European Summary

Posted by on Nov 7, 2011 in Uncategorized | No Comments

Greece Some new government is in the works.  It will say and do whatever it can to get the next tranche of IMF/EU money.  Somehow this is being cheered as good news.  The reality is far worse.  Greek banks issued over €6 billion of government guaranteed debt.  Who in their right mind would buy Greek […]

You Can’t Spell Tooth Faeries Without EFSF

Posted by on Nov 5, 2011 in Uncategorized | No Comments

Well, actually you really can’t, but I guess that is my point.  We have been reacting so much to headlines there has been no focus on details.  Even the political farce in Greece drew attention away from the real problems. If anyone had told me that by the end of the G-20 meeting all we […]

MS vs JEF

Posted by on Nov 4, 2011 in Uncategorized | No Comments

MS vs JEF. They had performed in line for quite a while. JEF earnings miss hurt them and they didn’t rally but recently entered their own personal h*ll as they were dragged down for looking or sounding or seeming too much like MF. I don’t think they are MF. I still don’t love financials as I believe the European crisis […]

(BN) *JEFFERIES DISCLOSES POSITIONS IN GIIPS COUNTRIES

Posted by on Nov 4, 2011 in Uncategorized | No Comments

I think this is an impressive development. Probably a one time thing, but should be good and can let people get comfortable with their exposures. I have been looking at the charts of JEF vs MS, there could be a bit of room to run here if they aren’t penalized for being “MF-like”. More importantly, […]

To Me, This Is The Bond To Watch: 2-Year Italian Bonds

Posted by on Nov 4, 2011 in Uncategorized | No Comments

To me, this is the bond to watch: 2-year Italian bonds. We can look at the 10-year bond, and the 5-year, and those are ideally where Italy should be funding, but the fallback is always to take roll risk and move down the curve. 5.4% for 2 year money is scary. It starts taking the already bad strategy of […]

Time To Schedule The Next Summit?

Posted by on Nov 4, 2011 in Uncategorized | No Comments

The G20 meeting is almost over and it looks likely to end with some indications that the IMF will put more money into Europe is some form and that all the leaders will pledge to continue to work together to resolve the debt crisis. Since resolve doesn’t involve letting Greece default and remain in the […]

Well, At Least I Understood One Thing Today

Posted by on Nov 3, 2011 in Uncategorized | No Comments

The trading in JEF actually at least made some sense. There was a story about a big potential exposure to Europe. Given what happened to MF global (going from 3.55 to 0.28 in just over a week), you could understand why investors were nervous. Jefferies is in the same size bracket as MF Global (small […]

The EFSF First-Loss Insurance Is A Truly Unique Vehicle

Posted by on Nov 3, 2011 in Uncategorized | No Comments

[Revised November 3, 2011] There are still a lot of details to be worked out, but the €250 – €275 billion EFSF first loss insurance facility is starting to take shape. The amount of exposure that the EFSF can take in any form and retain the AAA rating is capped at €452 billion Euro – […]

For A Nation That Obsessed With What “Is” Is, We Can Now Wonder What “Net” Is

Posted by on Nov 3, 2011 in Uncategorized | No Comments

One of the consequences of MF Global and the whole PSI in Europe is that investors are less trusting about what “net” is. The “gross” positions are about 2.6 billion. That is across Europe. If they are long and short all sorts of German and French government bonds in their role as market maker, that […]

(BN) *GREECE BAILOUT REFERENDUM HAS BEEN SCRAPPED: AP

Posted by on Nov 3, 2011 in Uncategorized | No Comments

Rally back on, we have managed to keep any decisions out of the hands of the citizens. Democracy at its finest. +——————————————————————————+ BN 11/03 14:41 *GREECE BAILOUT REFERENDUM HAS BEEN SCRAPPED: AP +——————————————————————————+ Greece Bailout Referendum Has Been Scrapped: AP 2011-11-03 14:43:09.706 GMT By Andrew Cinko Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) — Officials close to Greek prime […]