A B C D E F G H I J K L
  MONEY AND DEBT NEWS: 1-JAN-11 - 31-DEC-11      
From 01-Jan-11 Copyright © 2011 by Macroknow inc. All Rights Reserved.
To 31-Dec-11  
Days 365  
News Items 2076
Date Event Category Authors Title X Event Source URL Item
2-Jan-11 FIN DEBT Reporting by Cho Mee-young; Editing by Nick Macfie S.Korea KAMCO to Buy $4.4 Billion Bad Loans In 2011: Report Korea Asset Management Corporation (KAMCO) to buy ~$4.38 billion worth of bad loans NYT: Reuters 1
5-Jan-11 BANK DEBT Sapna Maheshwari Europe Banks Race Sovereigns to Bond Investors: Credit Markets 4-Jan-11: European banks offered $7.25 billion of bonds (Deutsche Bank AG, $1 billion; Rabobank Nederland, $2.75 billion); EY countries need to raise $1.1 trillion in 2014 Bloomberg 2
13-Jan-11 GOV BANK DEBT 13 January 2011 - Monetary policy decisions The Governing Council of the ECB to keep the interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility at 1.00%, 1.75% and 0.25% respectively European Central Bank 3
13-Jan-11 GOV BANK DEBT Bank of England Maintains Bank Rate at 0.5% and the Size of the Asset Purchase Programme at £200 Billion The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee to maintain (1) the official Bank Rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 0.5% and (2) the stock of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at £200 billion Bank of England 4
18-Jan-11 ELITE FIN DEBT Over US$ 100 Trillion Additional Credit Needed to Support Global Growth More Credit with Fewer Crises: Responsibly Meeting the World’s Growing Demand for Credit, a report released by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with McKinsey & Company: "Credit levels will need to double over the next 10 years, growing by US$ 103 trillion, to support consensus-projected economic growth" World Economic Forum 5
18-Jan-11 GOV FIN DEBT Ian Talley; Min Zeng; Tom Barkley 3rd UPDATE: China Is Net Seller Of Treasurys In Nov; Japan Buys Total reserves (U.S. Treasurys) at the end of 2010: China, $2.85 trillion; Japan, $877.2 billion; U.K., $511.8 billion in Nov-2010 WSJ-Dow Jones Newswires 6
18-Jan-11 GOV FIN DEBT Paul R. La Monica China: The new landlord of the U.S. Paul R. La Monica: China is "alarmed since the Fed's bond buying should lead to a weaker dollar and higher interest rates, thus reducing the value of China's Treasury stake" CNN Money 7
26-Jan-11 GOV BANK DEBT FOMC statement 25-26-Jan-11: FOMC to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 0%-0.25% Federal Reserve Board 8
28-Jan-11 PRO DEBT Jason Webb; Gavin Serkin (ed.) Egypt Bond Yields Climb to Record High in Worst Week as Protests Spread Egypt: outcome of uprising: bond yields soar to record high Bloomberg 9
3-Feb-11 GOV BANK DEBT 3 February 2011 - Monetary policy decisions The Governing Council of the ECB to keep the interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility at 1.00%, 1.75% and 0.25% respectively European Central Bank 10
4-Feb-11 EDU DEBT Nick Anderson Default rate for repayment of for-profit college loans hits 25 percent U.S. Department of Education report: default rate for repayment of for-profit college loans in 2010: 25% (up from 21% YOY) Washington Post 11
10-Feb-11 BANK GOV DEBT IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn Calls for Strengthening the International Monetary System IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn: “Global imbalances are back, and issues that worried us before the crisis—large and volatile capital flows, exchange rate pressures, rapidly growing excess reserves—are on the front burner once again . . . reforms to the international monetary system could both bolster the recovery and strengthen the system’s ability to prevent future crises” IMF 12
10-Feb-11 GOV BANK DEBT Bank of England Maintains Bank Rate at 0.5% and the Size of the Asset Purchase Programme at £200 Billion The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee to maintain (1) the official Bank Rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 0.5% and (2) the stock of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at £200 billion Bank of England 13
12-Feb-11 GOV BANK DEBT Maria Petrakis (reporter); Angela Cullen (ed.) Greek Government Criticizes EU, IMF Demands for Asset Sales Greece: George Petalotis, regarding demand by EU-IMF for asset sales to raise €50 billion: “The only agent responsible for these decisions is the Greek government. We take orders only from the Greek people” Bloomberg 14
17-Feb-11 BANK DEBT LAW Short-term Delinquencies Fall to Pre-Recession Levels, Loans in Foreclosure Tie All-Time Record in Latest MBA National Delinquency Survey Mortgage Bankers Association: the percentage of loans in the foreclosure process at the end of 2010Q4 was 4.63% (up 0.05% YOY); the serious delinquency rate (the percentage of loans that are ≥90 days past due or in the process of foreclosure), was 8.57% (down 1.1% YOY) Mortgage Bankers Association 15
1-Mar-11 BANK DEBT Steven M. Davidoff Debt Market Rebounds From the Crisis, and So Does Risk Concern about new debt issued since 1-Jan-2011: high-yield debt, $38 billion (up 60% over 2010), according to Dealogic; "cov-lite" debt, $17 billion NYT-DealBook 16
3-Mar-11 GOV BANK DEBT 3 March 2011 - Monetary policy decisions The Governing Council of the ECB to keep the interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility at 1.00%, 1.75% and 0.25% respectively European Central Bank 17
10-Mar-11 GOV BANK DEBT Bank of England Maintains Bank Rate at 0.5% and the Size of the Asset Purchase Programme at £200 Billion The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee to maintain (1) the official Bank Rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 0.5% and (2) the stock of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at £200 billion Bank of England 18
12-Mar-11 GOV FIN DEBT European Leaders Expand Bailout Fund European nations: to increase the European Financial Stability Facility (bailout fund) from ~$350 billion to >$600 billion; to lower the interest rate on and more than double the term of Greece's bailout loans VOA News-Reuters 19
15-Mar-11 GOV BANK DEBT FOMC statement 15-Mar-11: FOMC to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 0%-0.25% Federal Reserve Board 20
17-Mar-11 GOV BANK DEBT Minutes of the Monetary Policy Meeting on February 14 and 15, 2011 Bank of Japan to keep the uncollateralized overnight call rate at ~0%-0.1% Bank of Japan 21
18-Mar-11 BANK DEBT Sonya Dowsett, Jesus Aguado; Greg Mahlich (ed.) Spanish banks' bad loans at 16-year high in Jan Spain: the ratio of bad loans to total loans increased from 5.8% in Dec-2010 to 6.1% in Jan-2011, a record-high since Oct-95 Reuters 22
18-Mar-11 BANK GOV DEBT Ben Protess, Eric Dash Many Banks Are Clinging to Billions in Bailout Money Distribution of bailout debt still owed to the U.S. government: $21 billion, 25 banks; $10 billion, 559 banks; total bailout debt owed: $31 billion, 584 banks [source: U.S. Department of the Treasury] NYT-DealBook 23
