Bank of America, JPMorgan May Flee Bailout After Public Lashing (Bloomberg)
It’s almost jaw dropping that given the circumstances elected officials would act with such irresponsibility. In truth, at this point, I hope the banks can manage to pay off the debt in the next 60 days and refuse to shore liquidity across the board – to anyone. For anything.
“Eight chief executive officers of the biggest U.S. banks heard lawmakers in Washington criticize their bonuses, underwriting fees and perks. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Missouri Democrat, read questions from angry constituents asking what banks had done with taxpayer money they’d taken from the $700 billion TARP fund, and Rep. Michael Capuano, a Massachusetts Democrat, said he “cannot believe no one has prosecuted you.”"
In related news the FT touches on how the banks have agreed to put a hold on foreclosures for the next three or so weeks so as to give Congress the time to come up with a plan, which is much, much more generous than I would have been.
Houston Based Firm Under Investigation (Bloomberg)
10:1 says not a Ponzi: the money is either invested in coca fields or cross breeding humans and fish to fight Somali Pirates. Not sure how the latter makes money (yet).
Futures Down On Likelihood Of Shitty Retail Numbers (MarketWatch)
“We expect today’s report to show that retail sales fell 0.4% in January, marking the seventh consecutive monthly decline and pushing the year-on-year growth rate to -10%,” said economists from Barclays Capital. “This would easily be the fastest pace of decrease in the 40-year history of the data. Part of this fall reflects the sharp drop in inflation, particularly commodity prices, which have depressed gasoline sales. ”
Bank Of China Not Bidding On AIG Unit (DJNewswire via CNN)
It looks like the either the FT story got it wrong, or the Chinese didn’t appreciate the information being leaked – either way, the company is still for sale (and I’m willing to bet Bank Of China bids.)
GM In Talks With Red Empire About Private Bailout (Reuters)
It’s almost comical that in todays push towards socialism China is stepping in to purchase a stake in our auto sector; I can’t imagine what our elected’s are going to say about the possibility of turning over a large part of the national defense clog to the Red Army (if anything).
Harvard Largely Bows Out Of The Market (WSJ)
“Harvard University’s endowment, the largest in higher education, cut by two-thirds its direct holdings of publicly traded stocks and funds during the market plunge in last year’s fourth quarter.
As of Dec. 31, Harvard Management Co., which oversees the endowment, held about 70 stocks and publicly traded funds that were valued at $571 million, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Three months before, the endowment held about 200 stocks and other vehicles valued at just under $2.9 billion.”
Fortis Investors Challenge The Fates (Reuters)
The mighty shareholders of Fortis have cast a ballet against the state led/sponsored deal to mate Fortis and BNP:
“Faced with heavy losses and the prospect of a share of toxic assets, they first voted against the Netherlands’ purchase of Fortis’ Dutch assets by a 57 percent majority.
Then, by a wafer-thin 50.3 percent, they rejected Belgium’s move to take control of banking unit Fortis Bank.”
Hedge Funds Show Growth Despite Bad Economy (FINalternatives)
“The Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index, which fell by 12% last year, rose 0.5% last month, according to preliminary returns. Eight of the nine strategies tracked by Eureka rose in January, led by arbitrage funds at 2.3% and distressed debt at 1.7%. The only strategy index in the red last month was down 0.8%.”
cross breading humans: our recipe for success!
It would be a good idea for JPM and Wells to pay back TARP $’s. That way, they don’t have to provide credit lines to dead beats and can charge high interest rates to compensate for high risk people
i want to see JD give back the 25bil he was ASKED to take, and tell mrs frank and and those other fucking retards to go fuck themselves as he is the head of a corporation that looks after its shareholders first and has zero responsibility to look after the idiot scum that over-borrowed and are now claiming that they were somehow duped into borrowing against home values that could, low and behold, fall as well as rise. where were these fuckers when the bubble was going up, spending the money on flat-screens, vacations and big black arse dildos no doubt! (last bit probably unnecessary…)
The casual racism on DB is getting rather annoying.
@4 Agreed.
-phobos.
@4
Did you watch Maxine Waters yesterday? She was so racist and condescending!
New class in Harvard curriculum, ‘Buy High, Sell Low and other popular Asset Management Techniques’
mmm, your point?
Has Barney Frank got any TEETH ????
@9– dunno but didn’t seem like Vikki was having trouble using his yday, like they were badly fitted or something?
@9 He does, but they’ve been worn down by relentless penis friction.
Strange, for the banks to survive they may have to find a way to pay back the government money.
Methinks that once JPM does it, Congress will start to rethink its stance on the issue.
D’oh! Retail sales numbers not so shitty. Futures still down. I guess that’s not why the futures were down.
BarCap and MarketWatch aren’t so smart as they think they is.
When can we talk about Siri’s impending bankruptcy and how much Mel Karmazin and Jim Cramer suck?
Jim – I thought this deal was going to create VALUE for investors? I thought the FTC and FCC had their collective heads up their asses and needed to approve it as soon as possible?
Well, maybe you meant it would be better for investors in the long run because we only have to pay for ONE bankruptcy filing instead of two. Good call buddy, good call.
And Mel – great job. Way to create a bidding war for “talent” and content and then overpay for a merger.
The really shitty thing is that Mel will likely negotiate some sweet shares for himself in the company coming out of bankruptcy. Hey shareholders – that may have been his plan all along…
What is casual racism? Can you only have it on Fridays?
Great idea, BAC can just pay them back from that huge pile of imaginary money they have lying around. What’s that? They’re insolvent? OMG!?! Who knew?
people don’t realize the government is insolvent
@17
Ah the beauty of fiat currency!!!
Casual racism, homophobia, and sexism has made financial careers bearable for the lot of us. What else is left if I cannot mock all non-WASPs, albeit privatley regarding the Jews.
Good luck to JPM and BAC raising capital in this market to cash out the Fed. None of the banks has the ability, presently, to pay back the TARP money. They’re just blowing smoke because noone is going to call their bluff on it.
Barney to Jamie: (overheard conversation) well, jamie it is like this: “As long as yu live under this roof, you have to abide by our rules”
@4 douche
Let’s remember these are the very top swinging-dick Bankers we are talking about. They’d cross the street to kick a dog if they thought it would crap out a quarter….and we’re concerned that they are taking a brow-beating for billions?
When they return every dime they begged for from the government dole we can rue the inhumanity surely these babes in the woods are suffering through.
-C
Didn’t realize secret service allows Barry to put signs in the Oval Office like that.
@19
That’s part of a douchebag’s defense mechanism. Though sometimes the offenders here sound more like the mindless thugs that reside in Freeperville. Dealbreaker has some good bait to attract those.
25 = Affirmative Action beneficiary
@4 What about the non-casual racism in Congress? That comment about lack of diversity of the panel? Hello, Pandit who is neither black nor a woman, doesn’t count? Or, what about Stan O’Neal, who wasn’t there, but made MER the problem it was? At least these guys got where they are based on merit, which is more than what I can say for the members of Congress represented last night. Unless, we redefine merit to mean jack-assery.
Donny Deutsch and Charlie need to duke it out.
“I guarantee this is more important than your question!”
What a bunch of toolboxes on CNBC…
–Calgary Schmooze
@15– Clutch.
Mr. Richards, you wouldn’t do dick other than sit and take it if you were in front of Congress, just like these guys did. You’d dance when they told you to dance and be happy to gets the fuck out with as little damage as possible. They may be retards, but they’re retards with leverage.