Charlie Lets Zero Intelligence Have It

Charlie, Charlie, Charlie.

Neil Barofsky Repeat Testimony

If you missed Fed, Wall Street and CNBC public enemy #1 yesterday, here is your chance to see him live again. Neil Barofksy, the scourge of all crony bankers (crony is redundant in the last phrase) and "honest answer-conflicted" Fractional Reserve Banking system executives, will be testifying at 2:00 PM before the House Committee on Fin Services. The hearing will consist of two panels, with Herb Allison dominating the first one, and sure to provide extensive entertainment as per usual.

A Thoroughly Exhausted Market

Yet someone (or much more likely something) keeps pushing it higher. A chart of the market's divergence index indicates the most exhausted uptrend witness in years. Divergence Index: ((10 Day Momentum * 40 Day Momentum)/Variance 40 Day Price Changes). Not surprisingly, large positive values indicate an exhausted trend.

Gasparino Bashes Tavakoli Back, Provides Goldman's Side Of Story "Because That's What He Does" After "Being Tough On Them...

In what will likely be the flame war de jour for at least the next 24 hours, Gasparino responds to Tavakoli via Dealbreaker.

"I generally don't respond to people who don't matter on Wall Street.
But any rational, sane person who hasn't been either hitting the bottle
or smoking a joint would watch what I said about Goldman Sachs and come
away with two things. 1) I am very tough on them-- they always complain about what I say.
and 2) In the so-called 'caving' clip I was letting them give their
side of the story because that's what journalists do. If someone named
Janet thinks I'm selling out, she's entitled to her opinion, which I
hate to break it to her, really doesn't matter.

Zero Hedge doesn't want to get in the middle of this, but would like to inquire just what question was it that Charlie had posed to Lucas that was tough on Goldman? Was Charlie specifically inquiring about Goldman's provisioning of liquidity? When is the last time that Charlie even uttered the word liquidity on air, at least when it did not involve vodka? Is Charlie aware that Goldman dominates over 50% of NYSE's principal-based program trading? But like I said, we are not getting involved in this one.

Secondary Hedge Fund LP Market Turns Negative

HedgeBay reports that after a four-fold increase in hedge fund LP volume, prices of LP interests are starting to fall: the June average price was 90.13, a 2% decline from May. Yet, liquidity is likely negligible and bid ask spreads on HedgeBay are notoriously wide. Yet, HB's summary assesment of the HF LP market is surprisingly astute and could be applied to the broader, much more busted market: "As a result, clients who are not necessarily “in need” of cash are making a present value calculation based on the inherent risks – including market, manager and business – as well as the probability of recovery for any particular asset. Armed with this information they are able to make rational rather than emotional decisions about trading out."

Janet Tavakoli Rips Into Charlie Gasparino

Recently Charlie Gasparino has been seen meandering within the halls of 85 Broad, trying to get scoops in exchange for reports on the phenomenal liquidity services Goldman Sachs provides to the markets (for the opposing view please read some of Themis Trading's recent reports or any other post on Zero Hedge). But aside from the fact that even Goldman's liquidity provisioning could be perceived as anything but an altruistic act, Charlie leaves a lot of questions about Goldman's recent record earnings not only unanswered but untouched. Janet Tavakoli retorts to Charlie's recent 180-degree on being one of the few last reporters who actually would dig in Lucas Van Praag's garbage can instead of sharing a Johnnie Walker Blue poolside with him.

Frontrunning: July 22

• Gallup Poll: More disapprove than approve of Obama's healthcare policy (Gallup)
• PIMCO and Centerbridge charging 13% for the privilege of bleeding CIT dry, before handing off charred remains to GE Capital (Bloomberg)
• The GE - CIT Connection becomes obvious (Bloomberg)
• CIT troubles raise Fed supervision questions (Reuters)
• CNBC parent GE to exit TLGP taxpayer backstop program (AP)
• Goldman Sachs lack of love puts profits at risk (Bloomberg)