24-Mar-11 PRO DEBT POL Lisa Bryant EU Leaders Discuss Spreading Debt Crisis Brussels: EU Summit: concern re spreading of eurozone debt crisis; thousands of workers protest against economic pro-business reforms VOA News 24
28-Mar-11 GOV DEBT Canada's Federal Debt: Canada's National Debt Clock Canada's federal debt: total, $559.4 billion; per capita, $16.333 Canadian Taxpayers Federation 25
28-Mar-11 BUS DEBT JOBS Lynn Thomasson, Whitney Kisling; Editors: Nick Baker, Nick Gentle CEOs Tap Record Cash for Payouts as M&A at Post-Lehman High Consequence of ~0% Federal Reserve interest rates and unemployment rate kept at ~26-year high: record $940 billion buildup in corporate cash Bloomberg 26
29-Mar-11 GOV DEBT Charles Forelle Greece, Portugal Cut. Thanks ESM! Standard & Poor’s dowgraded the credit ratings of both Greece and Portugal: Greece was downgraded to double-B-minus, and Portugal to triple-B-minus WSJ 27
30-Mar-11 GOV BANK DEBT TARP Bank Programs Turn Profit After Three Financial Institutions Repay $7.4 Billion U.S. Department of the Treasury: 3 financial institutions repaid $7.4 billion in TARP funds to taxpayers; the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) (bank bailout) "will ultimately provide a lifetime profit of approximately $20 billion to taxpayers" U.S. Department of the Treasury 28
1-Apr-11 DEBT Matt Wirz; Serena Ng. Contributors: Leslie Scism; Mark Gongloff  Subprime Bonds Are Back: As Economy Recovers, Long-Term Investors Willing to Take On More Risks Subprime bonds are "back in vogue" WSJ 29
7-Apr-11 GOV BANK DEBT 7 April 2011 - Monetary policy decisions The Governing Council of the ECB to increase by 0.25%: (1) the interest rate on the main refinancing operations of the Eurosystem to 1.25%; (2) the interest rate on the marginal lending facility to 2.00%; and (3) the interest rate on the deposit facility to 0.50% European Central Bank 30
7-Apr-11 GOV BANK DEBT Bank of England Maintains Bank Rate at 0.5% and the Size of the Asset Purchase Programme at £200 Billion The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee to maintain (1) the official Bank Rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 0.5% and (2) the stock of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at £200 billion Bank of England 31
11-Apr-11 EDU DEBT Tamar Lewin Burden of College Loans on Graduates Grows Student loan debt topped credit card debt for the first time in 2010 [see FinAid.org and FastWeb.com] NYT 32
12-Apr-11 GOV BANK DEBT Minutes of the Monetary Policy Meeting on March 14, 2011 The Bank of Japan to encourage the uncollateralized overnight call rate to remain at ~0%-0.1% Bank of Japan 33
13-Apr-11 GOV ECON DEBT Rex Nutting We're worrying about the wrong deficit Rex Nutting, MarketWatch: "We're worrying about the wrong deficit . . . foreigners own about $11 trillion in U.S. financial assets, including $4.4 trillion in government securities. In addition, foreigners have invested more than $2 trillion directly in U.S. businesses." MarketWatch 34
13-Apr-11 BUS BANK DEBT Takako Taniguchi; Finbarr Flynn; Chitra Somayaji (ed.) Japan Megabanks Get $90 Billion in Loan Requests as Quake Hurts Companies Japan: businesses sought 7.5 trillion yen ($90 billion) in loans following the magnitude-9 quake and tsunami Bloomberg 35
18-Apr-11 GOV DEBT MKT AAA/A-1+' Rating On United States of America Affirmed; Outlook Revised To Negative S&P affirmed 'AAA' long-term and 'A-1+' short-term sovereign credit ratings on the U.S. and dowgraded its outlook on the long-term rating of the U.S. sovereign from stable to negative S&P 36
27-Apr-11 GOV BANK DEBT FOMC statement FOMC to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 0%-0.25% Federal Reserve Board 37
27-Apr-11 GOV DEBT MKT Ratings agencies' warnings, actions on Japan debt S&P lowered its outlook for Japan's rating from stable to negative Money Control [27-May-11]: Reuters 38
27-Apr-11 GOV BANK DEBT FOMC statement 26-27-Apr-11: FOMC to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 0%-0.25% Federal Reserve Board 39
28-Apr-11 GOV BANK DEBT Statement on Monetary Policy The Bank of Japan to keep the uncollateralized overnight call rate to remain at ~0%-0.1% Bank of Japan 40
4-May-11 GOV FIN DEBT Landon Thomas Jr.; Raphael Minder; Contributor: Stephen Castle Markets Losing Faith in Portugal 3-May-11: Portugal bailout package: $115.5 billion NYT 41
5-May-11 GOV BANK DEBT IMF Reaches Staff-Level Agreement With Portugal On a €26 Billion Extended Fund Facility Arrangement IMF staff-level agreement with Portugal to provide €26 billion (~$116 billion) in extended fund facility arrangement IMF 42
5-May-11 GOV BANK DEBT 5 May 2011 - Monetary policy decisions The Governing Council of the ECB to keep the interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility at 1.25%, 2.00% and 0.50% respectively European Central Bank 43
5-May-11 GOV BANK DEBT Bank of England Maintains Bank Rate at 0.5% and the Size of the Asset Purchase Programme at £200 Billion The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee to maintain (1) the official Bank Rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 0.5% and (2) the stock of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at £200 billion Bank of England 44
8-May-11 BANK DEBT JUST Yunus says political influence may ruin Garmeen Bank Bangladesh: Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, microlending pioneer, was ousted from Grameen Bank; Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina accused Yunus of “sucking blood from the poor borrowers" Washington Post: AP 45
9-May-11 GOV DEBT MKT William L. Watts S&P cuts Greece credit rating to B from BB-minus Standard & Poor's Ratings Services cut Greece's long-term sovereign credit rating from BB- to B MarketWatch 46
16-May-11 BUS DEBT WWW Sapna Maheshwari; Alan Goldstein (ed.) Google Sells $3 Billion of Bonds in ‘Home Run’ Debut Offering Google sold $3 billion of bonds; Google's total cash and marketable securities was $35 billion at yearend 2010 Bloomberg 47
17-May-11 GOV DEBT ELITE Barry Wood Buffett’s silly talk about the U.S. debt; Commentary: U.S. isn’t special and can’t avoid default forever Warren Buffett: “The United States is not going to have a debt crisis as long as we keep issuing our debts in our own currency. The only thing we have to worry about is the printing press and inflation" MarketWatch 48
24-May-11 BUS GOV DEBT Chrysler Group LLC Completes Refinancing and Repays U.S. and Canadian Government Loans in Full Chrysler Group LLC repayed $7.6 billion in outstanding U.S. and Canadian government loans after completing new financing transactions (a term loan totaling $3.0 billion, debt securities totaling $3.2 billion, and a revolving credit facility of $1.3 billion) Chrysler 49
