P 500 (6); P 500 Balance Sheet (1); P 500 Crash Count (2); P 500 driven (1); P 500 Pits (2); P cut (3); P cuts bond insurer ACA cut (1); P cuts Countrywide (2); P downgraded (4); P Downgrades Big Brokers (2); R.I.P (1).
zero hedge Sun 2010-05-09 09:38 EDT
"Guys this is probably the craziest I have seen it down here ever." Here it is, memorialized for the generations and away from the now openly ridiculous disinformation propaganda of the mainstream media, just what a full market meltdown panic sounds like: straight from the epicenter, the S&P 500 pits...
Hearings; loath; P 500 Pits; panic; s; Zero Hedge.
zero hedge Sun 2010-05-09 09:25 EDT
Here are two accounts dissecting in detail the events from yesterday. One is from Dan Hinckley at Wild Analytics, the second from Dan O'Brien. ...The idea that it was a 'fat finger' error is ludicrous; unless the fat finger hit every market in the world virtually simultaneously. Liquidity simply left the world financial markets for about four minutes this afternoon. The bids just vanished...In one second more or less someone (and yes, under these circumstances, human beings take control of the machines) made the decision to pull the bids on every equity in the S&P, every financial futures contract, every FX contract in every market in the world. This kind of thing just doesn't happen in a pure auction environment; there just isn't a tight enough communication link between the parties to allow the decisions to propagate within the same second -- even with HFT algorithms. No. Some human made the decision to pull the bids; all of them, all at once. If that is not a condemnation of the concentration of financial power and the systematic risk it engenders I don't know what is...How does all of this happen? Well, you can thank the Federal Reserve... 1) The Fed prints fake money out of thin air... 2) Large banks and hedge funds borrow money from the Fed at near-ZERO interest rates... 3) These institutions buy Treasuries with a guaranteed 4% return, thus guaranteeing the banks massive and risk-free profits on the backs of the middle class (remember, you're not allowed to earn an interest rate on your savings accounts!)... 4) These institutions then swap Treasuries with the Fed for cash... 5) These same institutions (banks) then take the cash and gun the stock market higher with its FREE MONEY from the government...I meant free money from you. By the way, were you asked to vote on this? Frankly, it's better than free money - they're being PAID to do this... 6) Banks pay the very clown-posse that cause the 2008 crash (and today's) the largest bonuses...EVER...with your tax dollars.
Sun 2010-01-31 11:43 EST
In reviewing the status of the market late last week, the condition of the data was something of an anomaly in that regard. On the valuation front, stocks are presently overvalued, but to levels that we've observed at least several times in history. The anomaly relates to market action, where we can no longer find a single historical instance where stocks were more overbought on the combination of short- and intermediate-term measures we respond to most strongly. Indeed, only one instance comes close, which is November 28, 1980...the peak of the furious advance in S&P 500 driven by enthusiasm over "less bad" economic news, though with little proven economic strength. It was the last day of the 1980 bull market. The economy later proved to have been in a short lull within a double-dip recession, taking stocks to their final lows in 1982...One of the notable features of extreme overbought conditions is that investors rarely have much opportunity to get out...
2009; Hussman Funds; intermediate term; October 19; Overbought; stock market; weekly market comments.
zero hedge Mon 2009-12-21 19:54 EST
...In essence the entire S&P is one big High Yield credit, and would likely be rated in the B2/B area by the rating agencies (assuming these had any credibility). As such, the cost of debt of the combined S&P if it were a standalone company would be around 7.5-8.5%. That it is currently much lower due to the Fed's intervention in the interest rate market is an aberration: look for cost of debt (and, by implication, overall capital) to spike broadly over the next several years, as normalcy (hopefully) returns. ...Both the return on assets (EBITDA/total assets) and return on equity (EBITDA/Shareholders' Equity) has plunged...companies are scrambling to beef up the asset side of their balance sheets even as debt continues to be a major threat. The problem, however, as this brief exercise has shown, is that incremental assets are of lesser and lesser quality (even assuming no major goodwill impairments in the future), and the actual cash they generate continues eroding.
Cautionary Observations; Chronological Analysis; P 500 Balance Sheet; s; Zero Hedge.
Tue 2009-04-21 00:00 EDT
Jesse's Café Américain: GE Loses Its 'AAA' Credit Rating as S&P Downgrades
AAA; credit ratings; GE Losing; Jesse's Café Américain; P downgraded; s.
Tue 2009-02-24 00:00 EST
Tue 2008-10-28 00:00 EDT
naked capitalism: S&P: "We'd Do a Deal Structured by Cows" And Other Rating Agency Dirty Linen
cows; deal structure; naked capitalism; P; Rating Agency Dirty Linen; s.
Tue 2008-06-03 00:00 EDT
naked capitalism: Financial Worries on Front Burner: S&P Downgrades Big Brokers, Says Outlook "Predominantly Negative"
Financial worried; Front Burner; naked capitalism; P Downgrades Big Brokers; Predominantly Negative; s; Says Outlook.
Tue 2008-06-03 00:00 EDT
Calculated Risk: S&P: More Write Downs Coming for Morgan Stanley, Merrill and Lehman; "Contained. Problems behind us. ... Not!"
Calculated Risk; Lehman; Merrill; Morgan Stanley; P; s; write-downs coming.
Sun 2007-12-16 00:00 EST
improve outcomes on tough issues by separating problem definition from problem solving
blames; naked capitalism; Paulson's Process; R.I.P; SIV Rescue Plan.
