(bloomberg.com) In the months leading up to the September 2008 collapse of giant insurer American International Group Inc., Elias Habayeb and his colleagues worked nights and weekends negotiating with banks that had bought $62 billion of credit-default swaps from AIG, according to a person who has worked with Habayeb.
Habayeb, 37, was chief financial officer for the AIG division that oversaw AIG Financial Products, the unit that had sold the swaps to the banks. One of his goals was to persuade the banks to accept discounts of as much as 40 cents on the dollar, according to people familiar with the matter.
Read the entire article
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Pimco's Gross calls top of rally in risky assets
(marketwatch.com) The six-month rally in risk assets -- while still continuously supported by Fed and Treasury policymakers -- is likely at its pinnacle," Gross wrote in his monthly market commentary.
The U.S. economy and most other developed economies became too reliant on rising asset prices, rather than the production of goods and services, in recent decades. When the financial crisis hit, governments and policymakers had to slash interest rates and take other more dramatic action to prevent asset values plunging, Gross explained.
Read the enitre article
The U.S. economy and most other developed economies became too reliant on rising asset prices, rather than the production of goods and services, in recent decades. When the financial crisis hit, governments and policymakers had to slash interest rates and take other more dramatic action to prevent asset values plunging, Gross explained.
Read the enitre article
Charlie Munger: Boom and bust is normal
(bbc.co.uk) Charlie Munger is Warren Buffett's long-time business partner, and the Vice-Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway.
Like Buffett, he was born in Omaha, but became a lawyer in Los Angeles before meeting Buffett, and becoming a fellow investor. The two spent many hours on the phone together, discussing business, and evolving the approach to investing that has paid off so spectacularly for them both.
View the video here
Like Buffett, he was born in Omaha, but became a lawyer in Los Angeles before meeting Buffett, and becoming a fellow investor. The two spent many hours on the phone together, discussing business, and evolving the approach to investing that has paid off so spectacularly for them both.
View the video here
U.S. Equities Will ‘Drop Painfully,’ Grantham Says
(bloomberg.com) U.S. stocks will “drop painfully from current levels” in the coming year amid disappointing economic data and shrinking profit margins, according to investor Jeremy Grantham.
The so-called fair value for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index is at the 860 level, the chief investment strategist at Boston-based Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co., which oversees about $89 billion, wrote in a quarterly report. The gauge fell 1.2 percent yesterday to 1,066.95. It has rallied 58 percent from a 12-year low on March 9 on rising confidence a U.S. economic recovery will boost corporate earnings.
Read the entire article
The so-called fair value for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index is at the 860 level, the chief investment strategist at Boston-based Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co., which oversees about $89 billion, wrote in a quarterly report. The gauge fell 1.2 percent yesterday to 1,066.95. It has rallied 58 percent from a 12-year low on March 9 on rising confidence a U.S. economic recovery will boost corporate earnings.
Read the entire article
Friday, October 9, 2009
Too Big to Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin
(vanityfair.com)
Day One
Wednesday, September 17, 2008: After Lehman and A.I.G.
When Tim Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, began his run that morning along the southern tip of Manhattan and up the East River just after six, the sun had yet to come up. He was tired and stressed, having slept only several hours in one of the three tiny, grubby bedrooms in the New York Fed’s headquarters.
Read the entire article
Day One
Wednesday, September 17, 2008: After Lehman and A.I.G.
When Tim Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, began his run that morning along the southern tip of Manhattan and up the East River just after six, the sun had yet to come up. He was tired and stressed, having slept only several hours in one of the three tiny, grubby bedrooms in the New York Fed’s headquarters.
Read the entire article
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
