Archive - Aug 5, 2009

Some very useful economic perspectives out of the Oregon Investment Council, coupled with some objective (and quite frightening) prospects for the economy - read the section on the upcoming $3 trillion in refis, and a listing of all the fund beneficiaries of the Council's largesse.

Sure has been a while since the SPY IOIA page has graced Zero Hedge.

Damn it feels good to be an SPY market making gangsta.

Zero Hedge recently submitted a FOIA to the Federal Reserve regarding information prepared by Davis Polk and Morgan Stanley in their capacity as legal and financial advisors to the Fed in its negotiations on whether or not to push AIG into bankruptcy. We present their response.

No comment necessary.

"To our Goldman Sachs Execution & Clearing, LP clients -

Given the pace of change in the equities market structure and the recent public dialogue about trading strategies, market venues and order handling, we thought it would be an ideal time to affirm our practices relating to electronic order handling and we highlight these in a letter to our customers."

Goldman reported their $100MM+ trading days. It is a stunner: Goldman made over $100 million on 46 out of the 65 total trading days in Q2, 70% of total. Goldman made over $50 million on 58 of the 65 total trading days in Q2, 89.2% of total.

• Flash trading reversal by SEC may hit Direct Edge, Boost NYSE (Bloomberg) - let's see what happens to the NYSE when dark pools are unwound next...
• Ethics, journalism, the web and the profits of brokerage businesses - oh, and Paul Krugman (Bronte Capital)
• Credit crunch part deux (DollarDaze)
• Why you've stopped watching CNBC (Slate)
• S&P downgrades UK bank debt (FTAlphaville)
• FDIC sends out warning on second mortgage loan accounting (The Truth About Mortgage)

• Land prices are on the rise again in China, helped by easy credit.
• Asian stock markets were mixed on Wednesday as investors eye US econ data.
• Australia's trade deficit narrowed in June to a smaller-than-expected gap.
• Auto dealers are citing tight inventories as a threat to "Cash for Clunkers."
• Number of homes listed for sale declined again in many U.S. cities last month.

Some of the cause and effect chains ahead of tomorrow's ominous full moon. In other news, voodoo dolls proven an effective shareholder proxy fight defense mechanism.