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Luckily, this university has managed to save up a lot of money and has very generous alumni. The government simply reneged on its financial obligations to the university (didn't pay something like $400 million this year). Makes you realize who can be relied upon.
Uh, what?Quote:
Originally Posted by GGT
Oh, right, whenever more than one person is in agreement in disagreeing with you, it's a tag-team. :rolleyes: You can stop it pretty readily by not being wrong. :p
:DQuote:
Originally Posted by Loki
Yeah, that.Quote:
Originally Posted by CitizenCain
Like Big Government? It's the size that counts, not the effectiveness. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Loki
Luckily? *checks Loki's sig again*Quote:
Originally Posted by Loki
Thanks, I hang my head in shame.Quote:
Originally Posted by Timbuk2
"Geithner Tries to Calm Nerves Over Europe’s Uncertain Fate"
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/17/bu...agewanted=1&hp
Our :cheerleader: for Patience?
"Panic now or Panic later"
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=aJ3fIfG1JnoE
:eek:
Curious to know how much they've thought this through, of ir they are just trying things to see the impact. I suspect it's the latter.
After all, it's not uncommon for a stock to suddenly decline by 10% on the onset of bad news. I've seen Goldman, AOL and other stocks do it in the past few weeks for fairly understandable reasons.
Quote:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...512300248.html
BUSINESS | MAY 19, 2010
'Flash Crash' Plan: a Circuit Breaker for Every Stock
By FAWN JOHNSON And KRISTINA PETERSON
Regulators on Tuesday proposed new curbs to tame volatility in individual stocks, in an initial response to the May 6 "flash crash" that caused some shares to fall to as low as one penny.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said trading would pause in certain stocks if the price moved 10% or more in a five-minute period, under a plan set to start in mid-June for a six-month pilot period.
If made permanent, the change would mark a fundamental shift in the day-to-day workings of the stock market. The speed with which the SEC responded to the May 6 mayhem—and the cooperation it won from major stock exchanges—suggest the sensitivity of regulators to Wall Street's hiccups in the wake of the financial crisis, even at the price of restricting the natural flow of trading.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell nearly 1,000 points in a few minutes on May 6 before recouping much of the loss. The SEC's new "circuit breakers" on individual stocks are intended to kick in if that kind of volatility happens again.
Stock-exchange executives praised the new rule. NYSE Euronext's chief operating officer, Lawrence Leibowitz, said it is a "good step toward restoring faith in the markets."
"This is meant to prevent a stock trading at $40 one minute, a penny the next, and $39 the next minute," said William O'Brien, chief executive of the electronic stock-trading platform Direct Edge.
According to the SEC, 30 S&P 500 stocks fell at least 10% in a five-minute period on May 6 and would have been subject to the proposed circuit breaker.
A report released Tuesday by staff at the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commmission said regulators haven't pinpointed a single cause for the plunge but believe a sudden draining of liquidity likely played a role.
Regulators and exchanges are still struggling to adapt to an age of automated trading systems that react almost instantly to falling stock prices in ways that are hard to predict.
The report said regulators are looking closely at trading in the E-Mini S&P 500 futures contract, which may have sparked selling in the cash market.
In addition to the new curbs on individual stocks, the SEC said it is weighing whether to beef up market-wide circuit breakers currently on the books, none of which were triggered on May 6.
Such a circuit breaker is likely to be tied to moves in the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index, according to people close to the discussions.
Regulators are also reviewing the way trades can be canceled, after the exchanges decided to nullify all trades whose prices swung above or below 60% of the stock's 2:40 p.m. price on May 6.
The SEC and CFTC said they are going through more than 25 gigabytes of data to figure out what happened that day.
During the pilot program, the SEC said, it will consider whether it should ban "stub" quotes, a practice of offering pennies for valuable stocks. Such quotes are essentially placeholders but can end up being executed when market makers step out of the market and no legitimate quotes exist.
"Regulators and exchanges are still struggling to adapt to an age of automated trading systems that react almost instantly to falling stock prices in ways that are hard to predict."
Did you see the NYT piece on rapid electronic trading?
Also some frenetic reaction to Germany banning naked short sales....
This one: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/17/bu...e&ref=business
Yes, but it sounds like the electronic traders did exactly as one would predict they would. And it doesn't really differ that much from what humans would do in similar circumstances, except a lot faster. And such the recovery from the "panic" was also faster.
They also removed "liquidity" the moment they shut down the computers. That's why the computers left and went hunting on NASDAQ and other exchanges---there were no buyers for the sellers.
Indeed, that's what's called a stock market panic. Except this one happened over six minutes, instead of six days.
Great time to buy. :D :up:Quote:
Originally Posted by Dreadnaught
Not sure what to make of this. Call me skeptical.
"Senate Passes Financial Overhaul Bill"
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/21/bu...gulate.html?hp
All it does is give expansive —*but somewhat vague —*powers to a host of government agencies. These bureaucrats will now be capricious and very much for sale.
So what would you do to prevent future abuses?Quote:
Originally Posted by Dreadnaught
It's your assumption that there were abuses. My view is there was rampant speculation from government-subsidized debt. The government reduced the cost of failure, so Wall Street tried ever-new things to stay ahead of the yield curve. The damage has been done.