25-May-11 GOV BANK DEBT Federal Reserve offers $5 billion in 28-day term deposits through its Term Deposit Facility Federal Reserve to offer $5 billion in 28-day term deposits through its Term Deposit Facility on 31-May-11 Federal Reserve Board 50
26-May-11 GOV BANK DEBT Bob Ivry; Gary Putka (ed.) Fed Gave Banks Crisis Gains on $80 Billion Secretive Loans as Low as 0.01% Federal Reserve emergency lending program: $80 billion in "secretive loans" to banks, including Credit Suisse Group AG (CS), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (RBS), at interest rates as low as 0.01% in 2008 [single-tranche open-market operations, or ST OMO] Bloomberg 51
27-May-11 GOV BANK DEBT Salameh: I will not allow any bank to go bust 26-May-11: Beirut: Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh asserted at the Arab Economic Forum that he would not allow any Lebanese bank to fail; Salameh: “The privatization programs in these [Arab] states did not actually liberate the economies and achieve sustainable growth. Most of these state assets were sold to particular businessmen" Daily Star 52
31-May-11 GOV BANK DEBT Landon Thomas Jr. New Rescue Package for Greece Takes Shape Greece: new bailout package ($86 billion in new loans; roll over of old government debt; accelerated privatization; tax collection) triggers protest NYT 53
2-Jun-11 GOV BUS DEBT Treasury Announces Agreement to Exit Remaining Stake in Chrysler Group LLC U.S. Department of the Treasury to sell its 6% fully diluted equity interest in Chrysler Group LLC to Fiat for $500 million; the likely net loss from Treasury's commitment of $12.5 billion to Chrysler under TARP’s Automotive Industry Financing Program (AIFP) is estimated at $1.3 billion. U.S. Department of the Treasury 54
4-Jun-11 ECON DEBT JOBS Andrew Martin For the Jobless, Little U.S. Help on Foreclosure Andrew Martin: "the primary cause of foreclosures is unemployment" NYT 55
5-Jun-11 GOV BANK DEBT IMF Reaches Staff Level Agreement with Egypt on a US$3 Billion Stand-By Arrangement IMF reaches staff level agreement with Egypt on a 12 month US $3 billion stand-by agreement IMF 56
5-Jun-11 GOV BANK DEBT Statement by John Lipsky, Acting Managing Director of the IMF, on Egypt John Lipksy, Acting Managing Director of the IMF: "the IMF could make available as much as $35 billion in financial assistance to the region [including Egypt] . . . to address short-term needs and develop the strategies necessary for medium-term success of their transition to free and democratic societies." IMF 57
5-Jun-11 GOV ECON DEBT Economically struggling Belarus to get $3 bln Russia-led loan in exchange for privatizations 4-Jun-11: Belarus to get a $3 billion loan from a "Russia-dominated group"; loan condition: Belarus must privatize much of its economy Washington Post: AP 58
8-Jun-11 DEBT Azam Ahmed Bank Said No? Hedge Funds Fill a Void in Lending Some hedge funds are lending to midsized companies; this kind of banking may be risky as it is unregulated NYT-DealBook 59
9-Jun-11 GOV BANK DEBT 9 June 2011 - Monetary policy decisions The Governing Council of the ECB to keep the interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility at 1.25%, 2.00%, and 0.50% respectively European Central Bank 60
9-Jun-11 GOV BANK DEBT Bank of England Maintains Bank Rate at 0.5% and the Size of the Asset Purchase Programme at £200 Billion The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee to maintain (1) the official Bank Rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 0.5% and (2) the stock of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at £200 billion Bank of England 61
13-Jun-11 GOV DEBT MKT Shawn Langlois S&P cuts Greece by thre notches Standard & Poor's downgraded its long-term sovereign credit ratings of Greece from B to CCC MarketWatch 62
14-Jun-11 GOV BANK DEBT Statement on Monetary Policy The Bank of Japan to encourage the uncollateralized overnight call rate to remain at ~0%-0.1% Bank of Japan 63
14-Jun-11 GOV BANK DEBT An (ed.) China hikes bank reserve ratio for 6th time this year to battle inflation China's central bank to raise the banks' reserve requirement ratio (RRR) by 0.5%; banks will have to allocate 21.5% of their capital as reserve (reducing liquidity by $56.92 billion) Xinhua 64
15-Jun-11 DEBT Scott Stearns Clinton: African Businesswomen Need More Access to Credit U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: African businesswomen need more access to credit VOA News 65
16-Jun-11 BANK FIN DEBT Matt Andrejczak Greece poses $41 billion risk to U.S. banks Bank for International Settlements (BIS): total exposure of U.S. banks at yearend 2010 was $41 billion MarketWatch 66
19-Jun-11 PRO DEBT Spaniards protest against economic cuts Spain: tens of thousands of Spaniards protest to express their outrage against austerity measures imposed by eurozone lenders Al Jazeera 67
21-Jun-11 GOV FIN DEBT Maria Petrakis; Marcus Bensasson; James Hertling (ed.) Papandreou Wins Confidence Vote, Raising Rescue Chances Greece: Prime Minister George Papandreou won a vote of confidence, a move needed to secure international financial aid [bailout] for Greece Bloomberg 68
21-Jun-11 GOV DEBT BANK Jack Ewing Greek Banks Feel Hostage to Debt Crisis Greece's financial statistices: face value of Greek government bonds, ~€48 billion (according to Barclays Capital); worth of the bonds as collateral, ~nothing except at the European Central Bank. Nonperforming Greek bank loans, 10% NYT 69
22-Jun-11 GOV BANK DEBT FOMC statement FOMC to keep the target range for the federal funds rate at 0%-0.25%; and to complete its purchases of $600 billion of longer-term Treasury securities by the end of Jun-2011 Federal Reserve Board 70
22-Jun-11 GOV FIN DEBT Greek government approves austerity plan Greece: the Greek cabinet approved an austerity budget plan: $17bn in bailout funds in exchange for $40.24bn in budget cuts, new taxes, and a $72bn privatization plan; thousands of people protested against "thieves" Al Jazeera: Agencies 71
22-Jun-11 GOV FIN DEBT Rachel Donadio; Steven Erlanger  Some Greeks Fear Government Is Selling Nation Greek assets for sale will likely include "ports, Mediterranean vistas, the national lottery, railroads and telecommunications"; assets and state-owned corporations will likely sell at deep dicounts ("a pittance" according to Mr. Mihalos of the Athens Chamber of Commerce) NYT-DealBook 72
23-Jun-11 MKT GOV DEBT Deborah Levine U.S. 2-year yield hit record low after data 2-year Treasury yields tumbled to a record low MarketWatch 73
23-Jun-11 BUS FIN DEBT Press Statement Swedish Automobile N.V.: "Saab Automobile AB will be unable to pay the wages to employees"; Saab had 3,351 employees as at 31-Dec-09 [soutce: Saab] Saab 74
24-Jun-11 GOV FIN DEBT Lisa Bryant EU Leaders Agree on Second Bailout for Greece European Union leaders agreed on a 2nd bailout for Greece; the bailout is reportedly worth >$171 billion and is conditional on more austerity measures VOA News 75
