Word today from MarketWatch that the CEO of E-Trade is hitting the bricks as part of a $2.55 Billion deal with Citadel to pump enough money into the online broker to keep it running in face of losses connected to their Asset Backed Securities (ABS): NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — The subprime crisis claimed a new […]
Second post today about the SIV mess. To sum up what has happened so far, HSBC (one of the largest UK banks) has decided to move some of its funky SIVs onto the balance sheets in an attempt to build investor confidence. In response, Citigroup, who has many times more exposure to this garbage than […]
I wrote a month ago about the formation of a strange new entity called the M-LEC or “Super Conduit”. At that time the main forces behind this were Citibank, JP Morgan / Chas and Bank of America. Once again obscure, seldom mentioned work behind the scenes is having a profound effect upon all of us, […]
Once again we are looking at a strange tidbit of information from a far away corner of the world, and how it can have a substantial impact on the US and world economy. From the Financial Times of London: Fukuda warns on rapid rise in yen The yen is appreciating “too fast” and speculators need […]
Word today that investment company E-Trade is feeling the effects of toxic mortgage and credit portfolio. E-Trade has almost $500 Million exposure to mortgages and other credit investments, known as CDOs. From Market Watch: Shares of E-Trade Financial Corp. lost more than half their value Monday after the company said it faced more subprime-related write-downs […]
A few weeks ago the Fed massively cut rates, essentially stepping in to free up money that the banks and large investment firms could not or would not. Most observers would expect that the credit crisis had largely passed, and in fact the press trumpeted such. In my opinion all they did was kick the […]
The Federal Reserve on Friday reported that consumer credit rose at an annual rate of 5.9% in August, the biggest increase in three months. The increase in consumer credit was led by an 8.1% increase in revolving credit, which is the category that includes credit cards. Non-revolving credit, which includes auto loans, also rose at […]
As I mentioned yesterday, I was eagerly running down information on something I had caught wind of – that banks in the UK were in a liquidity crunch to cover their positions, and rather than go to the Bank of England to get more money they were instead turning to the EU central bank. Now […]
Last month the US Federal Reserve cut interest rates a full ½ a percentage point. Some folks were surprised by this (myself included) due to the fact that many economic factors (such as the stock market) were near multi-year highs, and the economy in general was thought to be chugging along nicely. In reality what […]
Avid readers of this blog will remember earlier this year the warning calls that went out about the impending new phase of our national and global finance. The part that surprised me was that it has taken this long to get this far. The stones are all lined up for the avalanche, but some of […]
