Archive - Jun 2009

• Jobless claims rise, total benefit rolls decline (Bloomberg)
• Uncle Sam's favorite subsidized Fiat calls for restructuring of auto industry (AP)
• China sells US bonds to "show concern" (Breitbart, hat tip SB)
  

• Jobless claims rise, total benefit rolls decline (Bloomberg)
• Uncle Sam's favorite subsidized Fiat calls for restructuring of auto industry (AP)
• China sells US bonds to "show concern" (Breitbart, hat tip SB)
  

As the 10 Year has resumed its daily pounding (and it seemed like just yesterday that bond concerns had disappeared... oh wait it was - time to deflate equities guys), the scheduled bond releases for next week should make the bond vigilantes giddy at the prospect of further uncovering China's growing lack of interest in Treasuries.

With Eliot Spitzer selling D.C. real estate these days, and Attorney Generals chasing hundreds of billions of dollar from illegal taxpayer funnels, it is no wonder there is nobody left to monitor potential abuse within the broker/dealer community.

Good, succinct obit of the Green Shoots period compliments of Rosie's headline points from his morning piece.

As program trading computers pretend to care about such fundamental things as continuing jobless claims, a peculiar trend emerges.

• Consumer prices fell 1.3% from a year earlier, the largest drop since 1950.
• AutoZone Board authorized repurchase of an addln $500M of co's common stock.
• BB&T Corp announces it pays Treasury more than $3.1B to exit TARP.
• Eddie Bauer Hldgs files for Chapter 11, to be acquired by CCMP for $202M.
• E*Trade to $400M in stock as it looks to exchange more than $1B of existing notes and raise excess capital.
• Fedex CEO: "the worst of the recession is behind us".
• FedEx's loss widened to $876M on $1.2B of write-downs. Revs down 20% to $7.85B.

• Even as Fed gets exactly zero CMBS TALF bids (Bloomberg), BofA is marketing Commercial Mortgage Debt (Bloomberg). When does this insane resecuritization attempt become criminal? How many more banks need to blow up?

Tomorrow's headlines tonight.

Austrian Filter has taken the time to put together all the relevant quotes over the past 2 years that demonstrate how profoundly Bernanke and Paulson have been misrepresenting (or simply misunderstanding) just how extensive the crisis we are in, is. One can only imagine why anyone would ever believe anything Ben Bernanke (or any other vapid disseminator of groundless optimism) has to say anymore, after two years of outright hyperbole and unfounded green shootery.

Even with the market oscillating lower, then higher, and finally closing unchanged, the trend in bonds has started getting ugly again. The bond vigilantes will need progressively more to be placated: a several % drop in the S&P just ain't gonna cut it no more.

2s10s closed at the day's (and 4 day) wides with a trend to accelerating widening.

Spreads were broadly wider in the US as all the indices deteriorated (with HY once again underperforming IG but the latter ending well off its wides of the day).

For a good example of just how worthless of a tool for investors (and useful for persuading follow on offering "participation") the Goldman Sachs Conviction Buy list is, look no further than the recent performance of REIT CBL & Associates, coupled with the recommendations on the stock by Goldman Sachs REIT analyst Jonathan Habermann.

For a good example of just how worthless of a tool for investors (and useful for persuading follow on offering "participation") the Goldman Sachs Conviction Buy list is, look no further than the recent performance of REIT CBL & Associates, coupled with the recommendations on the stock by Goldman Sachs REIT analyst Jonathan Habermann.