24-Jun-11 GOV BANK DEBT Julia Werdigier Worsening Debt in Europe Is Called Major Threat to British Banks Mervyn A. King, Bank of England governor: “The most serious and immediate risk to the U.K. financial system stems from the worsening sovereign debt crisis in several euro area countries." NYT 76
25-Jun-11 GOV FIN DEBT Egypt Decides It Does Not Need World Bank, IMF Funding Egypt decided against loans from the World Bank or the IMF VOA News-AFP-Reuters 77
26-Jun-11 GOV DEBT REL Kevin Flower. Contributor: Guy Azriel Israel denies fiscal pressure on Greece to block flotilla boats Israel: Israeli foreign ministry denied Israel and the U.S. were using economic pressure to coerce Greece into preventing boats from joining an international flotilla to the Gaza Strip; Yigal Palmor. "Do these people have any proof whatsoever to such claims? Their entire activity is aimed at demonizing the state of Israel. What are they saying, that we have used all the Jewish bankers in the world to cancel Greece's bonds? What kind of fantasy world are they living in?" [Edward Ayoub, Much Mind Editor: this appears to be connected to the "malicious slander" accusing Jews of a [here financial] "cannibalistic conspiracy" which allegedly had Jews swearing an "oath of hostility to the Greeks"; for more information, see Peter Schȁfer, Judeophobia, Harvard University Press, 1997, at 62-63] CNN World 78
28-Jun-11 GOV FIN DEBT Matthew Dalton CORRECT: EU Threatens Greek Default If Austerity Plan Rejected Greek parliament is under EU pressure to approve lender-imposed measures (spending cuts, asset sales, and tax hikes worth ~€28 billion) or face default WSJ: Dow Jones Newswire 79
28-Jun-11 PRO GOV DEBT Jon Sopel; Chris Morris (At the scene) Greece protest against austerity package turns violent Greece: thousands of angry protesters join a 48-hour general strike against a parliamentary vote on bailout austerity measures imposed by lenders; violence reported; groups of protesters battle the police BBC News 80
28-Jun-11 GOV FIN DEBT Tim Shipman Athens aflame: Thousands of striking Greeks in fresh anti-cuts PRO... and this is them just warming up for clashes tomorrow The UK may have to channel up to £20bn to Greece through 'IMF back door' Daily Mail 81
28-Jun-11 MKT BANK DEBT Graham Bowley In a Greek Default, Higher Risk for Money Market Funds A Greek default can have serious consequences for U.S. investors: ~50% of U.S. funds (~$800 billion) has been lent to European banks NYT 82
29-Jun-11 GOV BANK DEBT Myra P. Saefong; Deborah Levine Brady bond-style solution isn’t a Greece guarantee French bank plan to roll over Greek government dabt: proceeds of maturing Greek debt would be reinvested into new 30-year bonds  MarketWatch 83
29-Jun-11 PRO GOV DEBT Rachel Donadio; Niki Kitsantonis. Contributors: Stephen Castle; David Jolly  Greek Parliament Approves Austerity Plan Greece: the Greek Parliament approved lender-imposed austerity measures; thousands of angry Greeks protested violently against the measures NYT 84
29-Jun-11 BANK DEBT JUST Bank of America Announces Agreement on Legacy Countrywide Mortgage Repurchase and Servicing Claims Bank of America "to resolve nearly all of the legacy Countrywide-issued first-lien residential mortgage-backed securitization (RMBS) repurchase exposure, representing 530 trusts with original principal balance of $424 billion" Bank of America 85
29-Jun-11 BANK DEBT JUST Nelson D. Schwartz; Eric Dash. Contributor: Gretchen Morgenson Bank of America Settles Claims Stemming From Mortgage Crisis Bank of America to pay $20 billion to settle claims related to the subprime meltdown; potential losses to the financial services industry from future claims may total tens of billions of dollars NYT-DealBook 86
29-Jun-11 GOV BANK DEBT Federal Reserve and other central banks announce an extension of the existing temporary U.S. dollar liquidity swap arrangements through August 1, 2012 The Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve, and the Swiss National Bank to extend the temporary U.S. dollar liquidity swap program through 1-Aug-2012 Federal Reserve Board 87
30-Jun-11 GOV BANK DEBT Matthew Saltmarsh; Stephen Castle German Banks Agree to Roll Over Greek Debt Both French and German banks agreed to roll over Greek debt  NYT 88
30-Jun-11 GOV FIN DEBT Elisabetta Povoledo; Gaia Pianigiani Italy Approves an Austerity Package Italy: the government approved a 3-year $68 billion austerity package NYT 89
4-Jul-11 GOV DEBT MKT William L. Watts S&P warns Greek debt rollover would be default Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said Greece would likely be in “selective default” if Greek government debt is rolled over according to France's proposal MarketWatch 90
5-Jul-11 GOV BANK DEBT Stephanie Tong; Chitra Somayaji (ed.) China Banks’ Outlook May Be Souring on Loans Yvonne Zhang of Moody’s: “The Chinese audit agency could be understating banks’ exposure to local governments"; local governments are indebted to Chinese banks to the tune of $540 billion Bloomberg 91
5-Jul-11 GOV BANK DEBT Sandrine Rastello; John Detrixhe; Christopher Wellisz (ed.) Portugal Rating Cut on Possible Greek Follow Moody’s Investors Service cut Portugal’s long-term government bond rating from Baa1 to Ba2 (junk) Bloomberg 92
6-Jul-11 GOV BANK DEBT Deng Shasha (ed.) China's central bank raises interest rate by 25 basis points China: the People's Bank of China (PBOC) decided to raise its benchmark one-year borrowing and lending rates by 0.25% Xinhua 93
6-Jul-11 ECON MON DEBT Binyamin Appelbaum As Plastic Reigns, the Treasury Slows Its Printing Presses U.S.: value of currency in domestic circulation as percent of the U.S.’s economic activity: ~5% in 1970; ~2.5% in 2010 NYT 94
7-Jul-11 GOV BANK DEBT 7 July 2011 - Monetary policy decisions The Governing Council of the ECB to increase the interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility by 0.25% to 1.50%, 2.25% and 0.75% respectively European Central Bank 95
8-Jul-11 GOV BANK DEBT IMF Executive Board Completes Fourth Review Under Stand-By Arrangement for Greece and Approves €3.2 Billion Disbursement The International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved ~€3.2 billion (~$4.58 billion) for Greece; total disbursements to Greece under the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) for Greece is ~€17.4 billion (~$24.9 billion) IMF 96
11-Jul-11 GOV FIN DEBT George soros True Europeans now need a ‘plan B’ George Soros: "The German chancellor Angela Merkel insisted that there should be no joint EU guarantee; each country would have to take care of its own institutions. That was the root cause of today’s euro crisis. . . Greece is heading towards disorderly default and/or devaluation, with incalculable consequences." FT-The A-List 97
12-Jul-11 GOV BANK DEBT Moody's downgrades Ireland to Ba1; outlook remains negative Moody's Investors Service downgraded Ireland's foreign- and local-currency government bond ratings from Baa3 to Ba1 (junk) Moody's 98
