Daily Highlights: 8.19.09
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/19/2009 - 07:23- Asia stock markets mixed on uncertain Chinese outlook, improving US economic state.
- Big retailers reported that American consumers are continuing to hunker down.
- Crude oil falls, reversing gains, as Chinese equities decline
- IMF has described a “nascent” global recovery, warns on ending fiscal stimulus.
- Natural-gas futures fell to a fresh 7-yr low as a glut of the fuel and tepid demand.
Chinese Pig Farmers Speculating On Metals
Submitted by Cornelius on 08/19/2009 - 02:28No, seriously.
CNBC Stars On The Onion
Submitted by Cornelius on 08/19/2009 - 01:07You know the truth is glaringly obvious if the Onion finally got around to satirize it.
Nassim Taleb: A Crazier Future
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/18/2009 - 21:41Now you can pretend you have read Fooled By Randomness and The Black Swan (on the other hand if you want to pretend you can use the word Heteroscedasticity in a sentence you will need to wait for RIEF's next apologetic letter explaining how minimizing portfolio drawdown is so much more important than actually generating P&L)
Gerald Ford To Bail Out Guaranty Financial
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/18/2009 - 21:23And no, the 38th president of the US is not set on a transdimensional spree to save the US financial system from beyond the void (although it would be so poetically fitting).
SEC To Demand Loan Loss Clarity In MD&A Disclosure
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/18/2009 - 21:06Dear Chief Financial Officer:
Clear and transparent disclosure about how you account for your provision and allowance for loan losses has always been critically important to an investor’s understanding of your financial statements. While generally accepted accounting principles regarding how to account for these items have not changed in recent years, the current economic environment may require you to reassess whether the information upon which you base your accounting decisions remains accurate, reconfirm or reevaluate your accounting for these items, and reevaluate your Management’s Discussion and Analysis disclosure.
Dollar Has Given Up Employment Number Gains Vs Yen - Back To Under 95
Submitted by Cornelius on 08/18/2009 - 20:20A quick look at the USDJPY chart shows that most of the gains due to second derivative unemployment numbers have been wiped out.
Your $3 Trillion Credit Card Application Has Been Approved
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/18/2009 - 18:58
We dare anyone to go to the bank and try to get a new credit card (limit anywhere between $50 and $5 trillion) by presenting this personal budget.
On Systemic Risk - Black Swans Or Market Innovations?
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/18/2009 - 18:19"If the recent financial crises were truly highly infrequent random events, then any set of policies that can continuously prevent their reoccurrence seemingly will be very expensive in terms of idle capital and presumably less efficient markets required to avoid them. If, on the other hand, the crisis was the result of financial innovation and the ability to get leveraged cheaply, then society need not continuously bare all the costs associated with preventing market events like the bursting of asset bubbles"
Taylor Rule Estimate Suggests Fed Fund Rate Differential At Whopping 6.8%
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/18/2009 - 16:48
When Zero Hedge initially looked at the Taylor Rule Estimate for the Federal Fund Rate back in January, the prevailing consensus was that, even then, the Taylor-to-Fed Fund Differential was a whopping 6%. Eight months later we evaluated the Taylor Estimate again, and found a surprising result.
A Weak Outlook On Crude Oil Going Forward
Submitted by Cornelius on 08/18/2009 - 15:58Crude supplies continue to accumulate as the demand picture continues to deteriorate.
Guest Posts: King Nebuchadnezzar Or The Lesser Of Two Evils
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/18/2009 - 15:50We present two provocative perspectives
(Lack Of) Hedge Fund Motivations In Bankruptcy
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/18/2009 - 14:42Eric Fisher discussing the role of hedge funds in bankruptcy. Alas, for Eric and his firm Butzel Long, after the creditor-adverse GM and Chrysler fiascoes, hedge funds (and thus potential clients) will be loathe to touch anything with either a UAW representation or a firm that has any chance of going through the judicial system, after the Second Circuit's and the Supreme Court's recent "equitable" performance in Chrysler. Furthermore, after the NWA precedent where hedge funds have to disclose their cost basis in a bankruptcy, the days of aggressive "pump and dumping" of distressed securities are long gone.
Hey IWM, What Was That?
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/18/2009 - 13:56
Quiet, quiet, quiet... Boom.
Lots of odd trading in the SPY-IWM pair all day today.
Schaeffler Financing Complete, Next On Deck: Continental Merger And Lots Of Pain For RBS
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/18/2009 - 13:37New developments in that "other" German automotive soap opera. Reuters is reporting that the most insanely leveraged behemoth of an auto-supplier, Continental-Schaeffler has finally managed to close on the terms of a critical $17 billion deal, a critical step which will make the biggest M&A blunder in the last decade (tiny ball-bearing maker Schaeffler's purchase of much, much larger and much more indebted auto supplier conglomerate Continental).
