Archive for May 4th, 2010

Goldman sez Spain needs no bailout

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

Full story here from ZeroHedge. Of course Spain doesn’t need Euro 280 billion. They probably need some Euro 400 billion. Consider if you will, the 280 billion is over 2x the Greek bailout number, which itself has quadrupled in the last 2 weeks. Going long on printing presses! For some fun on Spain, click here.

Just because Goldman tends to get a pretty good look at all counterparty books, we will surely take their word on this one. Or not-  as we reported recently, DTCC indicated that Spain has seen massive synthetic derisking over the past 2 weeks. We contend that Goldman’s prop desk has been a major participant in the recent derisking action. We would be happy to be proven wrong: if Messrs. van Praag and Canaday would but disclose the firm’s prop positions which refute this claim, we will immediately issue a retraction.   (more…)

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Euro breaks $1.30, BIS steps in to prevent rout

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

Full story here from ZeroHedge. Listen to commentary here (among many other things) that Europe could be in the final leg of a breakdown this week. And the Swiss-based BIS acting like the PPT over here. Is immitation the sincerest form of flattery?

The EURUSD broke through 1.3000 to 1.2996 and the BIS (yes, that BIS) immediately stepped up its buying to prevent a full blown rout of the Euro, or so the rumor goes. Check to you, Viceroy of the West Indies Bernanke. We have the QE2 press release all, pardon the pun, queued up, for your approval.

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Endemic corruption in Brussels and Halliburton

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

Full report here from Christopher Story. Too much to go into. This is my “down the rabbit hole” source.

Sunday 2 May 2010 00:01

• BEFORE WE START: YOUNGEST SON OF LAWYER JOHN HEMENWAY, WHO BROUGHT QUO WARRANTO ACTION AGAINST OBAMA, SHOT DEAD IN BEDFORD, VIRGINIA. THE U.S. CRIMINAL GOVERNMENT’S DESPERATE CONTROLLING INTELLIGENCE POWER IS PREPARED EVEN TO LIE ITS WAY OUT OF THIS ASSASSINATION. THE MEMORIAL TAKES PLACE ON 5TH MAY.

• UPDATE: HALLIBURTON HAD ONLY JUST FINISHED A CEMENTING JOB ON THE OIL RIG:
READ THIS AND THEN READ WHAT WE SAID BELOW BEFORE THIS DATA BECAME AVAILABLE:
Although no cause has been determined, oil services contractor Halliburton Inc. says it finished a cementing operation 20 hours before a Gulf of Mexico rig went up in flames.

Halliburton is named as a defendant in most of the more than two dozen lawsuits filed by Gulf Coast people and businesses claiming the huge oil spill could ruin them financially. In one lawsuit, two Louisiana shrimpers claim cementing contributed to the explosion.

Halliburton said Friday [30th April 2010] it had four workers stationed on the rig, performing several tasks, including cementing, a process of applying cement and water to a pipe used to prevent the wall of the hole from caving in during drilling.

According to a 2007 study by Minerals Management Service, cementing was a factor in 18 of 39 rig blowouts in the Gulf between 1992 and 2006. San Francisco Chronicle:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/04/30/financi…

•* PLUS: Halliburton buys Oil Fire Fighting company on April 12th for $240 Million

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Oil, oil everywhere (and it’s all in the drink)

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

As Barb pointed out this morning, for the love of BP not putting in a $500,000 safety valve, they have now experienced some $34 billion of loss in share values. As I always say, inexpensive means inefficient. Further she pointed out that as a result of the previous record-holding disaster, the Exxon Valdez in Alaska (1991), a new type of derivative was created to hedge against such events. Of course, those evil offspring derivatives have poisoned the financial system worse than the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. Here’s a bit of muckraking to illustrate cui bono (who benefits). Of course, if you’re a total mouth breather, you can believe Texas Governor Rick Perry that the spill was “an act of God“. Well that grooves right in with Lloyd “Doing God’s work” Blankfein getting paid millions when things go boom.

I’ve got to ask: what derivatives (or other little ‘protection’ devices) does BP own to backstop this? Who is their counterparty? Who else owns a little ‘insurance policy’ against something untoward happening to BP? And who is their counterparty?

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The subprime conspiracy

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

Full story here from Mike Whitney via CounterPunch.

Many people now believe that the financial crisis was not an accident. They think that the Bush administration and the Fed knew what Wall Street was up to and provided their support. This isn’t as far fetched as it sounds. As we will show, it’s clear that Bush, Greenspan and many other high-ranking officials understood the problem with subprime mortgages and knew that a huge asset bubble was emerging that threatened the economy. But while the housing bubble was more than just an innocent mistake, it doesn’t rise to the level of “conspiracy” which Webster defines as  “a secret agreement between two or more people to perform an unlawful act.”  It’s actually worse than that, because bubblemaking is the dominant policy, and it’s used to overcome structural problems in capitalism itself, mainly stagnation.  (more…)

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