12-Jul-11 GOV BANk DEBT Statement on Monetary Policy The Bank of Japan to encourage the uncollateralized overnight call rate to remain at ~0%-0.1% Bank of Japan 99
14-Jul-11 GOV DEBT MKT Nikola G Swann; John Chambers; David T Beers Research Update:
United States of America 'AAA/A-1+' Ratings Placed On CreditWatch Negative On Rising Risk Of Policy Stalemate		 S&P: "Standard & Poor's has placed its 'AAA' long-term and 'A-1+' short-term sovereign credit ratings on the United States of America on CreditWatch with negative implications" #VALUE! 100
15-Jul-11 GOV BANK DEBT Results of the 2011 EU-wide stress test European Banking Authority (EBA): 2011 EU-wide bank stress test: 8 of 90 banks fall below the capital threshold of 5% Core Tier 1 Ratio (CT1R) (CT1 shortfall of €2.5 bn); 16 banks display a CT1R of between 5% and 6% European Banking Authority 101
18-Jul-11 BUS FIN DEBT Andria Cheng Borders says it's liquidating, shutting 399 stores Borders Group Inc. to liquidate its store assets and shut 399 stores MarketWatch 102
19-Jul-11 BANK DEBT ENER SolarEdge Closes $8.0 Million Credit Facility with Silicon Valley Bank Israel: Silicon Valley Bank to provide SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. with an $8.0 million credit facility Silicon Valley Bank 103
20-Jul-11 GOV BANK DEBT Federal Reserve offers $5 billion in 28-day term deposits through its Term Deposit Facility Federal Reserve to offer $5 billion in 28-day term deposits through its Term Deposit Facility Federal Reserve Board 104
21-Jul-11 GOV FIN DEBT Landon Thomas Jr.; Stephen Castle. Contributor: James Kanter Heads of Europe Back Broad Plan to Rescue Greece Brussels: European leaders agree to a €109 billion ($157 billion) bailout package for Greece; Greece's total debt, €350 billion ($496 billion) NYT 105
23-Jul-11 BANK DEBT FRAUD Alexei Barrionuevo; Contributors: Pascale Bonnefoy; Aaron Nelsen  Rise of Consumer Credit in Chile and Brazil Leads to Big Debts and Lender Abuses Chile, Brazil, and other South American countries are suffering from usury and its abuses. Household debt-to-income levels: U.S., ~140%; Brazil, 40% in April 2011 (LCA Consultores); Chile, 70% at yearend 2010 (Central Bank). Credit card interest rates in Brazil are >220%. Accrording to filmmaker Osvaldo Oyarce: “We have turned ourselves into modern slaves." Class action lawsuit filed in Jun-2011 against alleged fraudster in Chile. NYT 106
25-Jul-11 GOV BANK DEBT Rating Action: Moody's downgrades Greece to Ca from Caa1, developing outlook Moody's Investors Service downgraded Greece's local- and foreign-currency bond ratings from Caa1 to Ca Moody's 107
26-Jul-11 GOV BANK DEBT Michael J. De La Merced California Secures $5.4 Billion Loan From 8 Banks California obtained a $5.4 billion bridge loan from 8 banks (including Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup) to protect itself from the consequences of a failure in Washington to raise the U.S. debt ceiling NYT-DealBook 108
27-Jul-11 BANK FIN DEBT Visa Inc. Posts Strong Fiscal Third Quarter 2011 Earnings Results and Authorizes New $1 Billion Share Repurchase Program Visa fiscal 2011Q3 results: total operating revenues, $2.322 billion (up 14.4% YOY); net income attributable to Visa Inc., $1.005 billion (up 40% YOY) Visa 109
29-Jul-11 GOV LAW DEBT David Espo. Contributors: Andrew Taylor; Donna Cassata; Alan Fram; Jim Kuhnhenn; Erica Werner; Ben Feller House approves debt bill; Senate rejects it U.S.: the House approved a Republican-drafted $900-billion debt increase bill; the Senate rejected the bill AP 110
31-Jul-11 GOV LAW DEBT To Escape Chaos, a Terrible Deal Deal between Congressional leaders and the White House: "The deal would avert a catastrophic government default, immediately and probably through the end of 2012. The rest of it is a nearly complete capitulation to the hostage-taking demands of Republican extremists" NYT-Editorial 111
1-Aug-11 GOV LAW DEBT John Nolen A summary of the debt ceiling compromise Washington, DC: the House approved a compromise deal to raise the U.S. debt limit bu up to $2.4 trillion, an additional increase, in the range from $1.2 trillion and $1.5 trillion, is also available after a special committee matches the increae with a corresponding spending cut; the deal requires cuts >$900 billion over 10 years; the deal involves no tax increases CBS News 112
1-Aug-11 GOV ECON DEBT Maria Tsvetkova; Alissa de Carbonnel (Writing); Tim Pearce (ed.) Putin blasts 'parasite' US Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin: "They [Americans] are living beyond their means and shifting a part of the weight of their problems to the world economy. . . They are living like parasites off the global economy and their monopoly of the dollar." Reuters 113
1-Aug-11 GOV LAW DEBT Michael McDonald; David McLaughlin; Mark Tannenbaum (ed.) ‘Dire’ Finances Force R.I. City Into Bankruptcy U.S.: 5 municipalities sought bankruptcy protection in 2011 to date vs. 6 in in the whole of 2010 Bloomberg 114
2-Aug-11 GOV LAW DEBT Jennifer Steinhauer. Contributor: Robert Pear Debt Bill Is Signed, Ending a Fractious Battle Washington, DC: the Senate voted 74 to 26 to raise the government’s debt ceiling; President Obama signed the bill NYT 115
2-Aug-11 GOV DEBT MKT Announcement on Dagong Downgrading the Debt Rating of the USA China: Dagong Global Credit Rating cut the credit rating on U.S. sovereign debt from A+ to A with a negative outlook Dagong Global Credit Rating Co. 116
2-Aug-11 GOV BANK DEBT IMF Statement on U.S. Agreement to Raise Debt Ceiling Ms. Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF): “We welcome the agreement to raise the U.S. government’s borrowing limit and cut the budget deficit. By reducing a major uncertainty in the markets and bolstering U.S. fiscal credibility, this agreement is good for both the U.S. and the global economy" IMF 117
2-Aug-11 GOV DEBT MKT Announcement: Moody's confirms US Aaa Rating, assigns negative outlook Moody's: "Moody's Investors Service has confirmed the Aaa government bond rating of the United States following the raising of the statutory debt limit on August 2. The rating outlook is now negative." Moody's 118
3-Aug-11 GOV DEBT MKT Wang Guanqun (ed.) Chinese rating agency Co. downgraded U.S. credit rating after debt limit increase China: Dagong Global Credit Rating cut the credit rating on U.S. sovereign debt from A+ to A with a negative outlook; reason: "the U.S. national debt growth has outpaced that of its overall economy and fiscal revenue"; China's U.S. debt holdings amounted to $1.15 trillion as of the end of April 2011 Xinhua 119
4-Aug-11 GOV BANK DEBT 4 August 2011 - Monetary policy decisions The Governing Council of the ECB decided to keep the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility unchanged at 1.50%, 2.25% and 0.75%, respectively European Central Bank 120
