Karma
Bill Gross made over $1 billion for his PIMCO Total Return fund when the government placed Fannie/Freddie under conservatorship and made bond holders whole. He’s given it back on Lehman and AIG (via Bloomberg): Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) — Bill Gross‘s Pimco Total Return Fund, the world’s largest bond fund, fell 1.4 percent yesterday, the biggest .. read more
Are Airlines the Worst Run Companies..Ever?
Back when oil was trading in the $130s, I read a story about airlines, specifically UAL (and maybe AMR as well) hedging their fuel costs at those high prices. I thought to myself at the time, “Well that must certainly be the top in oil”. Here’s some details about their hedging reported in the last .. read more
Panic
It appears we’re finally getting some panic in the markets. Treasury bills at one point today were yielding just a few basis points because the demand for safety was so great that the yield was irrelevant. When T Bill yields are competing with the mattress, people are panicking. Gold had its biggest up day ever .. read more
Rules, Not Rulers
Amity Shlaes has an editorial by that name today at the New York Sun: Paulson. Merrill Lynch. Lehman. Bernanke. Names are what investors start talking about at moments like this. Names, the faith is, will rescue Wall Street and by extension the American economy. When a market crash is big enough, people are too panicked .. read more
Housing Starts
Housing starts for the month of August fell 6.2%, to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 895,000. The number was well below expectations, as economists were expecting a number closer to 955,000. In the past year, housing starts have fallen 33.1% and are currently at their worst level in 17 years. New construction on single-family homes fell by .. read more
Stuff Happens
Dean Barnett has an excellent post at The Weekly Standard blog about how we got in this mess: With Washington looking to point fingers in regards to the fall of Lehman, it’s worth recounting the chain of events that led us to today (or rather Sunday): 1) Alan Greenspan’s Fed made loads of cheap money .. read more
Pelosi Plans Wall Street Investigation
Via The Politico: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has ordered a broad, swift investigation of Wall Street and will demand testimony from Bush administration officials and captains of finance, congressional officials said. House Democrats plan an aggressive look at the administration’s role in this weekend’s meltdown, and explore further regulation and government structures that would .. read more
Fed Likely to Bail Out AIG
Details are scant but it appears that the Fed will provide a bridge loan to AIG (via WSJ): The U.S. government was moving toward an emergency rescue of American International Group Inc. — one of the world’s biggest insurers — signaling the intensity of its concerns about the danger a collapse could pose to the .. read more
