Empiric Student Property Share Discussion Threads

[briarberry] 19/9/2008 15:26

This mess is massive - Just Lehman alone is big but Lehman Brothers is tiny compared to FNM & FRE plus the other bailouts...


In an attempt to put the current financial crisis into perspective, today's chart illustrates the 10 largest Chapter 11 bankruptcies in US history. As the chart illustrates, the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers earlier this week dwarfs all previous US bankruptcies.

[briarberry] 19/9/2008 14:37

TNX up 9%, yields bouncing, but does it mean anything yet...



(lots in the USA watching this)

[briarberry] 19/9/2008 14:35

FNM & FRE bailout starting...


Statement Regarding Planned Purchases of Agency Debt

The Federal Reserve has announced that the Open Market Trading Desk (Desk) will begin purchasing short-term debt obligations issued by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks in the secondary market for the System Open Market Account.

[briarberry] 19/9/2008 14:11

They say, "don't fight the Fed"

but surely the Fed is about to be taught, "don't fight free markets"

[briarberry] 19/9/2008 13:38

The short selling ban plan, when the market is going up the financials love to see the sheeple betting on short...


Christopher Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, told lawmakers the SEC may put in a temporary emergency ban on all short-selling, not just the aggressive forms it already has targeted, according to a person familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity because no final decision had been made.

(same link)

[briarberry] 19/9/2008 13:13

US banking bailout...

I would never bet on it but I'd say that they're worried about a market crash.

As a result it sounds like they are panicking. But I cannot see where the Treasury & Fed are going to get all this intervention money from? How much money are foreign central banks likely to give, how much can taxpayers pay?

And if the presses start printing USD, hyperinflation will probably lead to a crash eventually anyway.

This crisis is much larger than any previous crisis, at least ten times the S&L crisis.

The Treasury & Fed wouldn't do this unless they were seriously worried about a banking crash & market crash.

[briarberry] 19/9/2008 12:48

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress promised quick action on a plan to buy up toxic assets, such as bad mortgages, held by troubled banks and other institutions, hoping to lift the nation out of its worst financial crisis in decades.



said to be similar to this

[briarberry] 19/9/2008 12:38

short ban - sounds like it's only financials so far, both in the UK & USA...


The emergency order temporarily banning short-selling of financial stocks

The Securities and Exchange Commission took the dramatic step early Friday of temporarily banning the routine practice of betting against company stocks.

The SEC said its action calls a time-out to aggressive short-selling in financial stocks and said it would consider measures to address short-selling in other publicly traded companies.

[briarberry] 17/9/2008 17:20

The Fed is bust, start the printers !!!


Treasury Says Will Issue Debt to Help Fed Manage Balance Sheet
2008-09-17 14:03:13.330 GMT

By John Brinsley and Rebecca Christie

Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) - The U.S. Treasury said it will sell
bills to allow the Federal Reserve to expand its balance sheet,
a day after the government agreed to take over American
International Group Inc.
"The Treasury Department announced today the initiation of
a temporary Supplementary Financing Program at the request of
the Federal Reserve," the department said in a statement today.
"The program will consist of a series of Treasury bills, apart
from Treasury's current borrowing program."

–Editors: Brendan Murray, James Tyson

statement here

[briarberry] 17/9/2008 16:20

TED SPREAD WIDENS TO MOST SINCE OCTOBER 1987 STOCK CLASH

[briarberry] 17/9/2008 15:36

oil - 6.3 down

gasoline - 3.3 down

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories (excluding those in the Strategic
Petroleum Reserve) decreased by 6.3 million barrels from the previous week. At
291.7 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are in the lower half of the
average range for this time of year. Total motor gasoline inventories decreased
by 3.3 million barrels last week, and are below the lower boundary of the
average range.


Total Stocks (Incl SPR) 1,669.9 1,681.9 down 12 (down about 6 supertankers worth)

[briarberry] 17/9/2008 15:10

*DJ SEC Adopts Short-Sale Anti-Fraud Rule

*DJ SEC Short-Sale Changes To Take Effect Thursday

*DJ SEC: Broker-dealers Must Deliver Secs By Settlement Date's End

*DJ SEC Eliminates Reg SHO Option Market-Maker Exception

*DJ SEC Tightens Short-Sale Rules, Calls For Firm Close-Out

*DJ SEC: Rules Apply To All Public Companies

*DJ SEC Issues Naked Short Selling Rules

[briarberry] 17/9/2008 14:59

Rothbard, "A History of Money and Banking in the United States"

