Free Republic

The Market Kills The Bezzle It appears that Mr. Market is singularly unimpressed with the unemployment situation, which is actually showing a slowing in the rate of change in U-6, which is in fact positive. However, "The Bezzle" remains unaddressed by government, and therefore, irrespective of anything else, the market will sell off. The Nasdaq is down more than 2% at this point, and here's the chart of today's /ES thus far: This will not stop until "The Bezzle" comes out. One way or another, it will come out. That's more than a 3% move downward today in the first...

CalPERS: Thinking the unthinkable By Ed Mendel Last spring CalPERS doubled the amount of a program that uses the pension fund’s gold-plated credit rating to help state and local governments borrow more cheaply, moving the cap from $5 billion to $10 billion. Now as the economy crumbles, CalPERS is taking a look at what seemed unimaginable last year: What happens if the government borrowers default on their debts and CalPERS has to repay the loans? “In exchange for only a couple million dollars you are taking on a heckuva a tail risk,” Michael Schlachter of Wilshire Consulting told the CalPERS...

Preview from Europe: Stocks Go Cliff Diving Again by: The Mole March 06, 2009 It's amazing what you can buy for a buck or two these days. The un-happy meal menu of stocks features Citibank (C) at $1.02 and General Motors (GM) at $1.86 as the death spiral beckons. There are times when too much drink is simply not enough as the horror show continues unabated. Yesterday’s laughable notion that the Chinese authorities are in control of events and would be able to turn their export driven economy around displayed the kind of naivte and misplaced optimism not seen since...

More GE (IMPORTANT) Off the wires, no link. "DJ reports GE Capital credit default swaps worsen even as GE released a statement emphasizing its strong cash position. The CDS are most recently quoted at 17.5 points up front, from 16.5 points up front earlier today, according to Phoenix Partners Group. That means investors must pay $1.75 mln up front, plus a $500,000 annual fee, to protect $10 mln of GECC senior bonds against default for five years." That means the first year cost is $1.75 + $500k, or $2.25 million. That's 22.5% first year cost to insure $10 million against...

U.S. stock futures signal no follow through By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch Last update: 5:49 a.m. EST March 5, 2009 LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures failed to extend gains Thursday following a rare up day, with disappointment over a lack of new Chinese spending dampening sentiment. S&P 500 futures (SPY SPDR S&P 500 ETF News , chart , profile , more Delayed quote data Add to portfolio Analyst Create alert Insider Discuss Financials Sponsored by: SPY) slipped 7.3 points to 701.10 and Nasdaq 100 futures (QQQQ PowerShares QQQ News , chart , profile , more Delayed quote data Add to...