Another Goldman Lawsuit Imminent? From The Mail Bag: Lehman To Sue One Or More Big Banks Over Derivatives "Fraudulent Transfer"
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/22/2010 - 23:26A week ago we disclosed the unredacted Volume 5 of the Valukas report, in which the full details of the Lehman derivative portfolio were presented, as well as the names of "white knights" who stepped in in the last moment to onboard Lehman's holdings at a firesale valuation. Furthermore, it was Valukas' conclusion that Lehman may have a claim to sue the counterparties for fraudulent transfer. It appears this is precisely what is about to happen. We just received the following tip:
Lehman Holdings will be filing a lawsuit against one or more major banks in regards to the valuation of derivatives. This will occur tomorrow or Monday. It is the first such lawsuit (valuation dispute) of its kind by Lehman. Some of the counterparts to Lehman's existing trades weren't willing to play nice, so the "estate" felt it necessary to rack up another few thousand billable hours and take this battle to court.
- Comments: 26
- Reads: 3,377
Are Bank Purchases Of 10 And 30 Year Treasuries Indicative Of Trouble?
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/22/2010 - 21:49One of the notable observations in recent Treasury auctions has been the increasing participation by commercial banks in taking down 10 and 30 Year Treasury auctions - traditionally two parts on the curve banks have historically avoided like the plague. We present some observations on why this may be happening as well as some troubling conclusions, both of which indicate trouble, namely that liquidity is and has been the name of the game for the past 13 months, and that commercial banks, or presumably some of the smarter money around, are seeing economic distress ahead.
- Comments: 41
- Reads: 10,553
Euro Plunges With Alarming Speed As Stop Losses Kick In, Below Year Lows
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/22/2010 - 19:45World markets are beating the victory drums that finally the idiots in America have shut down the algos and everyone else can get back to reality. The first effect: after closing north of 1.33, the euro is now in free fall mode, plunging to 1.3216, slicing through every imaginable stop like butter as the world has said "enough" to the bullshit market action out of the US, which, like a petulant child, refuses to acknowledge anything and everything negative. All the stops at 1.3250 just got taken out causing a 50 pip drop in seconds. The next level of stops at 1.315 will likely be tested as Asia opens, but these are weak and any real resistance will be found below 1.31. The all critical Euro-Yen pair is down to 123.6 from 124.4 late on Thursday when the math Ph.D.'s had the market firmly under control. The DXY continues surging. Expect world market weakness overnight, translating into a drop of ES until just before the US market opens and the fume melt up resume again as America is now decoupled from every world market.
- Comments: 110
- Reads: 8,375
Guest Post: Nazarbayev’s Successful Diplomacy In Kyrgyzstan Signals Deeper Strategic Shifts
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/22/2010 - 18:22The recent crisis and instability in Kyrgyzstan, highlighted the fragility of security and the potential weakness of the political systems throughout the region and exposed new dimensions in the conduct of Kazakhstan’s foreign policy that may well prove pivotal for US energy interests in the Caspian Sea region. These complexities, often disguised or downplayed by the national governments in the region, attest to the deep political fault lines running through Eurasia as well as the potential for events in one state to ignite potential cross-border discontent and instability elsewhere.
- Comments: 2
- Reads: 1,507
Revolving Door Politics: Kyrgyz Style (A Primer)
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/22/2010 - 18:19
The revolution in Kyrgyzstan came and went, and because the country is somewhere "over there" and doesn't have nice islands or a major oil stash, was promptly forgotten by the US media. Zero Hedge has been posting a series of articles on the situation there (courtesy of our friends at www.oilprice.com) and in fact will post the most recent article shortly. However, here is a useful primer on revolving door politics in developing countries: the fate of each member of the ruling party can be easily traced. On second thought, this is precisely what happens in the US, less bloodily, and without a Wall Street to redirect the output of the working class into the pockets of the "feudal casino-state" kleptocrats.
- Comments: 4
- Reads: 1,843
$178 Billion In Gross Treasuries On Deck, $118 Billion In Coupons
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/22/2010 - 17:54
The wealth transfer continues: another $118 Billion in coupon issuance is coming up, the bulk of which will be bought up by Primary Dealers, repoed back to the Fed, and the resulting cash used to ramp stocks to new all time highs, generating short-term profits for the banks and another year of record bonuses as future US generations will experience the kinds of riots caused by debt mismanagement as Greece does today. Another $49 billion Bills will see the same fate. Also, with the first auction of 5 year TIPS since 2009, is someone telling us something? The Obama plan: Dow 36,000 by the mid-terms or else.In other news, the most recent unmanageable debt load per the DTS is $12,808,961,000,000. This is money that will not be repaid, and includes Trust Fund balances that are amortizing ever faster as America's entitlement state dream joins that of Greece.
- Comments: 98
- Reads: 4,347
Daily Oil Market Summary: April 22
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/22/2010 - 17:02Oil prices were under selling pressure in trading overnight, as traders in Europe and Asia were more concerned by the figures released this week by the DOE than their American counterparts had been. As has been the case quite often recently, the bigger part of the day’s move happened while US traders and investors were sleeping. Prices opened lower and they then traded at and around the new lower levels. The US dollar had been higher in trading overnight, and that continued in normal trading during the day. The DJIA was down rather substantially in the morning and precious metals were lower, as well, in what seemed to be a general repudiation of risk across all platforms.
