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Monthly Archives: January 2009
US News’s Doomed Subscription PDF
Jeff has the news today that US News is launching a $19.95-per-year weekly PDF. The decision comes almost exactly ten years after Slate went free, after a disastrous attempt to charge $19.95 a year for its content: Bill Bass, an … Continue reading
Using Software to Gauge Hedge Fund Risk
I had an interesting chat with Olivier Le Marois, the CEO chairman of Riskdata, a couple of days ago. His company has put out a couple of interesting reports: one on blow-up-prone hedge funds generally, and one on Bernie Madoff … Continue reading
Posted in hedge funds, risk
1 Comment
Adding Up the White House Pay Freeze
The Washington Post reckons that Barack Obama has saved the nation about $443,000 by freezing the salaries of any staffers on six-figure salaries. But the real number is surely much less than that — and could be as low as … Continue reading
Geithner on China’s Currency Manipulation
Tim Geithner’s testimony about China’s currency manipulation is the top story in the world today, judging by the NYT’s front page. And he did indeed say three times in his written responses to the Senate Finance Committee that "President Obama … Continue reading
Is Nationalization Contagious?
Those of us in favor of bank nationalization don’t want to nationalize all banks, just the massively insolvent ones which are too big to fail. But let’s say that the government took over Bank of America and/or Citigroup, wiping out … Continue reading
Extra Credit, Thursday Edition
Will the Banking Crisis End with Nationalization? A very interesting discussion, if I do say so myself, between Binyamin Appelbaum, Peter Cohan, Simon Johnson, and me. The upshot: nationalization is politically unpalatable, but there are very similar alternatives which can … Continue reading
Posted in remainders
1 Comment
Welcome to the Atlantic’s Business Channel
Finance, it would seem, is hot these days. Four months after Slate launched its spin-off finance site, The Big Money, the Atlantic has followed suit, with its own business channel. Like TBM, there’s lots of green in the color scheme … Continue reading
Posted in blogonomics
1 Comment
John Thain, RIP
It was always a bit weird that John Thain was going to stay on at Bank of America, but as it turned out, he lasted less than a month before getting fired this morning by the equally-beleaguered Ken Lewis. The … Continue reading
Posted in banking, defenestrations
1 Comment
Geithner’s Written Responses to the Senate Finance Committee
Does Kentucky senator Jim Bunning read Market Movers? If not, we’re certainly thinking along very similar lines. If you scroll down to page 45 of the 102 pages (!) of written responses from Tim Geithner to the Senate Finance committee, … Continue reading
Citicorp to Keep Banamex
Lede of the day comes from Reuters: Citigroup Inc views its Mexican banking unit Banamex as a solid business and has no plans to sell it, sources familiar with the matter said. And here was me thinking that Citi’s few … Continue reading
Bank Regulation Datapoint of the Day
From Binyamin Appelbaum: Since 2000, about 240 banks have converted from federal to state charters… About 12 percent of the banks that moved to state charters escaped federal regulatory actions, and experts on bank oversight say such cases are the … Continue reading
Posted in banking, regulation
1 Comment
Extra Credit, Wednesday Edition
Wind down the market in five-legged dogs: A clear and simple argument against securitization. Nominees and double standards: A woman in Tim Geithner’s position might have had a much harder time. We’re all nationalizers now: "The question does not seem … Continue reading
Posted in remainders
1 Comment
Citigroup Chart of the Day
Many thanks to David Sunstrum, who put this chart together for me. The blue bar is Citi’s book value per share, as reported in the bank’s quarterly reports. It reached a high of $25.53 in the second quarter of 2007, … Continue reading
How Do You Recapitalize $1.8 Trillion in Bank Loan Losses?
I’ve been having a look at Nouriel Roubini’s estimate of a total of $1.8 trillion of losses in the US banking system, compared to just $230 billion in TARP recapitalizations to date and $200 billion of new money from private-sector … Continue reading
How Not to Fix the New York Times
When Michael Hirschorn talks nonsense about the New York Times, it’s silly, but at least it’s understood that he’s not a stock analyst by trading, and that he’s more interested in making waves than being helpful. Henry Blodget, by contrast, … Continue reading
The Economics of Liquidation
Andrea Chang has a story about Circuit City shoppers being angry that liquidation discounts aren’t larger: "What happened to 30%? Lies!" shouted customer Gabriel Ifrah, 52, at the Circuit City on La Cienega Boulevard in Los Angeles on Monday, where … Continue reading
Posted in consumption, economics
3 Comments
Bank Capitalization Chart of the Day
Here are the capitalizations of the biggest banks in the world: the blue circles dark blue bars correspond to how much they were worth in the second quarter of 2007, while the green circles light blue bars are the capitalizations … Continue reading
Pirate Datapoint of the Day
Peter Leeson, pirate economist, reports: Only one sailor has lost his life at Somali pirate hands. This represents less than two-tenths of one percent of crewmembers taken hostage by Somali pirates between January and October and an even smaller percentage … Continue reading
Does Geithner Know What He’s Going To Do?
I’ve been keeping an eye on Tim Geithner’s confirmation hearings this morning: they seem to be going pretty much according to plan — a ritual hazing followed by a certain confirmation. (The NYT and WSJ are live-blogging.) Geithner is suitably … Continue reading
Newspaper Datapoint of the Day
From Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson: The $5.6bn Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp paid in 2007 for Dow Jones, owner of the Wall Street Journal and several local papers, would now be sufficient to buy Gannett, the New York Times, McClatchy, Media General, Belo … Continue reading
Fragmented Bondholders
During the Great Moderation, institutional fixed-income investors had boring, if lucrative, lives. They’d buy paper, clip coupons, and make money. Now, however, faced with a stream of high-profile defaults, they’re going to have to start justifying their former paychecks by … Continue reading
Posted in bonds and loans
1 Comment
Extra Credit, Tuesday Edition
Four questions for Tim Geithner: To add to my one. Obama’s shout-out to John Maynard Keynes: Who was no rhetorical slouch himself. Roubini Predicts U.S. Losses May Reach $3.6 Trillion Saudi’s Kingdom Holding posts $8.3 bln Q4 loss French carmakers … Continue reading
Posted in remainders
1 Comment
Geithner’s Baptism of Fire
On Monday, when US markets were closed, Royal Bank of Scotland announced it lost something in the region of £28 billion last year, and the FT ran a column with the headline "Shoot the bankers, nationalise the banks". On Tuesday, … Continue reading
Citigroup Quote of the Day
From Meredith Whitney: C’s core problem is that it simply doesn’t make money in any of its businesses except Smith Barney, which it is in the process of selling. Well, there’s always consumer banking in Asia. But you’ve got to … Continue reading