Federal Reserve Bank
Bernanke Talks His Book
Submitted by Bruce Krasting on 02/08/2012 14:00 -0500He's in the process of ruining the country.
New York Fed Is Back To Transacting Opaquely, Sells AIG Holdings To Goldman
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/08/2012 13:05 -0500The last time the Fed tried to dump Maiden Lane 2 assets via a public auction in a BWIC manner, it nearly crashed the credit market. This time, the FRBNY, headed by one ex-Goldman Sachs alum Bill Dudley, has decided to go back to its shady, opaque ways, and transact in private, with no clear indication of the actual bidding process or transaction terms, and sell $6.2 billion in Maiden Lane 2 "assets" to, wait for it, Goldman Sachs, the same firm that would benefit in the first place if AIG's assets imploded (remember all those CDS it held on AIG which supposedly prevented it from losing money if AIG went bankrupt?). One wonders: does Goldman have a put option on the ML2 portfolio if the market experiences a sudden and totally impossible downtick some day? But all is well - we have assurance from the Fed that the sale happened in a "competitive process." Luckily, that takes care of any appearance of impropriety.
Dear Valued Client: Goldman Is Trying Desperately To "Re-package" Those MBS for You
Submitted by CrownThomas on 02/06/2012 23:38 -0500And so we've come full circle. The WSJ is reporting that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York will be seeking bids by the middle of this week for roughly $6 Billion dollars worth of residential mortgage backed securities currently held in Mainden Lane II. This would be on the heels of a $7 Billion dollar sale on January 19th to Credit Suisse.
San Fran Fed Finds Fiscal Stimulus Has Little Impact During Periods Of Economic Growth
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/06/2012 15:55 -0500It has only been a week since we discussed the San Francisco Fed's research group admitted that water was wet Fed policy will be unable to impact unemployment since the cyclical changes are more structural leading to jobless recoveries as fat is removed from the system. The powerless Fed now has another well-researched problem. As Daniel Wilson of the FRBSF sheepishly admits (having spent several thousands in taxpayer cash to fund the latest Fed 'white paper') with regard to the impact of fiscal stimulus: It is an inconvenient reality that this literature provides an enormous range of multiplier estimates, ranging from –1 to +3. Critically he notes that the benefits of fiscal stimulus vary with the business cycle and are strongest during recessions. So, given that the US is decoupling and that we are not in a recession, we assume the multiplier effect of the Fed's much-desired fiscal stimulus requests will be at the lower end of the range - either negative or inconsequential?
In other words, for the Fed to get its desired fiscal stimulus from the government they had better engineer, using only the monetary policies up their sleeves, a recession.
Round Two Hearings Start, But Feasting on MF Global Continues
Submitted by EB on 02/02/2012 11:12 -0500- B+
- Bankruptcy Code
- Credit Default Swaps
- Creditors
- default
- Department of Justice
- FBI
- Federal Reserve
- Federal Reserve Bank
- fixed
- Lehman
- Lehman Brothers
- Maxine Waters
- Meltdown
- MF Global
- Rating Agencies
- Rating Agency
- ratings
- Reality
- recovery
- Securities and Exchange Commission
- Sovereign Debt
- Testimony
- Wall Street Journal
Was the Chapter 11 Petition of MF Global Holdings filed fraudulently?
Bill Dudley's Financial Holdings Disclosed At Time Of AIG Bailout
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/31/2012 21:25 -0500Earlier today, the New York Fed was kind enough to voluntarily disclose the finacial holdings and assets of one former Goldman Sachs employee, and current FRBNY president Bill Dudley. Bill Dudley is also known as the gentleman to have received, when he was stil head of the PPT, aka the Fed's Open Markets Group, a waiver signed by one Tim Geithner on September 19, 2008, allowing him to keep not only his investment in AIG, which was "de minimis" at $1,200, but also in General Electric, which was not de minimis at $106,830. And while his modest holdings of AIG likely did not impact Dudley's protocol of bailing out the failed insurer, his interest in GE, and thus its then fully held subsidiary NBC Universal, parent of such comedy channels as CNBC, could potentially have been a source of conflict. Which is why the Fed has disclosed the full holdings of Dudley as of the 2008 year, in which we find that the bulk of Dudley's net worth was held by JPMorgan Chase Deferred Income Benefit Award (over $1MM) and JPM Chase Deferred Compensation ($500,001-$1,000,000). Was Mr. Dudley also completely conflict free vis-a-vis the bulk of his holdings, and their custodian, and did the New York's Fed largesse to bail out JPM among many others, have anything to do with this particular heretofore unknown detail? Of course not. After all, Jon Corzine is a free man. In other news, anyone who needs urgent access to the discount window or a $1 trillion overnight loan at 0.001% interest, should just call the Fed's 24/7 hotline: 877-52-FRBNY.
World's Most Profitable Hedge Fund Follows Record Year With Mass Promotions
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/30/2012 11:42 -0500- AIG
- B+
- Bank of America
- Bank of America
- Bank of International Settlements
- Bank of New York
- Capital Markets
- European Central Bank
- Federal Reserve
- Federal Reserve Bank
- Federal Reserve Bank of New York
- Germany
- goldman sachs
- Goldman Sachs
- Italy
- Michigan
- Morgan Stanley
- New York Fed
- Newspaper
- Portugal
- Risk Management
- Rosenberg
- University of California
- University Of Michigan
It was only logical that following its most profitable year in history, the world's most successful hedge fund (by absolute P&L), which generated $77 billion in profit in the past year, would follow up with mass promotions. In other news, it is now more lucrative, and with better job security, to work for the FRBNY LLC Onshore Fund as a vice president than for Goldman Sachs as a Managing Director. Also, since one only has to know how to buy, as the ancient and arcane art of selling is irrelevant at this particular taxpayer funded hedge fund, think of all the incremental equity that is retained courtesy of a training session that is only half as long.
