The Financial Times – Lex: Bank capital explained Tier 1 equity; core tier 1 equity; common equity; tangible common equity – too many ways to count bank capital are carelessly thrown around. Problems are amplified by a lack of agreed standards while banks choose definitions that show themselves in the best light. The Basel Committee… Continue reading An Explanation Of Bank Capital
The Financial Times – Lex: Fannie / Freddie Folk wisdom tells us that the more painful a mistake the less likely we are to repeat it. This may be all good and well for dogs and flames but not when the wounds are abstract and politicians hover near the stove. Two years after government-sponsored enterprises… Continue reading Fannie & Freddie
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – European Crisis Flares Up in Ireland Ireland’s troubled banking system became the latest flash point in Europe’s continuing economic crisis, as the government said it would split up the weakest of its major banks to stave off a run by depositors. Irish Finance Minister… Continue reading Ireland & The EU
Charts of the Week Topics Covered This Week Include: LIBOR Is A Meaningless Number CDS Widening Mid-Term Election Update & Obama’s Ratings Revisiting Global Equity Seasonality Revisiting The Dollar And Prospective Net Treasury Returns Revisiting Conditions Precedent For Large Selloffs In Long-Term Treasuries Partial Contribution Of Ten-Year Note Yields To U.S. Equities Still Positive ‘Tis… Continue reading Untitled
CNBC.com – More on SEC’s Shapiro: Strange Omissions Who’s trading stocks these days? I get asked this question constantly; last Friday Larry Tabb, who runs Tabb Group, and I had a fascinating discussion about high frequency trading and the Flash Crash. Here’s Larry’s estimates on who is trading as a percentage of total volume on… Continue reading Volume
The New York Times – The Bears and the State of Housing At times, real estate seems to be in the early stages of a severe double dip. Home sales plunged in July, and some analysts are now predicting that the market will struggle for years, if not decades. Others argue that the worst is… Continue reading What Is The State Of The Housing Market Now And Where Is It Headed?
<Click on chart for larger image> Vanity Fair – Michael Lewis: Beware of Greeks Bearing Bonds As Wall Street hangs on the question “Will Greece default?,” the author heads for riot-stricken Athens, and for the mysterious Vatopaidi monastery, which brought down the last government, laying bare the country’s economic insanity. But beyond a $1.2 trillion… Continue reading Greece
The Financial Times – Lex: European bank funding The brontosaurus took a long time to realise it had been bitten on the tail. This is something it has in common with European banks. Two years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers blocked out the sun (at least if you’re a banker), the eurozone banking sector… Continue reading CDS
Bloomberg.com – Basel Capital Ratio Compromise Reached, Zeitler Says Global regulators reached a compromise on capital ratios for banks that will introduce higher capital requirements over a five- to 10-year period starting in 2013, a German central bank official said. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision drafted key points of the so-called Basel III reforms,… Continue reading Bank Regulation
<Click on chart for larger image> <Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – With Elections Looming, Congress Is Unlikely to Act Soon Congress is unlikely to quickly pass President Barack Obama’s latest proposals to jump-start the economy, reflecting the president’s weakened political position and a bruising election just two months away.… Continue reading Politics And The Economy
The Wall Street Journal – The Obama Economy The recession preceded Mr. Obama’s Inaugural by 13 months, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, and so did the President’s fiscal policy ideas. George W. Bush got there first. In February 2008, he and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi agreed on a $168 billion combination of… Continue reading The State Of The Economy