4-Aug-11 GOV DEBT Delia Robertson Activists Condemn South Africa Loan to Swaziland 3-Aug-11: South Africa to bailout Swaziland with a $350 million loan; activists condemn the loan VOA News 121
5-Aug-11 GOV DEBT MKT Primary Credit Analyst: Nikola G Swann [Toronto]. Secondary Credit Analysts: John Chambers [New York]; David T Beers [London] Research Update: United States of America Long-Term
Rating Lowered To 'AA+' On Political Risks And Rising Debt Burden; Outlook Negative		 Standard & Poor's lowered its long-term sovereign credit rating on the United States of America from 'AAA'  to 'AA+' and affirmed the 'A-1+' short-term rating; the downgrade reflects the authors' view that "the effectiveness, stability, and predictability of American policymaking and political institutions have weakened at a time of ongoing fiscal and economic challenges . . ." S&P 122
6-Aug-11 GOV POL DEBT China Slams US on Credit Downgrade, Most Countries Cautious China issued a warning to the United States regarding "debt addiction" and "short-sighted political wrangling" VOA News-AP-Reuters 123
7-Aug-11 GOV BANK DEBT 7 August 2011 - Statement by the President of the ECB The European Central Bank (ECB): the governments of Italy and Spain agreed to "new measures and reforms in the areas of fiscal and structural policies"; these aim "to substantially enhance the competitiveness and flexibility of their economies, and to rapidly reduce public deficits"; the ECB "will actively implement its Securities Markets Programme," a bond bying program "to help restoring a better transmission of our monetary policy decisions – taking account of dysfunctional market segments – and therefore to ensure price stability in the euro area" European Central Bank 124
8-Aug-11 GOV DEBT MKT Primary Credit Analyst: Matthew Albrecht [New York]; Secondary Credit Analysts: Daniel E Teclaw [New York]; Sunsierre Newsome [New York] Ratings On Select GREs And FDIC- And NCUA-Guaranteed Debt Lowered After Sovereign Downgrade Standard & Poor's downgraded (1) the long-term issuer credit ratings on 10 of 12 Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBs) from 'AAA'" to 'AA+'; and (2) the senior issue ratings on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from 'AAA'" to 'AA+'; the outlooks for all 12 FHLBs is negative S&P 125
8-Aug-11 GOV DEBT Camilla Hall Dubai’s ICD to repay $4bn of loans Dubai: Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD) to repay $4 billion in loans, instead of opting for refinancing Financial Times 126
9-Aug-11 GOV DEBT Brian Dumaine; Graphic: Nicolas Rapp Who in the world is most in debt? The 10 most indebted developed countries (ranked according to Debt/GDP ratio): 1 Japan; 2 Greece; 3 Italy; 4 Iceland; 5 Belgium; 6 Ireland; 7 U.S.; 8 Singapore; 9 France; 10 Portugal CNN Money: Fortune 127
10-Aug-11 MKT GOV DEBT Deborah Levine U.S. sells debt at record low yield; bonds gain The U.S. Treasury Department sold $24 billion in 10-year notes at a yield of 2.14% (record low) MarketWatch 128
14-Aug-11 GOV BANK DEBT World Bank President Zoellick Media Availability in Sydney, August 14, 2011 World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick: "Well, I think we're entering a new danger zone, and I think that confidence in economic leadership has been slipping.  And it will be important that the primary economic actors take steps, both short and long term, to restore that' World Bank Group 129
15-Aug-11 M&A BANK DEBT Bank of America to Exit International Credit Card Businesses TD Bank Group to purchase Bank of America’s $8.6 billion Canadian credit card portfolio and certain other assets and liabilities Bank of America-Business Wire 130
16-Aug-11 GOV DEBT MKT Fitch Affirms United States at AAA; Outlook Stable Fitch affirmed United States at AAA with stable outlook; "The affirmation of the US 'AAA' sovereign rating reflects the fact that the key pillars of US's exceptional creditworthiness remains intact: its pivotal role in the global financial system and the flexible, diversified and wealthy economy that provides its revenue base. Monetary and exchange rate flexibility further enhances the capacity of the economy to absorb and adjust to 'shocks'" Fitch Ratings 131
17-Aug-11 ECON DEBT RPIG Recession Increases Number of Children Living in Low-Income Families by 7% to 31 Million; 7.8 Million Children Lived With at Least One Unemployed Parent in 2010 KIDS COUNT Data Book: "The official child poverty rate . . . increased 18 percent between 2000 and 2009 . . . This increase means that 2.4 million more children are living below the federal poverty line. . . In 2010, 11 percent of children had at least one unemployed parent and 4 percent have been affected by foreclosure since 2007" Annie E. Casey Foundation 132
18-Aug-11 GOV BUS DEBT Treasury Receives $2 Billion TARP Repayment from American International Group (AIG) The U.S. Department of the Treasury received a repayment of $2.15 billion from American International Group (AIG); AIG received a total of ~$180 billion from Treasury during the financial crisis); to date, Treasury has received $313 billion in repayments and other income from its TARP investments (>76% of the $412 billion disbursed under the program) U.S. Department of the Treasury 133
19-Aug-11 BANK DEBT Failed Bank List FDIC: number of failed banks by year: 2011 YTD, 68; 2010, 157; 2009, 140; 2008, 25 FDIC 134
22-Aug-11 GOV BANK DEBT Bradley Keoun; Phil Kuntz; David Scheer (ed.) Wall Street Aristocracy Got $1.2 Trillion in Fed Loans Bradley Keoun and Phil Kuntz, Bloomberg: To survive the housing market collapse in 2008 the U.S. Federal Reserve lent banks ("Wall Street's Aristocracy") $1.2 trillion of public money; ironically, the loans amounted to "about the same amount U.S. homeowners currently owe on 6.5 million delinquent and foreclosed mortgages" Bloomberg 135
22-Aug-11 BANK DEBT LAW Delinquencies Rise, Foreclosures Fall in Latest MBA Mortgage Delinquency Survey Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA): National Delinquency Survey: the delinquency rate for mortgage loans on 1-to-4-unit residential properties increased to a seasonally adjusted rate of 8.44% of all loans outstanding as of the end of 2011Q2 (up 0.12% QOQ; down 1.41% YOY) Mortgage Bankers Association 136
23-Aug-11 BANK FIN DEBT Quarterly Banking Profile FDIC-insured institutions' results, 2011Q2: net income of $28.8 billion in 2011Q2 (up $7.9 billion or 37.9% YOY) FDIC 137
1-Sep-11 GOV BANK DEBT Federal Reserve Board announces a formal enforcement action against the Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. and Goldman Sachs Bank USA The Federal Reserve Board to enforce "action against the Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. and Goldman Sachs Bank USA to address a pattern of misconduct and negligence relating to deficient practices in residential mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure processing involving its former subsidiary, Litton Loan Servicing LP" Federal Reserve Board 138
