Via Calculated Risk, the Times has a story that predicts incredible numbers for bank losses. Toxic debts racked up by banks and insurers could spiral to $4 trillion (£2.7 trillion), new forecasts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are set to suggest. The IMF said in January that it expected the deterioration in US-originated assets […]
Archive for April 6th, 2009
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What The G-20 Really Authorized
Posted by Tom Lindmark on April 6th, 2009
Why do politicians do these things? The NYT put the much lauded G-20 monetary commitments in perspective this evening. “The lack of concreteness in the numbers is troubling, because further down the line, they’re going to have to come to grips with the details,” said Eswar S. Prasad, a former China division chief at the International Monetary […]
The Exploding Fiscal Gap
Posted by Tom Lindmark on April 6th, 2009
Clive Crook takes a hard look at the dark side of the U.S. budget in his FT.com column this week. What he sees is not exactly what the American middle class thinks is coming. He starts out conventionally enough noting that the various administration budgets and fiscal stimulus plans have an embedded 3% gap between […]
Another Ponzi Scheme Uncovered
Posted by Tom Lindmark on April 6th, 2009
Another Madoff-mini me has surfaced. The SEC has charged Weizhen Tang and his Toronto based hedge fund with operating a Ponzi scheme. Tang liked to bill himself as the “Chinese Warren Buffett.” Tang, however, wants everyone of his investors to know that he feels just awful about all of this. From Reuters: Attempts to reach […]
The Inherent Dishonesty Of PPIP
Posted by Tom Lindmark on April 6th, 2009
Institutional Risk Analyst has a very technical post up about PPIP. Unless you have some familiarity with options pricing it might be a little dense but the conclusions the author draws are in plain English. Why the complicated structure? Innocent answer: Treasury is unwilling/afraid to ask the Congress for the funds or authority to write […]
Banking Analyst Mayo Says Worst Yet To Come For Banks
Posted by Tom Lindmark on April 6th, 2009
Well known banking analyst Mike Mayo is out with a new analysis of the banks that has a lot to do with the market’s slide this morning. Mayo has a reputation for being independent. He also happens to be pretty negative on the banks’ prospects at this point in time. From Bloomberg: While certain mortgage […]
