Archive - Feb 2010 - Blog entry

Derivatives trading volumes in January 2010 were stronger, with European derivatives volumes increasing 32.4% and U.S. options trading volumes increasing a whopping 102.4% y/o/y. Cash equities trading volumes were mixed, with European cash transactions increasing 4.1% and U.S. cash equities trading volumes declining 23.7% from Jan '09. Total interest rate products ADV of 2.7 million contracts in January 2010 increased 37.8% from January 2009, and increased 50.5% from December 2009. Total interest rate product ADV is at the highest level since March 2008 !

Today, casinos have much more integrity in their business dealings than do banks. In general, casinos have more cash and more transparent business dealings with their clients than do banks. That's why it's so ironic that most large commercial banks, as part of their "moral code", do not allow private bankers to do business with casinos. It appears today, that the bankers got that one entirely wrong.

If Obama really were serious about restoring America’s economic health, he would demand military spending be slashed, quickly end the Iraq and Afghan wars and break up the nation’s giant Frankenbanks...

A look at the relationship between sovereign risk, the price of oil and investment strategy in a possible Financial Crisis 2.0 scenario.

Whether or not large nations actually go bankrupt, one thing is clear . . . Larry Summers, Ben Bernanke, Tim Geithner and their foreign counterparts have failed ...

Ready for a breakup of the Euro, anyone? How long can a sober, conservative German grandfather be expected to indulge the disgraceful habits of its party animal, thrill seeking, drug addicted grandchildren? They’re actually worried about inflation down under. If you want to know how the big boys are coining it, come this way. The trade that George Soros and Paul Tudor Jones glory in.

In the UK, the data shows the financial crisis led to a £6bn fall in dividends from the banks, leaving drug, tobacco and oil companies to fill some of the gap. Meanwhile, UK commercial property is benefiting from huge pension flows. Is this a wise long-term investment?

Nothing has changed from last week, last month, or even 4 months ago when the market was higher than it is now!!

Even if some politicians tried to stand up to Wall Street - or even if we "throw out all of the bums" currently in political roles - the U.S. would still be locked into the WTO's scheme for helping the financial giants to grow ever bigger and to take ever-bigger and ever-riskier gambles.
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I take issue with some of Hank Paulson's tell all book "On The Brink". I don't think he told all the story. Parts of the story he told do not jibe with the facts. It was still an interesting book.

It's very hard to tell if this increase in employment is real, a temporary bump from stimulus, or a fiction arising from incorrect assumptions used by the BLS. Here's how to read the numbers.

Ever go drinking on Thursday and awake CSIQ on Saturday ... the unbeknownst shareholder of some Chinese micro / small-cap spec-crap ? If it occurred between February and December of 2006, you may have been a victim; you may have been electronically raped. Since CSIQ' IPO wasn't until 11.09.06, below is: (1) a daily & weekly snapshot (spanning 2006) of one of my all-time favorite-st pieces of Chinagra crap ~ the shell holding company known as SEED, whose accounting extraordinaire is matched only by the protectionism afforded its sector by Beijing bureaucrats; (2) the DoJ press release (2.5.10) in toto.

While it was another freaky Friday on Wall Street, I'd say the US jobs report was encouraging as was the price action in the stock market. Things are slowly getting better, but the pace of job growth is painfully slow. However, as the recovery gains steam, job growth will follow. It's only a matter of time now.

Please ignore this story. It is not important, and not relevant to anything you care about ...

TheStreet.com has dug up a very interesting email that shows what goes behind closed doors when the heads of two of the largest US and Spanish banks get together and talk. Not all of it appears to be legal – there may be collusion and an agreement not to compete for acquisitions.