1-Sep-11 BUS DEBT ENER Keith Bradsher China Benefits as U.S. Solar Industry Withers 31-Aug-11: Solyndra (CA) filed for bankrupycy protection; 2 other American solar poawer manufacturers, Evergreen Solar (MA) and SpectraWatt (NY), also filed for bankruptcy in Aug-2011; China has surpassed the U.S. in solar cell production around 2006 NYT 139
6-Sep-11 GOV BANK DEBT Landon Thomas Jr.; Nelson D. Schwartz. Contributor: Liz Alderman In Euro Zone, Banking Fear Feeds on Itself George Soros on the European debt crisis: "This crisis has the potential to be a lot worse than Lehman Brothers . . . That is why the problem is so serious. You need a crisis to create the political will for Europe to create such an authority, but there is still no understanding as to what the authority will do." Markets are nervous, there is a potential for deposit runs on banks, U.S. money market funds have cut their exposure to European banks, and the yield on U.S. Treasury bonds tumbled to an all-time record low (1.90%). NYT 140
6-Sep-11 GOV DEBT MKT Deborah Levine Treasurys up; 10-year yields hit record low Yields on 10-year Treasury notes fell to 1.9753%, via an all-time low of 1.90% MarketWatch 141
6-Sep-11 PRO DEBT Rachel Donadio. Contributor: Gaia Pianigiani Italian Workers Strike Against Austerity Measures Italy: thousands of workers (~70,000 in Rome) protested against a ~$64 billion austerity package linked to Italian debt NYT 142
8-Sep-11 GOV BANK DEBT 8 September 2011 - Monetary policy decisions The Governing Council of the ECB to keep the interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility unchanged at 1.50%, 2.25% and 0.75% respectively European Central Bank 143
8-Sep-11 GOV BANK DEBT Mortgage Rates Attain New All-Time Record Lows Again Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS): mortgage rates, fixed and adjustable, hit all-time record lows: 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.12% (down from 4.35% YOY). Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist, Freddie Mac: "Market concerns over Eurozone sovereign debt default and a weak U.S. employment report for August placed downward pressure on Treasury bond yields and allowed fixed mortgage rates to hit new lows this week. On net, the economy added no new jobs last month and was the weakest reading since September 2010. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate remained at 9.1 percent, marking its 31st consecutive month of being above 8 percent, the longest such stretch in 70 years."
 Freddie Mac 144
8-Sep-11 GOV BANK DEBT Chairman Ben S. Bernanke The U.S. Economic Outlook [speech at the Economic Club of Minnesota Luncheon, Minneapolis, Minnesota] Chairman Ben S. Bernanke: "The financial crisis that gripped global markets in 2008 and 2009 was more severe than any since the Great Depression. . . The actions to stabilize the financial system were accompanied . . . by substantial monetary and fiscal stimulus. Despite these strong and concerted efforts, severe damage to the global economy could not be avoided. The freezing of credit, the sharp drops in asset prices, dysfunction in financial markets, and the resulting blows to confidence sent global production and trade into free fall in late 2008 and early 2009. . . Our economy retains its traditional advantages of a strong market orientation, a robust entrepreneurial culture, and flexible capital and labor markets. And our country remains a technological leader, with many of the world's leading research universities and the highest spending on research and development of any nation. Thus I do not expect the long-run growth potential of the U.S. economy to be materially affected by the financial crisis and the recession if--and I stress if--our country takes the necessary steps to secure that outcome." Federal Reserve Board 145
9-Sep-11 GOV BANK DEBT Christine Lagarde “The Challenges for the Global Economy”: Opening Remarks at the Royal Institute for International Affairs - Chatham House Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund: "The key message I wish to convey today is that countries must act now—and act boldly—to steer their economies through this dangerous new phase of the recovery. The world is collectively suffering from a crisis of confidence, in the face of a deteriorating economic outlook and rising concerns about the health of sovereigns and banks. . . For the advanced economies, there is no question that fiscal sustainability must be restored through credible consolidation plans. . . Monetary policy . . . should remain highly accommodative, as the risk of recession outweighs the risk of inflation" IMF 146
11-Sep-11 GOV BANK DEBT Nathalie Boschat; Paul Hannon. Contributor: Gabriele Parussini G-8 Pledges Boost in Arab Spring Funds G8 countries to provide $38 billion in financing via the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to Arab Spring nations through 2013; the IMF to provide additional loans WSJ 147
12-Sep-11 BANK DEBT GOV Liz Alderman Fears Rattle Big Banks in France France: shares in BNP Paribas and Société Générale tumbled ~12%; investors are concerned about the impact of a potential Greek default on French banks; will a threat to bank liquidity require a government bailout? NYT 148
12-Sep-11 BANK FIN DEBT John Carney Jamie Dimon Is Right Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, called new Basel III international capital regulations "anti-American"; Basel III advantages European banks that own covered bonds CNBC 149
12-Sep-11 GOV BANK DEBT Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP): Monthly 105(a) Report – August 2011 Impact of TARP programs and other Treasury investment in AIG on the Federal Budget, as of 31-Aug-11: obligation/commitment, $470.67 billion; disbursed amounts, $412.73 billion; oustanding investment balance, $124.04 billion; estimated lifetime costs as of 30-Jun-11, $36.69 billion U.S. Department of the Treasury 150
13-Sep-11 EDU DEBT Consumer Bankruptcy Filings among College Educated, High Income Earners on the Increase Institute for Financial Literacy: key findings in the "2010 Annual Consumer Bankruptcy Demographics Report: A Five Year Perspective of the American Debtor" by Leslie E. Linfield include: (1) "College education doesn't appear to ward off bankruptcy as the rate of degree holders filing bankruptcy increased by 20%"; (2) "Bankruptcy filers earning incomes above $60,000 increased their rate of filing by over 66%"
 Institute for Financial Literacy 151
13-Sep-11 ECON DEBT Louise Egan; Jeffrey Hodgson (ed.) Canada household debt rises further in 2nd quarter Canada: the ratio of household credit market debt (mortgages, consumer credit, and loans) to disposable income rose to 149% in 2011Q2 (up from 147% in 2011Q1) Reuters 152
