The Financial Times – Lex: EU bank stress tests So much for calming eurozone investors’ nerves. Italy’s three biggest lenders led a sell-off in European banks on Monday, falling by about 4 per cent despite passing the European Banking Authority’s stress tests. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 banks index is now down more than 25 per… Continue reading EU Stress Tests
The New Yorker – John Cassidy: Mastering the Machine How Ray Dalio built the world’s richest and strangest hedge fund Dalio believes that some heavily indebted countries, including the United States, will eventually opt for printing money as a way to deal with their debts, which will lead to a collapse in their currency and… Continue reading Ray Dalio Is Bearish!
Associated Press – Mortgage ‘robo-signing’ goes on Mortgage industry employees are still signing documents they haven’t read and using fake signatures more than eight months after big banks and mortgage companies promised to stop the illegal practices that led to a nationwide halt of home foreclosures. County officials in at least three states say they… Continue reading Robo-Signing Remains Rampant
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Comment Jim Bianco was on Bloomberg radio Friday (audio) discussing the markets and economy. The Washington Post – Barry Ritholtz: Wall Street analysts and economists have this recession recovery wrong Why have analysts and economists on Wall Street gotten this so wrong? In a word: context. Most are looking at the wrong data set, using… Continue reading The State Of The Markets And Economy
The Wall Street Journal – Few Banks Fail EU Exams After Only Eight of 90 Lenders Flunk, Skeptics Question Rigor of ‘Stress Tests’ European regulators, trying to douse the Continent’s financial crisis, unveiled the long-awaited results of their banking “stress tests,” but the small number of lenders that flunked the exams immediately provoked skepticism. The… Continue reading European Bank Stress Tests’ Credibility
The Telegraph (UK) – Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: A modest proposal for eurozone break-up The eurozone can in theory still be saved, if two sets of conditions are fulfilled; if the leaders of Germany, Austria, Finland, and the Netherlands accept fiscal union and a common pooling of debt, and can persuade their parliaments and courts to ratify… Continue reading How To Fix The Euro
<Click on graphic for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Southern Exposure for Europe’s Banks On their face, the European Union tests portrayed a surprisingly healthy banking system. Only eight of 90 lenders flunked the exams, seeing their capital cushions dip below 5% of their risk-adjusted assets under a simulated two-year economic downturn. The… Continue reading European Bank Lending
FT Alphaville – The price of distressed Treasuries More and more folks are arguing (see Bob Janjuah, Caroline Baum, or Joe Weisenthal) that in the event of an imminent United States sovereign default, there’s only one thing to hold: United States sovereign debt. Prices will rise on scarcity value, essentially. On one reading, it’s simply a… Continue reading More On The Bullish Case For Treasuries If No Debt Deal Is Reached
Reuters – S&P threatens downgrade of U.S. financial companies Standard & Poor’s on Friday raised the pressure on debt negotiators in Washington, saying it could downgrade insurers, securities clearinghouses, mortgage agencies and a laundry list of other firms without a deal soon to lift the debt ceiling and cut the deficit. While S&P had already… Continue reading S&P Threatens To Downgrade Everything
The New York Times – Floyd Norris: Adding to Jobless Woes, Little Turnover in the Workplace IF the level of firings were the only measure of the American job market, these would appear to be good times. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this week that the rate of discharges and layoffs rose a little… Continue reading Hiring
Bloomberg.com – Gold Rallies to Record in Best Run Since 1980 Gold surged to a record in the best run of gains in more than three decades as U.S. politicians failed to reach agreement on raising the debt ceiling and Europe’s sovereign crisis lingered, boosting haven demand. Bullion in euros and pounds also rose to… Continue reading Gold