Archive - Jun 11, 2009

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No commentary.

Ever since the 30 year auction closed earlier, the market has been acting about as rationally as the Stalingrad Bourse back in 1939. Nowhere can this be seen better than the volatility in the 15 Year mortgage. Vol has moved from stocks, to CDS, to treasuries and is now roosting in mortgages. Rinse. Repeat?

Ever since the 30 year auction closed earlier, the market has been acting about as rationally as the Stalingrad Bourse back in 1939. Nowhere can this be seen better than the volatility in the 15 Year mortgage. Vol has moved from stocks, to CDS, to treasuries and is now roosting in mortgages. Rinse. Repeat?

WSJ reporting that Judge Drain in charge of the GM bankruptcy case has ordered Delphi to hold an auction and allow bids to challenge the government-brokered sale to Platinum Equity. Drain's comment with regard to Tom Gores' henchmen is priceless: "What's so special about Platinum?" They're just guys in suits. Why can't the other guys in suits just pay more?"

JPM's Michael Cembalest with a terrific compare and contrast between the current economic situation and that of the 70's. Useful to not that no matter how many contrasts on draw to previous major recessions, what we are living through now is so much more than a simple manufacturing recession as Rosie keeps pounding the table. Anyone who believes that the impact from the unwind of 50 years of progressively cheaper and pervasive credit will be resolved within a 1 year of the Lehman bankruptcy is either hopelessly naive, or ideologically conflicted, or both.
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JPM's Michael Cembalest with a terrific compare and contrast between the current economic situation and that of the 70's. Useful to not that no matter how many contrasts on draw to previous major recessions, what we are living through now is so much more than a simple manufacturing recession as Rosie keeps pounding the table. Anyone who believes that the impact from the unwind of 50 years of progressively cheaper and pervasive credit will be resolved within a 1 year of the Lehman bankruptcy is either hopelessly naive, or ideologically conflicted, or both.
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Other things, maybe, but not words. Barney Frank tells CNBC to sit on it, after Mark Haines, who by his own admission "can not remember what happened yesterday," calls him out for his repeated auditioning for the role of Populist Compensation Queen, er, Czar.

Fast Forward to 5:50 in the clip below: Hell hath no fury like a... Barney Frank... scorned.

Courtesy of the House Committee on Oversight And Government Reform

Click here for the live webcast.

While the world seems to have moved on from H1N1 as any threat whatsoever, the World Health Organization just declared a Swine Flue Pandemic, and raised the error threat to the highest available.

We will keep you posted as we learn more.

More troubles for John Burbank's pro-cyclical $2.4 billion Passport Capital which was down a whopping 50.9% in 2008. According to India's equivalent of the SEC, Passport PM Dipak Patel had been front running the fund for about two years from 2007 to 2009, and has been subsequently barred from the industry. As expected, the firm has washed its hands of any wrongdoing:

• Asian stocks rise as Chinese investment boosts growth optimism.
• Australia's jobless rate rises to 7-year high of 5.7 percent as companies cut workers.
• Bank of Korea keeps key interest rate at record low 2 percent for 4th straight month.
• China's May exports and imports plunge 26.4 but analysts say economy improving.
• European stocks up ahead of key US data.
• Fed Beige Book says recession may be 'moderating,' labor weakness persists.
• Foreclosures fall 6 percent in May from April, smallest annual drop since mid-2006.
• Japan's 1Q GDP rev
  

• Swieca leaving Highbridge, JP Morgan to dominate hedge fund (Bloomberg)
• Republican staff say e-mails show fed overstepped on Merrill (Bloomberg)
• Roubini: Is Eastern Europe on the brink of an Asian-style crisis?
  

• Swieca leaving Highbridge, JP Morgan to dominate hedge fund (Bloomberg)
• Republican staff say e-mails show fed overstepped on Merrill (Bloomberg)
• Roubini: Is Eastern Europe on the brink of an Asian-style crisis?
  

After hitting a record high in April, RealtyTrac has announced that the pace of foreclosures has slowed down, and in May dropped by 6%. Nonetheless, “May foreclosure activity was the third highest month on record, and marked the third straight month where the total number of properties with foreclosure filings exceeded 300,000 — a first in the history of our report,” said James J.