Not sure all this testimony is going to make Congress any smarter, but it might keep them busy so they don't mess anything up worse: Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's prepared statement FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair's prepared statement (Still amazes me that the most innovative, practical solutions are coming out of the FDIC) US Treasury Interim Secretary for Financial Stability Neel Kashkari's prepared statement … [Read more...]
Mortgage Rates, Gordon Brown, New Bank Capital, and Credit Crisis in 30 Slides (or Less)
October 15, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Mortgage Rate Update: Volatile, Float UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown claims to be leading the world through the global banking crisis and it looks like he may be right, as the US and Treasury Secretary continue to take queues from UK government action. The mounting question on the US financial crisis rescue execution front is: Will banks lend or hoard new capital? Crisis of confidence #2: Recession begins new market slippage. Major US banks begin to report quarterly earnings this week. Harbors … [Read more...]
Obama, All Markets Surge, Hedge Funds Retract, Recession
October 14, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Barack Obama on the Economy President hopeful Senator Barack Obama sought to capture some of the stock market rally euphoria and lock-up control of the economic issue. Presenting a much broader economic vision, Obama promised an additional $60 billion to help state and local governments, increase jobs, let individuals dip into their retirement savings tax-free, and issue a moratorium on foreclosures. Heading in to the third and final debate, it promises to be all about the "Economy, Stupid!" Foreign … [Read more...]
Update on Troubled Asset Relief Program Implementation
October 13, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Interim Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability Neel Kashkari gave his 10 day update on implementing Congress' $700 billion Treasury-led bailout. This is the visual synopsis of his remarks: (tag cloud: wordle.net, technique hat tip: Paul Kedrosky, full text: WSJ) Kashkari higlighted a strategy "with one simple goal--to restore capital flows to the consumers and businesses that form the core of our economy." Some of the highlights of implementation ("tools") include: MBS purchase program Whole … [Read more...]
Saturday Reading: G7, GM and Chrysler, Paulson-Trust Me
October 11, 2008 By Leave a Comment
(Bloomberg) G-7 agrees to take "all necessary steps" and will back all "systemically important financial institutions." However, they don't trust each other enough to guarantee interbank lending: The G-7 officials shied away from endorsing a U.K. proposal to guarantee lending between banks either by turning central banks into clearing houses for the loans or having governments back them. Paulson confirms his domestic priorities: Paulson signaled his top priority, having secured $700 billion rescue … [Read more...]
Government to Buy Unsecured Corporate Debt
October 7, 2008 By Leave a Comment
The Government is now REALLY wading taxpayers into dangerous waters-considering buying (unsecured corporate debt) commercial paper. Link tour of the issue: Credit crunch continues to spread, freezing corporate credit (NYTimes) Federal Reserve and Treasury discuss buying commercial paper (Reuters) $95 billion has flowed out of the commercial paper market in the first week of October (Telegraph) Bill Gross of PIMCO never saw a bailout he didn't like (Bloomberg) … [Read more...]