Archive - Feb 24, 2010

RANsquawk 24th February US Morning Briefing - Stocks, Bonds, FX etc.

• Nationwide strike paralyzes Greece, clashes between rioters and Police begin (WSJ, Bloomberg)
• Protests have spread to Spain (El Pais, h/t Paul)
• Dutch snap elections scheduled for June 9 (FT)
• Geithner may give regulator leeway in applying volcker rule (Bloomberg) - Note: Vince Reinhart is co-author of the seminal "Conducting Monetary Policy at Very Low Short-Term Interest Rates" in which the Fed considered buying equities and foreign sovereing bonds
• Reinhart: Bernanke's confidence game (The American)
• Home purchase loan demand at lowest since 1997 (Reuters)

• Asian shares fall for first time in three days on US consumer confidence.
• Dollar weakens versus Euro on speculation Fed to hold rates.
• German business confidence unexpectedly drops as snow hampers retail sales.
• Hong Kong raises tax on luxury homes to cool market after 29% price gain.
• Japan January export growth accelerates to 40.9% as overseas demand drives recovery.
• Oil hovers below $79 in Asia after US crude supplies drop, suggesting demand up.
• Treasury said it will borrow $200B and leave money on deposit with the Fed.

RANsquawk 24th February Morning Briefing - Stocks, Bonds, FX etc.

RANsquawk 24th February Morning Briefing - Stocks, Bonds, FX etc.

The Case Shiller housing report, the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index, and the FDIC Q4 bank report came out Tuesday with mostly negative results. Things like the biggest loan contraction since 1942 ought to grab your attention. These are significant numbers.

Some of the top secret AIG bailout info is out. One Goldman Sachs Guess who's at
the heart of it, making money by creating straight trash, selling it to
its clients then buying insurance to benefit from its inevitable
crash? I quote "divulging the names of the [trash] CDOs could erode their value: “We will be hurt because traders in the market will know what we’re holding.”.