We need clear regulations that are unambiguous and don't give vast powers to vague, corruptible and all-too-human regulators. Some of the 1930s securities legislation was wrong-headed, but it was at least clear, explicit legislation and not simple the vesting of bureaucracy with new loosely-defined powers to determine when a bank should be liquidated. Our previous financial regulations made the boundaries and regulations clear, instead of creating a morass that everyone will try to circumvent.
Are you in favor of giving states control over the banks that operate within their borders (the way it was before Reagan)?
Banks still do need a state charter.
But honestly I'm not sure state-by-state banking regulations (without overarching Federal structures) are a good idea, simply because it would present a bewildering array of regulations for any national business. It's probably not a good idea to constrain capital like that. It would be an effective barrier to interstate commerce.
:flail:Quote:
More Cities on Brink of Bankruptcy
On Wednesday May 26, 2010, 1:31 pm EDT
The possibility of a bankruptcy filing by the city of Harrisburg, Pa., the state capital, looms large these days-and it could be the first in a series, say some Wall Street traders.
Harrisburg, population 55,000, owes nearly $70 million in debt payments this year, and it's unclear where that money will come from. Harrisburg now has one of the lowest credit ratings of any municipality in the United States.
Harrisburg Mayor Linda Thompson told CNBC Wednesday that she had assembled a group of bond stakeholders, the city council and other interested parties to work out the crisis "so that we don't become the poster child of the world in terms of bankruptcy."
Municipal bond underwriters are monitoring Harrisburg, which has struggled to contain the costs of financing a troubled incinerator project.
In 2003, the city borrowed $125 million to expand and retrofit its incinerator, which officials thought would make money for Harrisburg. The incinerator re-opened five years later, but it's turned out to be nothing but a money drain.
On May 1, the city missed a $452,282 loan payment related to the incinerator.
Raising taxes or selling assets, like real estate or parking lots, are options for Harrisburg. So is a restructuring plan-either inside or outside of bankruptcy.
If Harrisburg does file for bankruptcy, it would do so under Chapter 9-which is employed by cities, but rarely. In one closely watched case, the city of Vallejo, Calif., has been in Chapter 9 since 2008.
About the Harrisburg situation, Jim Lebenthal, head of public affairs for the longtime municipal-bond underwriter, Lebenthal & Co., said that while filing for Chapter 9 would be a small matter in the scheme of things, it's "emblematic" of the larger economic struggles that cities face right now. "If it can happen in a state capital, my God, it can happen anywhere," said Lebenthal.
The overall problem is that the $2.8 trillion muni bond market, long considered one of the safest havens for investors, now faces a daunting level of debt, as cities from Los Angeles to New York struggle with an array of headaches, including less tax revenue and high labor costs.
According to remarks made by Harrisburg mayor Thompson in April, the city spends rought 70 percent of its annual budget on labor.
Cities can always raise taxes to fight a budget shortfall. But costly projects, fewer people in the workforce and more demand for city services can make budgets tough to square these days.
Financial firms underwrite bond offerings for cities and public-works projects, and the default rate on muni bonds has historically been quite low-less than 1 percent-compared to nearly 13 percent for corporate bonds, according to ratings agency figures.
In that sense, the Street encourages investors to go long municipalities.
But investors and the Street can also short munis through credit default swaps, or CDS policies that pay out if an entity defaults.
The Markit MCDX, an index that tracks the cost of insuring against default of a basket of 50 municipalities, is on a recent high of $173,000 for $10 million of protection on a five-year bond-a point last reached near the beginning of this year. A swap that would pay out if the state of Pennsylvania defaults cost $112,000 for the same $10 million amount.
After all that happens, the value of buying insurance on debt really seems like a nice deck of cards. Either you're prepared to take the loss or you aren't. This whole hedging strategy just doesn't seem smart when debt failures seem to happen in quick succession.
I mean, I get the strategy it makes sense. But it also doesn't make sense.
Shit. I forgot to make that spin off thread.
But that's what day-traders and hedge funds do---hedge on short bets, or bet against long term value. In a parallel way, that's the SEC complaint made against GS; playing both sides of the trade and 'making markets' they know will glitch; selling the long fail side to clients but profiting on the short side via CDSs from their prop desk.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dreadnaught
Seems to me the bugger is in "intent", and that will take a long time to flush out.
The May 6 flash crash is still not completely understood, but it's clear that technicalities plus singular trades that are HUGE can put the whole system into panic. There are now so many moving parts and high frequency trades, between so many exchanges and dark pools, that the old structure of regulation and oversight, once made for the big boards (and human analysis/action) is obsolete.
What? :confused:Quote:
Originally Posted by EyeKhan
What did you guys do with Cain?
I had him for dinner, with some fava beans and a nice chianti. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by EyeKhan
He ran out of derogatory things to say so we asked to leave.Quote:
Originally Posted by EyeKhan
Ok, I assume you're referring to cannibalism and not something very erotic. Right?Quote:
Originally Posted by GGT
Ha. Like I believe that. He'd never run out of derogatory things to say. Liar. :mad:Quote:
Originally Posted by Being
She's quoting ...Quote:
Originally Posted by EyeKhan
http://2fm.rte.ie/blogs/dave_fanning...hopkinsopt.jpg
I found that erotic. Didn't you?
No. I'm more of an arse man.