February 2009

This is in via Reuters: American International Group Inc is close to a deal with the U.S. government that would ease the terms of its bailout, provide a further equity commitment and help it pay down debt, a person familiar with the matter…

This news comes via Reuters: Bank of America Corp is carrying loans on its balance sheet marked at more than $44 billion above their fair value, the company said in its annual report filed with U.S. regulators on Friday. The bank said it…

Two more Friday night specials - story via Reuters U.S. regulators closed Security Savings Bank in Henderson, Nevada, and Heritage Community Bank in Glenwood, Illinois, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said on Friday. Heritage,…

Now GE has finally cut, but will they be able to maintain their AAA rating?

Marshall Auerback here. As Ed lucidly suggested to me by e-mail: "We see the Fed giving a loan for assets at the price as reported on the institutions' books. Otherwise, you have to take a write-down just to get the loan. That's a…

The big news other than GDP falling off a cliff is the confirmation that the Obama Administration is going to bail out Citigroup for a third time.  The market reaction this morning was quite negative, causing index futures to sell off even…

Eminem's latest day in court likely to be felt far and wide - NZ Herald (this concerns a lawsuit on how much royalties artists should get fordigital music.  Steve Jobs is testifying.  It's a very big deal) A bruised Warren Buffett to look…

In my post TALF: A bailout if one reads the fine print, I did not make any comments about the quality of the assets to be used as collateral or the mechanics of the operation. While much of this information has already been supplied by the…

In a Fortune article about how the market is hitting new lows, Jeremy Grantham predicted we will see a material new low. He's talking about 600, or mind you, 450 on the S&P 500. Now, that's low. Nevertheless, he's fairly bullish…

James Galbraith, a well-known professor at the University of Texas-Austin has joined Paul Krugman in declaring Barack Obama's nearly $800 billion stimulus plan too small. Below is a video from the Wall Street Journal explaining why the…