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DeleveragingA fate worse than debt Sep 25th 2008 /snip IT IS ugly, but deleveraging is the word of the moment. Financial institutions, desperate to repair the damage inflicted on their balance-sheets by mortgage-related securities, sell assets. In doing so, they exacerbate the problem. Forced sales push down the prices of assets, worsening the balance-sheets of other investors, forcing more asset sales, and so on. In the end, the government is the only entity left in the game with a balance-sheet strong enough to keep buying. The Bush administration’s bail-out plan, even if it gets through Congress, may not be the...

OIL'S FUTURE PRICE IS REALLY DEPENDENT ON WHO YOU ASK By JOHN AIDAN BYRNE, Post wires Posted: 3:21 am August 24, 2008 Drivers looking for insight into how much they'll be paying at the pump this winter shouldn't look to Wall Street for any guidance - oil analysts on the Street don't seem to have a clue. Take the gaping difference between the estimates of oil analysts at two firms - Goldman Sachs and Hong Kong-based GaveKal Research. Goldman is predicting oil, which settled at $114.63 a barrel on Friday, will not continue its easing pattern but do an about-face...

A torrid rally in financial stocks resurrected a wheezing stock market, which suffered from recession fears but then rejoiced at a possible bailout of bond insurers by New York regulators. The Dow Jones Industrial Average languished with a 326-point loss at its early-afternoon nadir, but finished up 298.98 points, or 2.5%, at 12270.17. The Standard & Poor's 500 ended up 2.1%, or 28.10 points, at 1338.60. The broad measure's financial sector led the way, up more than 7%, with most of the gains coming in the wake of afternoon reports that New York state regulators were meeting with Wall Street...

Crude oil falls sharply amid credit worries Reformulated gasoline and heating oil futures also decline By Polya Lesova, MarketWatch Last Update: 11:28 AM ET Aug 10, 2007 NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Yet another wave of selling hit crude oil Friday as credit-market worries escalated, prompting a fresh injection of cash by several central banks amid sharp declines in global equity markets. Crude oil for September delivery fell 76 cents at $70.81 a barrel in early action on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract hit an intraday low of $70.10 a barrel. Other energy futures were also sharply lower. "You're...

Investor's Business Daily Stock Volatility Up As Market Sells Off After A Long Calm Thursday May 18, 7:00 pm ETEd CarsonAfter sleepwalking toward multiyear highs, the market sell-off has put a little bit of fear back into investors. "People were saying we are in the end of volatility, but guess what, it's back," said Jim Cramer, host of CNBC's "Mad Money." The CBOE's volatility index, or VIX, spiked to 16.99 on Thursday, its highest close in a year as inflation fears boiled over. The S&P 500 hit a 3-month low on Thursday, while the Nasdaq slid to its worst level...

London 26.01.05 | One of the good things of living in London is that one gets the leaks coming from the oil industry in real-time. As such I have learned about a few in the past weeks. Hugo Chavez is a very well known figure in the oil industry for all the wrong reasons. Industry analysts and traders alike came up with a definition that encapsulates neatly what the Venezuelan president represents to the oil market; i.e. the Chavez premium.

The Sink-or-Swim Economy The New York Times ^ | June 8, 2003 | HARRIS COLLINGWOOD What is it with this economy, anyway? Going strictly by the numbers, the most recent recession has been mild in comparison to previous downturns. Since the economy peaked in March 2001, the major markers of economic health -- industrial output, personal income and wholesale and retail sales -- have all traced smaller declines than in the average post-World War II recession. That's why many economists, among them Jeffrey Frankel, a professor at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, are inclined to dismiss today's complaints about...

A Poker with Bill Gates (Account 990N : Sequel) The following are audio links to discussion on Account 990N. They are about 48 minutes long. In it, one of guests bring up an analogy that dealing with Account 990N is like playing a poker with Bill Gates with a billion dollar of betting money. Even if you have a royal flush and Bill Gates has nothing, Bill can raise the betting to a billion and you can't. Thus, you lose. Real Audio Link: A Poker with Bill Gates MP3 Link: A Poker with Bill Gates

990N by John Mackenzie June 17, 2004 Received this message from a member of my investment forum who is currently on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange: " Only have a minute but, write more later but... The entire S&P price action in the futures is being controlled by one counter party. All the guys frickin hate them: their CME clearing number is 990N and they clear through Gelber trading. That one account is solely responsible for the current level of the S&P. They are the ones that are throwing the S&P up overnight. Then they are the ones...