We had to check the date on this Bloomberg post very, very carefully to make sure it wasn’t off by a year. It is not:
Fannie Mae, the mortgage-finance company under U.S. government control, will loosen rules for homeowners seeking to lower their loan payments by refinancing.
Fannie Mae will drop some credit-score requirements, reduce income-documentation standards and waive the need for appraisals in some cases, according to a notice yesterday to lenders posted on the Washington-based company’s Web site. The changes apply to loans that the company owns or guarantees. (Emphasis ours).
The interesting thing about waking up every morning in a different Kafka piece is trying to guess which morning you are in Der Gruftwächter. This seals it. It is today.
Fannie Mae to Loosen Rules for Home-Loan Refinancing [Bloomberg]
…down to “in the neighborhood of $800 billion.”
Senators working to craft a massive U.S. economic stimulus package said on Thursday they had agreed it should be close to the $800 billion wanted by President Barack Obama, and Senate leader Harry Reid said he believed he had the votes to pass it.
Senate nears vote on huge stimulus [Reuters]
Clearly, major fraud defendants have the best racket going- unless you just can’t live without the Deli down the street. First Madoff, now this:
A federal judge says a prominent New York lawyer accused of defrauding investors of more than $400 million can be freed under house arrest.
Judge Jed Rakoff on Thursday lifted financial requirements that had forced Marc Dreier to remain jailed.
Last month, a magistrate judge had required that Dreier produce $10 million in cash or property to secure a $20 million bail.
And we are worried about the optics of Wells Fargo going to Vegas?
House arrest for lawyer in $400M fraud case [Business Week]
Central banks cannot reverse a crisis anymore. A true, panic flight-to-safety crisis, a true liquidity crisis has, as recent events are increasingly demonstrating, no worthy opponent in central banks or national treasuries. The sums are simply too vast in this day and age to meaningfully shove markets or the economy this way or that for more than a few months. Those months are quickly running out for the United States.
In recent months, the Federal Reserve has set up several programs that aim to provide liquidity to segments of debt markets that fell apart last year. The government support is meant to be temporary — and is aimed at reopening markets for debt issuers and coaxing back private buyers.
But there is a nagging fear for investors: The government can’t support prices forever. The longer the government intervenes, the more investors will question its will to continue buying. Already, the wisdom of certain interventions is being questioned.
For now, the Fed shows no signs of backing off. This week, it said that five of its liquidity programs will now expire at the end of October, a six month extension.
At some point someone is going to have to break it to the American people and the world that there is no magic pill. It seems apparent that not even the likes of Helicopter Alan or Helicopter Ben possess the needed capital- even with the printing presses running wide open. Rewriting accounting rules to create the appearance of wealth, buying up nuclear waste at above fair value and trying to re-pump the beach ball of mortgage lending is wishful thinking. The sooner the current administration comes to grips with that, and starts resetting the impossibly high expectations they won the election with, the better. Painful? Yes. But less painful than the fall from grace that will accompany any other path.
The Fed’s Market Footprint [The Wall Street Journal]
You want somea this shit? That being the mandatory reusable mugs distributed by Bank of Amerillwide after they got rid of styrofoam, knives and forks? Now’s your chance. One subversive young scamp (John Thain) has put his up for auction. Bidding starts at BAC’s closing price on 2/4/2009, $4.70.
Earlier: Bank Of America’s War On Styrofoam, Part II
Bank of AmerillWide Employees Stock Up On Contraband
Layoffs Watch ’09: BAC Cutlery
Country Bank of Amerillwide (current share price having broken the $5.00 firewall on its way to $4.41) is neither a bank, American, a country, Merrill or wide. In fact, at this point, the only thing it really has going for it is the backing of Angelo “The Bronze Medal” Mozilo. Discuss.
Last night was the third Pink Slip Party. We sent Kashmir Hill, associate editor at Above the Law, to survey the scene. Here are her findings.
The third Wall Street Pink Slip Party had the air of desperation of a singles’ mixer. And indeed, most of the attendees were recently separated… from their Wall Street employers.
Approximately 400 people turned up at the Public House in midtown Manhattan last night. The room was packed when we arrived circa 7 p.m. and started to clear out around 8. At the door were reps from the Ronald McDonald House gathering a suggested $20 donation, and handing out glow stick bracelets: pink for the laid off/looking for work, green for the hiring/recruiters, and blue for “neutral.” Judging from the blue-bracelet wearers we encountered, “neutral” translates to “hoping to pick up desperate ex-Wall Street babes.”
Most of those in green bracelets were recruiters. At the first two parties, there were more in-house HR folks; hiring freezes kept many away this time around, said organizer Rachel Pine of Fastbook.
The Public House was chosen as the venue for the monthly series of Pink Slip parties because one of its owners is a Philadelphia Stock Exchange trader who’s sympathetic to those who have moved from the stock market to the job market. Many attendees spent the evening huddled around the long bar. “The best value in coming to the event is the $2 Bud Light special,” said one 23-year-old layoff from a buy-side firm, who hadn’t talked to many people in green bracelets over the course of the night, but was having success getting fantastically drunk.
The more serious job seekers hovered near booths where two green-braceleted financial services headhunters sat conducting intense one-on-one interviews, reviewing resumes, and handing out cards. Which was out of place and bizarre in the middle of a jam-packed bar, but these are bizarre times. One grey-suited, pink-braceleted 32-year-old, jettisoned by Barclays three months ago, was waiting his turn in line at one of the booths, with a leather portfolio in hand, rather than a drink. There aren’t a lot of better options for finding work, he said. “Unless you make this personal connection with the headhunters, they won’t look out for you.”
Amen. But to make more of a connection, maybe he should try handing them a vodka tonic along with his resume.
Photos, after the jump.
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Charlie Gasparino: “I was at San Pietro yesterday and I was stopped by a waiter who asked me, ‘When is this going to stop?’ And I said, ‘What, like the financial crisis?’ [And he said] ‘No when are they going to stop beating up on my customers, ’cause they’re not showing up.’ And that’s a problem. There is a trickle down here, when you start attacking this compensation system. Middle class, working class people get affected. [More importantly, Charlie Gasparino gets affected. CEOs abandon San Pietro --> San Pietro lays off busboys --> my scoops goes out the window --> Apocolypse].”
Update From my inbox:
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The rank scent of a prime time Monday press conference being prepared hints that the White House is likely nearing a banking package which our super secret sources say includes the bad bank (somewhat smaller than anticipated), government guarantees (surprise surprise) and insurance for Iodine-129 assets. As to the pricing of said assets? Mark-to-market looks to be history. This is good news as now my Fantasy Accounting League can thrive once more.
From the mailbag:
