Archive - Mar 2009

March 22nd

Tyler Durden's picture

Weekend Reading





    • The Big Takeover (Rolling Stone)
    • Krugman: The Zombie ideas have won (New York Times)
    • Ken Rogoff: The worst is yet to come (PBS)
    • Jeremy Bulow: Fix the banks by focusing on liabilities not assets (Vox)
    • Buite
     

    Tyler Durden's picture

    Weekend Reading





      • The Big Takeover (Rolling Stone)
      • Krugman: The Zombie ideas have won (New York Times)
      • Ken Rogoff: The worst is yet to come (PBS)
      • Jeremy Bulow: Fix the banks by focusing on liabilities not assets (Vox)
      • Buite
       

      Tyler Durden's picture

      The Amazing TALF Bait And Switch





      The greatest bait and switch of this generation in all its visual splendor. As a result of the TALF's non-recourse/non-margin nature, a hedge fund X can buy Bank X's MBS Portfolio which is marked on the bank's books at 80 cents on the dollar (but has a market price of 20 cents) for the marked price with a 3% equity check and TALF filling the balance.

       

      Tyler Durden's picture

      The Amazing TALF Bait And Switch





      The greatest bait and switch of this generation in all its visual splendor. As a result of the TALF's non-recourse/non-margin nature, a hedge fund X can buy Bank X's MBS Portfolio which is marked on the bank's books at 80 cents on the dollar (but has a market price of 20 cents) for the marked price with a 3% equity check and TALF filling the balance.

       

      Tyler Durden's picture

      Some More Thoughts On The FDIC And The "Systemic Risk Exception" Clause





      As I dug a little more into the mystery of the amended Bloomberg headline discussing FDIC's travails, some interesting facts came up.

       

      March 21st

      Tyler Durden's picture

      The True State Of The CMBS Market, And Why Billions In New Writedowns Are Coming





      In response for requests for information on where the capital markets objectively evaluate commercial mortgage backed securities, and also to demonstrate the recent knee jerk reaction of how CMBX spreads ripped wider once it became clear older vintage, sub-AAA would not be eligible for TALF 1.0 participation, I am presenting the recent trading levels of CMBX 1 through CMBX 5, segregated by tranching (rule of thumb: the higher the chart line, the lower the underlying value, the more MTM pain for sellers of the CMBX tranche i.e. banks).

       

      Tyler Durden's picture

      Will Somebody Remove Geithner From The Poker Table Please?





      As Zero Hedge wrote previously, the TALF in its current formulation is merely a lot of hot air as it provides an incentive to buy assets that nobody really cares about (AAA-backed, newly issued "securitized" equivalents).

       

      Tyler Durden's picture

      Will Somebody Remove Geithner From The Poker Table Please?





      As Zero Hedge wrote previously, the TALF in its current formulation is merely a lot of hot air as it provides an incentive to buy assets that nobody really cares about (AAA-backed, newly issued "securitized" equivalents).

       

      Tyler Durden's picture

      Madoff Victim Letters





      Tyler Durden's picture

      The Week In Review





      As next week's news is likely to be consumed by Geithner's redesign of the TALF, it is useful to summarize the events of the prior week. An overview of the ten most notable events that have occurred, compliments of BofA:

      1) Fed’s moves impact Treasury notes and the dollar

       

      Tyler Durden's picture

      DE Shaw On The Basis Monster That Ate Wall Street





      DE Shaw's quant Ph.D. geniuses are focusing on the topic de jour: the Basis Trade (to Boaz Weinstein's chagrin they are 6 months off). Always good to get one more perspective on the issue. Great bedtime reading for hardcores: enough new concepts here to find at least 5 brand spanking new ways to blow up the world. Particularly interesting section:

       

      March 20th

      Tyler Durden's picture

      Mary Meeker's Latest Convergence Piece





      Some internet convergence optimism from the ever cheerful Morgan Stanley lifer Mary Meeker, to dispel the recent FDIC hatin' on ZH. Hat tip to Paul Kedrosky.

      Meeker Tech '09 - Get more Business Plans

       

      Tyler Durden's picture

      FDIC Closes Three More Banks





      This brings the 2009 total to 20 banks down and counting. The latest three are:

      • FirstCity Bank of Stockbridge, GA, had total assets of $297 million and total deposits of $278 million. At the time of closing, the bank had approximately $778,000 in deposits that exceeded the insurance limits. In English this means tomorrow some people will realize they are $778,000 poorer.
       

      Tyler Durden's picture

      Delayed Bloomberg Editorializing To Avoid Panic





      Hat tip to reader Camila for pointing out that Bloomberg's earlier editorial mistake in reporting the truth was subsequently mitigated substantially. The title of the original Bloomberg article was "Bair Says FDIC Reserves May Hit Zero Without New Fees", which was subsequently moderated to the current "Bair Defends Fee To Build Deposit Reserves Amid Bank Opposition."

       

      Tyler Durden's picture

      Delayed Bloomberg Editorializing To Avoid Panic





      Hat tip to reader Camila for pointing out that Bloomberg's earlier editorial mistake in reporting the truth was subsequently mitigated substantially. The title of the original Bloomberg article was "Bair Says FDIC Reserves May Hit Zero Without New Fees", which was subsequently moderated to the current "Bair Defends Fee To Build Deposit Reserves Amid Bank Opposition."

       
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