This Is Where The Gold Is(n't) - The New York Fed Guide To The Most Valuable Vault In The World
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/24/2012 15:45 -0500
Much has been said about the secretive vault situated 80 feet below ground level at 33 Liberty street, which contains over 20% of the world's gold (allegedly*), currently estimated at over $350 billion. Some have even robbed it: with the barrier between fantasy and reality a blur, courtesy of the total farce we live in which has rendered the IPO of TheOnion impossible, there is nothing wrong with actually believing Die Hard With A Vengeance did in fact happen. But if your knowledge of the vault is limited to the perspective of one John McClane, you are missing our on a lot. Which is why the new York Fed, in those rare occasions when it is not monetizing debt, and/or telling Citadel which securities to buy, has been courteous enough to put together "The Key To The Gold Vault" - the official brochure of the warehouse where more gold is stored than at any other place in the world.
Guest Post: How To Avoid Voting For A Globalist Puppet
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/24/2012 11:42 -0500
Even with rigged electronic voting, media manipulation, and political co-option, I feel our efforts this year will resonate for many decades to come. Whether we are able to take back social power for regular citizens is not as important as making them aware that they have allowed themselves to lose that power in the first place. The elections of 2012, ultimately, should be treated as a vehicle for enlightenment, and this enlightenment begins when we are able to recognize the lies we live, and the men who sell them to us…
Frontrunning: January 20
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/20/2012 07:14 -0500- American International Group
- Apple
- Bank of America
- Bank of America
- Bank of New York
- Bond
- China
- Chrysler
- Credit Suisse
- Davos
- European Central Bank
- Fail
- Federal Reserve
- Federal Reserve Bank
- Federal Reserve Bank of New York
- Florida
- Gambling
- General Motors
- Hong Kong
- Italy
- Japan
- New York Fed
- News Corp
- Porsche
- Reuters
- Toyota
- Unemployment
- Unemployment Benefits
- Yen
- Fed Holds Off for Now on Bond Buys (Hilsenrath)
- Bonds Show Return of Crisis Once ECB Loans Expire (Bloomberg)
- Greek Debt Talks Enter Third Day After ‘Substantial’ Discussions (Bloomberg)
- Sharp clashes at Republican debate ahead of vote (Reuters)
- Lagarde Joins Warning on Fiscal Cuts Before Davos (Bloomberg)
- Investors exit big-name funds as stars fail to shine (Reuters)
- Payday lenders plead case to consumer agency (Reuters) - the EFSF included?
- EU Toughens Fiscal Pact Bowing to ECB Objections, Draft Shows (Bloomberg)
- Minister Urges Japan to Use Strong Yen (FT)
- China Eyes Pension Fund Boost for Stock Market (Reuters)
- China Manufacturing Contraction Boosts Case for Easing: Economy (Bloomberg)
Fed Back To Its Secretive Ways, Sells $7 Billion In Maiden Lane Assets Directly To Credit Suisse Without Public Auction
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/19/2012 13:03 -0500Instead of opting for a publicly transparent BWIC in the disposition of its Maiden Lane II assets, the Fed has once again gone opaque - long a critique of the Fed's practices which have required repeated FOIAs in the past to get some clarity on its secret bailouts and transactions - and proceeded with a private sale, without any clarity on the deal terms, in which it sold $7 billion in face amount of Maiden Lane II assets direct to Credit Suisse. The alternative of course would be the same snarling of the MBS and broadly fixed income market that we saw in June of last year. In other words, the Fed looked at the options: transparency and risk of grinding credit demand to a halt, or doing what it does best, which is to transact in the shadows, and avoid capital markets risk. It opted for the latter. As to why the Fed decided to go ahead with a deal shrouded in secrecy? "The New York Fed decided to move forward with the transaction only after determining that the winning bid represented good value for the public." "I am pleased with the strength of the bids and the level of market interest in these assets," said William C. Dudley, President of the New York Fed. Because if there is one thing Bill Dudley and the Fed knows is gauging what is in the best interest of the public... and the callorie content of the iPad of course.
Jobless Claims vs Jobs: Charting The Relationship
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/18/2012 10:26 -0500
Tomorrow the BLS will announce that last week's initial claims number was revised to over 400K, the first time this important level has been breached, this time in an adverse fashion, in the past 2 months. But why is 400K important, and why do economists and pundits put impact on this particular number? Here is Bank of America with the explanation in the form of a historical matrix, correlating the historical relationship between these time series, highlighting the notable patterns observed in the past several decade, and what it all means for the big picture.
Protesters Occupy the Federal Reserve in Honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Submitted by George Washington on 01/16/2012 21:16 -0500"King would say 'Please finish what I started.' "
Presenting The World's Most Profitable Hedge Fund Ever: FRBNY LP
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/10/2012 12:35 -0500When one has $2.9 trillion in costless AUM (because if the cost is breached, one just doubles down, especially if one prints the money), it is not all that surprising to generate $77 billion in profits in one year (think of the hubris emanating from that particular year end letter), or even $385 billion in profits in the past 10 years. Yet it is still a stunning number considering the rest of the $2 trillion hedge fund industry lost about 10% in 2011. Which is why we all bow down to what is without doubt the world's most lucrative and profitable generator of P&L in history: the Federal Reserve, which for the second year in a row has printed (pun intended) over $70 billion in profits. And who is the lucky LP? Why the US Treasury of course, which for the second year in a row will pocket all the proceeds from PM Ben's immaculate trading perfection. Of course, there is one caveat for this spotless performance sheet: what happens when Fed interest expense surpasses interest income? But why worry - everyone tells us this can never happen, so it obviously can never happen...








