The SEC Corporate Financial Division sent letters to the CFOs of twenty financial firms today reqiesting extremely detailed information about their use of Repo 105 instruments. Bankruptcy examiner Anton Valukas recently wrote as part of a 2,200-page…
We have been given the pricing of Greece’s seven-year benchmark note offering. Frankly, the yield is rather surprising. The 5 Billion Euro issue bears a 5.90% coupon for an April 20, 2017 maturity date, …
The federal government may sell its stake in Citigroup (C) at a profits of about $8 billion, according to The Washington Post. But, a sale of the stake, about 27% of the bank’s shares,…
Moody’s Corporation (NYSE: MCO) may be back at the higher-end of its 52-week trading range with shares at $30.51. But the glory days are long gone. This was a $60 and $70 stock in…
The Treasury bond market weakness is tied in part to a poor US Treasury auction of $42 billion in five-year notes at Wednesday’s auction with a high rate of 2.605% on a bid-to-cover ratio…
JPMorgan (JPM) is about to get what it deserves–a $1.4 billion tax refund from the United States. Jamie Dimon, the CEO of the bank, may be more clever than his peers, but in this case…
Bono, the Irish rock star, has put significant money into Elevation Partners, arguably the worst run institutional fund of any size in the United States. Bono is listed as one of the five members…
E*TRADE FINANCIAL Corporation (NASDAQ: ETFC) is a smart enough company that it should have known better about one issue. It was smart on another. The troubled online broker has finally announced it has appointed…
The Federal Reserve understandably does not want to give up the secrets of which banks were most in need of rescue as the credit markets melted down in late 2008. It might lead customers,…
Among the things that the Treasury Department elects to say very little about is how many of the firms that still owe the government TARP money are not even paying interest on the capital…
The stock market has become the marketplace of rumors. Now it seems the same is true for the bond market as well. Rumors have been floating around that the Fed may raise the discount…
If you think that the credit issue and risk in sovereign debt is going away any time soon, you better think again. A small under-covered downgrade today is something which should be reviewed by…
CIT Group, Inc. (NYSE: CIT) is out of bankruptcy, has John Thain as its new CEO, and is trying to get on with life in ‘the new normal’ in a sector where making money…
As expected, despite a belief that rates need to rise from here, the FOMC announced decision on interest rates leaves the 0.0% to 0.25% Fed Funds rate target unchanged. A 9-1 vote, with Hoenig…
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (LEHMQ) is still alive as a stock despite the company being dead. It turns out that there is actually a little asset value left here, as the company has filed…