box is not to find material that I or you agree with or that makes us comfortable, but something which causes us to think through our own opinions and biases. Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Investment Flash: Beware of Money Substitutes / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
By: Paul_Lamont
The panic we suggested would occur in our report last month has enveloped the credit markets .
“When the house of (credit) cards begins to fall in on itself, the trend turns from inflation to deflation . That's when creditors turn their focus from lending to collecting and debtors turn their focus from borrowing to repaying. But by this time there are too many IOUs, and debtors cannot service them, much less repay them. Falling asset values and economic contraction thwart efforts to honor the loans. Debtors begin to default. When that happens, the game is up.” – Bob Prechter, Elliot Wave Theorist
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Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Central Banking Cartels- Crisis Cause and Effect / Interest-Rates / Credit Crisis 2008
By: Joseph_Russo
Rarely do circumstances prevail whereby one is compelled to cast aside a natural self-interest in promoting one's trade, to instead share opinion and perspective on a more broad set of shared observations, beliefs, and convictions, intent upon bringing about vigorous constructive public discourse in serving a purpose much larger than oneself.
Now is such a time, and the following is respectfully our patriotic and dutiful contribution in fostering such endeavors. We yield as much time as we may consume, and reserve the balance of our time remaining.
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Monday, March 31, 2008
The Bernanke Politburo's Next Big Plan / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
By: Mike_Whitney
" Instead of just propping up bankrupt banks, the governments should be democratising them - mobilising their assets to stimulate the productive economy, repairing infrastructure, researching and developing new markets, and refitting western economies to combat climate change. " Iain MacWhirter, "The Red Menace"
The Federal Reserve is presently considering an emergency operation that is so risky it could send the dollar slip-sliding over the cliff. The story appeared in the Financial Times earlier this week and claimed that the Fed was examining the feasibility of buying back hundreds of billions of dollars of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) with public money to restore investor confidence and clear the struggling banks' balance sheets.
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Monday, March 31, 2008
Judgment Day for Wall Street / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
By: Money_and_Markets
In the first days after the Fed's history-breaking Bear Stearns bailout, a parade of Wall Street pundits preached the theory that ...
"The worst of the crisis is behind us" ...
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