Archive - Jun 2009

• AIG is raising about $1.14 billion in the offering of the reinsurer’s stock.
• Barclays in talks to sale BGI, with Blackrock for $12 billion.
• BlackRock said to offer $13B cash, stock for Barclays Global Unit.
• Boston Newspaper Guild turned down the Globe's proposal in a 277-265 vote.
• High Court stymies quick sale of Chrysler.
• Callaway Golf cuts dividend by 86%, to sell $110M in stock.
• Citi's $58B swap of preferred shares into common stock will go forth this week.
• Court’s one-sentence order puts Chrysler reorganization into uncertaint
  

• German retailer Arcandor/Karstadt-Quelle files for bankruptcy - Merkel is last bastion of capitalism (Bloomberg)
• The worrying wall of debt (The Deal)
  

Because having the 60th ranked supercomputer in the world doing reverse Whois and DNS lookups on you is not the most pleasant thing in the world. And it is too late to smoke the green shoot peace pipe at 1am.

Presumably the Lawrence Livermore Lab is busy playing blind chess with Gary Kasparov, and Cambridge University hasn't mastered the art of trading SPYs.

Because having the 60th ranked supercomputer in the world doing reverse Whois and DNS lookups on you is not the most pleasant thing in the world. And it is too late to smoke the green shoot peace pipe at 1am.

Presumably the Lawrence Livermore Lab is busy playing blind chess with Gary Kasparov, and Cambridge University hasn't mastered the art of trading SPYs.

• Must Read: Taibbi destroys WSJ's Evan Newmark: "Time to enshrine Hank Paulson as national hero" WTF (Taibblog hat tip Ian)

The consolidated group of objecting Chrysler dealers has filed a summary in the Chrysler docket summarizing every single objecting party's pleadings. Very useful reading, which makes it easy to track what grounds any particular dealers believes the company/administration has wronged him/her on. Of course, way too late in the case to have a bearing on the SCOTUS decision, let alone BK court, but still good for all who are still curious about the dealergate scandal.

Everyone's favorite destructor of value Jim Dondero has provided a nice presentation on the "performance" of the Highland Credit Strategies Fund. Seeing how this is among the top 10 pro-cyclical (i.e. poised to outperform in a squeeze) it would not be a surprise if Dondero pulls a Weinstein and manages to start a brand spanking new hedge fund as investors and FoFs on the sideline believe he has learned his lessons and will never again lose billions and billions of AUM.

Crazy day.

First: an updated 1 Year Treasury 1 yr Forward. Closed practically at the wides. Someone(s) just lost their job(s) over this.

Crazy day.

First: an updated 1 Year Treasury 1 yr Forward. Closed practically at the wides. Someone(s) just lost their job(s) over this.

Zero Hedge announced RIEF's MTD (under)performance on Friday. Now, an apologetic Simons is out, explaining wtf is going on with the worst performing quant fund of the year (give or take).

Fast fwd to 4:50 "There have certainly been threats made." by the administration.

Yet another confirmation of S-Rat's persuasive tactics.

Must watch interview with Indiana Pensioners' Richard Mourdock.

Spreads were broadly wider in the US as all the indices deteriorated (despite a big leg tighter towards the close which leaked back wider after the close). Indices typically underperformed single-names with skews widening in general as IG underperformed but narrowed the skew, HVOL outperformed but widened the skew, ExHVOL intrinsics beat and narrowed the skew, XO's skew increased as the index outperformed, and HY's skew widened as it underperformed.

Developing Story. Liquidation for Chrysler after Fiat bounces asap?

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg put a temporary hold Monday on the deal to sell Chrysler to save it from collapse. Her order, however, simply gives her or the full Court more time to ponder whether to postpone it further, or allow it to go forward.

Down market got you feeling, well, down? JPM Red Bull (with or without coca plant additives) gives you (and the market) wings.

In other news, the Bberg SPY INDEX IOIA is now macro'ed to JPY.

Investors can not wait to sell mortgages so they can buy the brand new iPhone. Speaking of brand new, BB, if you are reading this, how about some fresh QE: after all what's a few trillion $ between friends. Mom and pop have to be buying this whole recovery story after all.