Gasparino Bashes Tavakoli Back, Provides Goldman's Side Of Story "Because That's What He Does" After "Being Tough On Them...
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 07/22/2009 - 10:35In 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
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 07/22/2009 - 10:16
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."
Vikings Float Off Course On Short Covering Gale
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 07/22/2009 - 09:17Ole Andreas Halvorsen is one of the best hedge fund managers bar none. And yet his Viking Global Equities massively underperformed the S&P in Q2: VGE generated a barely profitable 0.5% in Q2, a 15.4% underperformance of the S&P over the same time period. The problem - sticking with a rational and sensible fundamentally-driven strategy.
Janet Tavakoli Rips Into Charlie Gasparino
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 07/22/2009 - 08:44Recently 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.
Ron Paul's 3 Minute Summary Of The Causes And Effects Of The Crash
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 07/22/2009 - 08:03Must Watch
Frontrunning: July 22
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 07/22/2009 - 07:50- 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)
Daily Highlights: 7.22.09
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 07/22/2009 - 07:15- Asian stocks rise for seventh day on speculation profits will increase.
- Bank of England voted 9-0 on asset plan as GDP risks diminished.
- Bernanke says policies are sowing recovery.
- Nikkei hits 2-wk high but firm Yen limits gains.
- Oil lingers near $65 as US crude supplies rise.
- U.K.’s house-price slump will persist until 2012.
S&P Commits Professional Suicide With Ratings Round Trip, Underlying CRE Remains Toxic Garbage
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 07/22/2009 - 00:36Rare? Medium Rare? Medium? Well Done? S&P? Indeed, as the last peg in the gradation of burnt to a crisp, S&P smells completely done. As in there isn't even left a shadow of a doubt that all S&P does is pander to the solicitations of whatever few remaining clients it may have, or, as the case may be, the U.S. government. Any credibility S&P, which one would be excused for confusing with Sycophantic & Pathetic, may have tried to salvage over the past 6 months has been gutted and left to dry after this most recent fiasco, which is the final straw on theMcGraw-Hill subsidiary's expedited route to the NRSRO utterly discredited trash heap.
Bernanke Buys $7 Billion In 7 Year Bonds
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 07/21/2009 - 22:35PIMCO alone is one thing. PIMCO and the FED combined is a whole new ballgame not even the bond vigilantes have much of an appetite for.
Even as he was testifying today, Ben was hitting the Green means Gobble button on his blackberry. The end result: $7 billion bought out of $18.6 billion in submitted orders. The other end result: Jenny Craig 0, Fed Balance Sheet Liabilities +7,000,000,000
T2's Whitney Tilson On Toxic Trading
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 07/21/2009 - 21:50T2's Whitney Tilson on Themis Trading and Zero Hedge
The Credit Bubble Peak CMOs Are Back
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 07/21/2009 - 20:43Compliments of the melt-up market, brokers are so giddy they have opened up the "2007 - Boiler Room" folder and are selling whatever 2 year old toxic garbage is left to the most unwitting dumb money they can find. This is how excrement attempts to move from the balance sheet of a trillion asset BHC to the back pocket of potential investor XXX (luckily, XXX was smart enough to not only say go to hell, but to share a warning with the rest of Zero Hedge readers who may soon be targeted by comparable snakeoil salesmen).
The Day That Was - HFT's Superdominance
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 07/21/2009 - 20:30The three HFT horsemen are C, BAC and CIT. These three stocks traded 860 million shares today which is 10% of all US Equity volume. Think about that: 3 stocks in a universe of over 5000 U.S. stocks represented 10% of the volume. How could this be? Look at the intraday chart of all three of these stocks and you will see a something in common: an early morning move followed by a flatline with a very tight range (around .05). Meanwhile, while these stocks were flatlining the market was heading higher. The S&P 500 gained around 10 points in the afternoon (or 1%) but these 3 stocks did not move. There was a constant bid to these stocks yet anytime they wanted to lift there seemed to be a constant offer just a few pennies higher. This is what HFT looks like. The HFT’s made a killing in these 3 names today – in addition to the .01-.02 spread, they collected about .005/share in liquidity rebates. Not a bad day for a supercomputer.
Daily Credit Summary: July 21 - Risk Off, Risk On!
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 07/21/2009 - 18:45Spreads were mostly tighter in the US with HY outperforming IG and only HVOL (dominated by CIT) wider close-to-close (although all the indices were wider open-to-close as the morning's derisking gave way to rerisking in ther afternoon). Indices generally outperformed intrinsics (as we suspect correlation desks were actively covering between index and single-name hedges and off-the-runs outperformed on-the-runs) with skews widening in general as IG's skew decompressed as the index beat intrinsics, HVOL outperformed but widened the skew, ExHVOL outperformed pushing the skew wider, XO underperformed but compressed the skew, and HY's skew widened as it underperformed (but HY made new contract tights below 900bps).
Is The SLP The NYSE's Answer To Direct Edge's "Advance Look" Enhanced Liquidity Provider Program Or You Trade You Lose, You Trade...
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 07/21/2009 - 15:14There is a curious article in the latest edition of Traders Magazine. It is curious mostly because it was allowed to be published, as it definitively peels off the cover of what truly happens at the pantheon of stock exchanges, that dominated by a private club of select high frequency traders, who obtain better and faster pricing than everyone else, and where the group of "select few" is seemingly legally allowed and even encouraged to front-run the "every-one else" (you, dear reader, are most likely in the latter camp). If you ever wondered why HFT generates profits of over $20 billion a year, please read this article.
