The NYSE has issued an updated System Status and notified traders that all orders in over 40 stocks, among them BRK, entered before 11:45 am have been canceled. Trading in these securities is expected to resume at noon. Even robots need a vacation.

Today, at 11:00am, the Fed was supposed to close an OMO Purchase of 17 Cusips, with maturities ranging from 2026 to 2039. The original auction was Cancelled according to the NY Fed website. The auction was subsequently completed with a 20 minute closing time delay.

"When people kid around that the Fed has become another hedge fund now that it is the lender of first, second and last resort — to mention the market-maker for everyone including RVs and mobile homes — it really is no joke at all. See NY Fed in Hiring Spree as Assets Soar. The New York Fed is seeking to bolster its staffing of traders — not research staff, but traders — by nearly 70%!! When will the Fed start hiring investment bankers? That is what we would like to know."

Presented is the recusing ethics waiver that allowed Hank Paulson free reign to do as he saw fit when bailing out Goldman Sachs. The next question is whether Mr. Fred Fielding recused himself of recusing Hank, and just what authority he was granted by the president to allow such unprecedentedly conflicted individuals as the former CEO of Goldman Sachs to do everything in his power to not only place unlimited collect calls into Lloyd Blankfein's office but to make sure that Goldman was the primary beneficiary of all the banking cataclysms of 2008.

The Congressional Oversight Panel has released its August report which contains some much more dire language about the prospects of the U.S. banking system than did the joke that was the Stress Test, especially in the small/middle bank sector.

The 21-day MA on the NYSE Up Issues Ratio is the most stretched since 1991.

• CIT delays report, could have to file for bankruptcy (Reuters)
• In an ironic example of what happens when the government is not running the economy, Ruble falls in longest slump since February on record GDP drop (Bloomberg, h/t Nic)
• Fitch warns Midtown loans face default (Real Deal, h/t Ed)
• SEC investigating Huron for accounting errors (Reuters)
• Double dip recession? (Washington Times)

• Asian stocks gain for the second day on speculation profits will increase.
• Bad assets still threaten bank stability, congressional watchdog says.
• Bank of Japan keeps key rate at 0.1%, focuses on risks to economy, prices.
• "Cash for clunkers" program generates more than 245,000 vehicle sales in 2 weeks.
• China backs off from allegations that Rio Tinto cost it $102B in overcharges.

Tuesday highlights for UK and Eurozone. Today we cover important news coming out of the Eastern block, economic data and some insightful Blog posts. An Asian update is also provided for numbers which came out of China and Japan today.

Following an expansionary announcement by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Chinese market data paints a mixed picture on Chinese economy.

Who'd a thunk the IRR on the new, and oddly phallic Huntsman Hall would be quite so attractive. Well, it wasn't really positive, but these days down little is the new killing it (absent being too big to fail or too UAWed not to have a 30 day successful and gov't backed stalking horse auction). The Philadelphia university is expected to see it endowment decline by only 15.7% in the fiscal year ending June 2009, a stark contrast to bigger and "smarter" rivals such as Harvard and Yale, which are set to be down 30% and 25%, respectively.

Today, SL Green announced a preliminary sale transaction (subject to assumable financing, an out wider than VaR exclusion loopholes) which is supposed to herald the coming of the new mid-town CRE renaissance. An ebullient SL Green CEO Marc Holliday had this to say: "This is a first, but significant step towards the sale of interests in 485 Lexington Avenue. If ultimately approved, the transaction would demonstrate that the Midtown Manhattan office market continues to stand as one of the world's top locations and that investor interest is once again on the rise." Zero Hedge is waiting with baited breath for the Holliday mirage to dissipate, while in the meantime Class A office space in 767 Fifth Avenue can be sublet for $60/sq foot.

Judge Rakoff demonstrates some brilliant logic which is completely lost to both the CEO of Bank Of America and to the Chairwoman of the SEC: "If they would not have paid out $3.6 billion, they would have had a loss of $3.6 billion less, no?"

In response to turmoil in the interbank lending market, the Federal Reserve inaugurated programs to bolster liquidity beginning in December 2007. Research offers evidence that these liquidity facilities have helped lower the London interbank offered rate, a key market benchmark, significantly from what it otherwise would have been expected to be.

"A U.S. judge on Monday denied a motion by Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) to quash a request for personnel information on a former computer programmer accused of stealing trade secrets from the firm."