"The Fed tried frantically to inflate after the 1929 crash, including massive open market purchases and heavy loans to banks. These attempts succeeded in driving interest rates down, but they foundered on the rock of massive distrust of the banks. Furthermore, bank fears of runs as well as bankruptcies by their borrowers led them to pile up excess reserves in a manner not seen before or since the 1930s." - Rothbard, "The Mystery of Banking"

"[T]he inflationary policies of [President Herbert] Hoover and [Federal Reserve Board Governor Eugene] Meyer proved to be counterproductive. American citizens lost confidence in the banks and demanded cash – Federal Reserve notes – for their deposits (currency in circulation rising by $122 million by the end of July), while foreigners lost confidence in the dollar and demanded gold (the gold stock in the United States falling by $380 million in this period). In addition, the banks, for the first time, did not fully lend out their new reserves, and accumulated excess reserves – these excess reserves rising to 10 percent of total reserves by mid-year. A common explanation claims that business, during a depression, lowered its demand for loans, so that pumping new reserves into the banks was only "pushing on a string." But this popular view overlooks the fact that banks can always use their excess reserves to buy existing securities; they don't have to wait for new loan requests. Why didn't they do so? Because the banks were whipsawed between two forces. On the one hand, bank failures had increased dramatically during the depression. Whereas during the 1920s, in a typical year 700 banks failed, with deposits totaling $170 million, since the depression struck, 17,000 banks had been failing per year, with a total of $1.08 billion in deposits. This increase in bank failures could give any bank pause, especially since all the banks knew in their hearts that, as fractional reserve banks, none of them could withstand determined and massive runs upon them by their depositors. Second, just at a time when bank loans were becoming risky, the cheap-money policy of the Fed had driven down interest returns from bank loans, thus weakening banks' incentive to bear risk. Hence the piling up of excess reserves. The more that Hoover and the Fed tried to inflate, the more worried the market and the public became about the dollar, the more gold flowed out of the banks, and the more deposits were redeemed for cash." - Rothbard, "A History of Money and Banking in the United States"

[briarberry] 17/9/2008 01:01

Fed Readies A.I.G. Loan of $85 Billion for an 80% Stake

In an extraordinary turn, the Federal Reserve was close to a deal Tuesday night to take a nearly 80 percent stake in the troubled giant insurance company, the American International Group, in exchange for an $85 billion loan, according to people briefed on the negotiations.

[briarberry] 17/9/2008 00:25

Reserve Primary Money Fund Falls Below $1 a Share (Update3)

By Christopher Condon

Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Reserve Primary Fund became the first money-market fund in 14 years to expose investors to losses after writing off $785 million of debt issued by bankrupt Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

The fund, whose assets plunged more 60 percent to $23 billion in the past two days, said the Lehman losses forced the net value of its assets below $1 a share, known as breaking the buck. Primary Reserve, the oldest money fund in the nation, fell to 97 cents a share and redemptions were suspended for as long as seven days.

Money-market funds are considered the safest investments after cash and bank deposits, and Reserve Primary's losses come as confidence in financial markets has been shaken by the collapse of subprime mortgages, the failure of 11 U.S. commercial banks and Lehman's bankruptcy yesterday. The only other money-market fund to break the buck was the $82.2 million Community Bankers Mutual Fund in Denver, which liquidated in 1994 because of investments in interest-rate derivatives.

[briarberry] 16/9/2008 22:02

futures taking a dive...

AIG down 60% in after hours $1.66 last

AIG had closed at $3.75

[briarberry] 16/9/2008 18:27

DJ AIG Needs $75B Loan But Doesn't Have Collateral

DJ Govt Money Now On Table In Talks Over AIG

[briarberry] 16/9/2008 16:24

"Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the largest of the two remaining independent U.S. securities firms, said third-quarter profit fell 70 percent, the sharpest decline in its nine years as a public company, and said it remains ``well positioned.'' "

[briarberry] 16/9/2008 13:33

Money-Market Rates Double Amid Global Credit Seizure (Update1)

By Gavin Finch and Kim-Mai Cutler

Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) -- The cost of borrowing in dollars overnight more than doubled to the highest since 2001 amid speculation the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. may cause more financial institutions to fail.

The overnight dollar rate soared 3.33 percentage points to 6.44 percent today, its biggest jump, according to the British Bankers' Association.

[briarberry] 16/9/2008 02:07

Nikkei 225 11,609.72 down 605.04 (4.95%)

Hang Seng 18,300.61 down 1,052.29 (5.44%)

[briarberry] 16/9/2008 02:04

S&P cuts WaMu counterpart credit rating to junk