- Comments: 2
- Reads: 1,295
RANsquawk Market Wrap Up Video - 22/04/10
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/22/2010 - 16:46RANsquawk Market Wrap Up Video - 22/04/10
- Comments: 1
- Reads: 980
Stunningly Amazon Does Not Surge After Reporting Q2 Operating Income Guidance Well Below Consensus
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/22/2010 - 16:13
Who would have thought triple digit forward P/Es were expensive? The company reported an operating income guidance for Q2 of $220-$320 versus expectations of $332. Guess not everybody is rushing to learn to read good. Time to start handing out free Kindles to Greeks so they can finally download books that define "austerity."
- Comments: 34
- Reads: 4,279
Equity Market Update
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/22/2010 - 16:03Well, dumb money is clearly at work today. With Greece basically on the brink of default, Spain, Portugal, Italy are begging to follow suit before people start realizing that disbanding the Eurozone might be inevitable. At the same time GDP would be still solidly negative if it were not for inventory rebuilding and government spending, and our entire financial industry (representing 20% of the earnings of the S&P and access to credit it generated has been the engine of growth for the past 30 years) is being exposed in the media as a fraud and threatened to be dismantled or at least turned into a shadow of its current self. No wonder then that last week the Nasdaq made highs in 21-day RSI that were not seen since December 1999. A 2.3% retracement is clearly the buying opportunity of a lifetime, especially since we are only up 82% since last March. Maybe I missed the part where growth prospects are booming when schools on the West coast only have money to be open 4 days a week. - Nic Lenoir of ICAP
- Comments: 62
- Reads: 4,164
Risk On: With Europe Closed Who Cares About Greece?
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/22/2010 - 15:38
Europe is closed, and Greek bankruptcy is out of mind (FTSE at a one month low is victory for the bulls) so risk is on, as seen by the parabolic intraday rise in the EURJPY: The only trade now is to short the Yen and buy everything else, until Europe opens again and Greek yields hit double digits. In the meantime let's sneak a RMBS securitization deal in the form of the Redwood Trust, the first securitization since early 2008: there is no stopping the bubble.
- Comments: 22
- Reads: 3,615
Insights Into America's Disneyland And Our "Neo-Feudalistic, Gulag Casino Economy" From Mike Krieger
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/22/2010 - 15:14"For those that are in big business and think they have made a great move by joining forces with the state I suggest you go back and read your history. You never will possess the ultimate power, you will be seduced into thinking you do and then when the time is right government can eliminate you and your fortune with the stroke of a pen. Power is granted to you by this authority when you engage in this unholy union and it can be taken away on whim and your wealth confiscated. Selling out freedom and your fellow citizens for some extra money or government contracts will come back to haunt you. Your legacy to the United States will be as Max Keiser has called it, a neo-feudalistic, gulag casino economy that has already begun." - Mike Krieger
- Comments: 206
- Reads: 25,481
Guest Post: Obama's Speech: The Good, The Bad and The Missing
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/22/2010 - 15:01The Good: The president had strong language for backing real derivative reforms.
The Bad: Vague language about the "Volcker rule" will not stop Too Big To Fail; but a plan like this (or even one like this) for breaking up the current mega-banks and limiting their liabilities will.
The Missing: NONE of this matters while our cops still work for the crooks.
Dylan Ratigan
- Comments: 33
- Reads: 3,313
Lehman Bankruptcy Yields Liquidators Almost Three Quarters Of A Billion In Fees
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/22/2010 - 14:57The biggest bankruptcy in American history has also become the biggest fee bonanza free for all for the dozens of legal and financial advisors who are assisting with the orderly liquidation of Dick Fuld's former firm. Total fees paid out to all related partied now adds up to $741.6 million. Note - this is not for a reorganization: this is a pure liquidation. Of this, chief liquidator firm Alvarez & Marsal has pocketed an unprecedented $262 million. Bloomberg quotes George Fisher of Capital Guardian: "What a travesty. They’ve taken nearly three- quarters of a billion dollars out of a company that’s bankrupt, and nobody cares." Too bad the US government will never allow any other firm to file for either Chapter 11 or 7 as this may put a dent in the administration's plan to confuse everyone that the greatest Ponzi market/economy of all time is based on anything but a constant low-volume meltup in the markets. So obviously restructuring specialists will milk all they can from the one remnant of the biggest market collapse until its emergence into... fully liquidated status. Talk about value added.
- Comments: 19
- Reads: 2,646
EU Now Investigating Use Of CDOs And Other Derivatives
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/22/2010 - 14:27Well, that spares some wholesale problems for individual countries to pursue action against Goldman. The EU's Rehn, who earlier catalyzed the upmove in the market by saying what the EU has been saying for week, i.e., that Europe can provide aid to Greece if Greece requests it (no seriously, the same headline repeated 1,000,000 times will push the market green every single time). But his latest is that the "EU is investigating use of CDO's and other derivatives." We are confident that all cash strapped countries, which are so because they ended up blowing money by bailing out their banks who gorged on CDOs (yes, if you are a European country, the sucker on the table is you), will suddenly find more reasons to go after Goldman. If nothing else, it will make Tuesday's congressional hearing a more watched event than the superbowl. To that end, we have inquired about a 30 second advertising spot with C-SPAN.
- Comments: 11
- Reads: 2,002