13-Sep-11 BANK DEBT LAW U.S. Foreclosure Activity Increases 7 Percent in August, Defaults Surge 33 Percent RealtyTrac: U.S. Foreclosure  Market Report for August 2011: 1st-time default notices were filed on 78,880 U.S. properties in Aug-2011 (up 33% MOM; down 18% YOY); foreclosure filings (default notices, scheduled auctions, and bank repossessions) were reported on 228,098 U.S. properties in Aug-2011 (up 7% MOM; down ~33% YOY) RealtyTrac 153
14-Sep-11 BANK DEBT MKT Moody's downgrades Societe Generale's index-linked notes Moody's downgrades Societe Generale's index-linked notes Moody's 154
14-Sep-11 BANK DEBT MKT Moody's downgrades Credit Agricole SA’s long-term ratings to Aa2 on Greek exposures, ratings remain on review to consider impact of funding challenges on Credit Profile Moody's downgrades Credit Agricole SA’s long-term ratings to Aa2 on Greek exposures Moody's 155
14-Sep-11 BANK DEBT MKT Moody's downgrades Societe Generale long-term ratings to Aa3 on normalised systemic support, Outlook negative, BFSR remains on review to consider impact of funding challenges on credit profile Moody's downgrades Societe Generale long-term ratings to Aa3 on normalised systemic support, Outlook negative Moody's 156
14-Sep-11 GOV BANK DEBT Federal Reserve offers $5 billion in 28-day term deposits through its Term Deposit Facility  Federal Reserve to offer $5 billion in 28-day term deposits through its Term Deposit Facility Federal Reserve Board 157
15-Sep-11 GOV BANK DEBT 15 September 2011 - ECB announces additional US dollar liquidity-providing operations over year-end The Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB), in coordination with the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan and the Swiss National Bank, to conduct 3 US dollar liquidity-providing operations covering the end of 2011 European Central Bank 158
16-Sep-11 GOV BANK DEBT Joshua Chaffin; Alex Barker; Kerin Hope  Geithner warns EU of ‘catastrophic risk’ U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's warning: “Governments and central banks have to take out the catastrophic risk from markets… [and avoid] loose talk about dismantling the institutions of the euro" Financial Times 159
16-Sep-11 GOV BANK DEBT Stephen Castle; Louise Story Advice on Debt? Europe Suggests U.S. Can Keep It Many European leaders do not care for America's financial advice. Maria Fekter, finance minister of Austria: “I found it peculiar that, even though the Americans have significantly worse fundamental data than the euro zone, that they tell us what we should do,” Ian Bremmer, president of Eurasia Group: “The United States has diminished credibility — it can’t simply tell Europe what to do. . . " NYT 160
19-Sep-11 GOV DEBT MKT David T Beers Global Credit Portal: Republic of Italy Standard & Poor's lowered Italy's unsolicited ratings to 'A/A-1'; outlook negative Standard & Poor's 161
21-Sep-11 GOV BANK DEBT FOMC statement FOMC (1) to keep the target range for the federal funds rate at 0%-0.25%; (2) to purchase, by the end of Jun-2012, $400 billion of long-term (6-30 years) Treasury securities and sell an equal amount of short-term (<3 years) Treasury securities Federal Reserve Board 162
21-Sep-11 BANK DEBT MKT Moody's: Research Moody's downgrades: (1) Citigroup Inc to P-2; (2) Bank of America Corp. to Baa1/P-2; (3) Wells Fargo & Company rating (sr to A2) Moody's 163
23-Sep-11 BANK MON DEBT Ben Protess Banks Increase Holdings in Derivatives U.S.: Banks hold ~$250 trillion of derivative contracts (for hedging risks and speculation); JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs hold ~95% of the total exposure to derivatives NYT-DealBook 164
24-Sep-11 PRO GOV DEBT Rachel Donadio. Contributor: Niki Kitsantonis Worried Greeks Fear Collapse of Middle Class Welfare State Jens Bastian, economist at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy, on the potential collapse of the middle class in Greece, as quoted in the New York Times: "The government is increasingly at war with the citizens . . . It is taking decisions whose consequences are not only squeezing the middle class, but threatening its very existence" NYT 165
29-Sep-11 GOV BANK DEBT William Boston; Bernd Radowitz German Parliament Approves Bailout Fund's Expansion Germany: the German parliament approved the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) which expands the bailout fund for the euro zone from €250 billion to €440 billion ($595.94 billion; up 76%) WSJ 166
29-Sep-11 BANK RE DEBT Ruth Mantell 30-year mortgage at record low 4.01% U.S.: the average interest rate on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to 4.01% (record low) MarketWatch 167
3-Oct-11 GOV DEBT MON Polya Lesova; Chris Oliver Greece to miss deficit targets; more cuts loom Greece to implement €6.6 billion ($8.8 billion) in new austerity measures demanded by the EU, ECB and the IMF [WSJ] MarketWatch 168
4-Oct-11 BANK DEBT John Greenwood ‘Business as usual’ at RBC Dexia despite breakup proposal at Belgian parent Dexia's financial troubles to reportedly have “no impact on RBC Dexia or its operations”; RBC Dexia is a joint venture of Royal Bank and Dexia; Dexia holds $21 billion of Greek debt Financial Post 169
4-Oct-11 GOV DEBT MKT Moody's downgrades Italy's government bond ratings to A2 with a negative outlook Moody's Investors Service downgraded Italy's government bond ratings from Aa2 to A2 with a negative outlook Moody's 170
7-Oct-11 BANK DEBT MKT Rating Action: Moody's downgrades 12 UK financial institutions, concluding review of systemic support Moody's Investors Service downgraded the senior debt and deposit ratings of 12 UK financial institutions, including: Lloyds TSB Bank plc (from Aa3 to A1), Santander UK plc (from Aa3 to A1), and RBS plc (from Aa3 to A2) Moody's 171
10-Oct-11 GOV BANK DEBT Philip Blenkinsop; Lionel Laurent. Contributors: Robert Jan-Bartunek; Philipp Halstrick; Steve Slater; Steve Slater; Leila Abboud (ed.); Greg Mahlich (ed.) Banks brace for capital calls after Dexia rescue Belgium: bank bailout: Dexia Bank Belgium to be nationalized at a cost of €4 billion to Belgium; Dexia has secured €90 billion ($121 billion) in guarantees from France, Belgium and Luxembourg; Dexia's global credit risk exposure is $700 billion  Reuters 172
10-Oct-11 BUS BANK DEBT Wang Guanqun; Chen Zhi (ed.) China's cash-strapped small firms ring alarm bells China: many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are suffering from a liquidity crunch; in Wenzhou, 20% of the 360,000 SMEs have stopped operating; many indebted entrepreneurs are skipping town, declaring bankruptcy, or committing suicide; the annual interest rate in the "informal lending market" hit a record 25.09% at the end of Aug-11 Xinhua 173
13-Oct-11 BUS BANK DEBT David Barboza. Contributor: Gu Huini In Cooling China, Loan Sharks Come Knocking China: loan sharks in Wenzhou charge interest rates as high as 70% and use "mafia-style loan enforcers"; illegal lending of ~$630 billion a year (~10% of China’s GDP) [source: UBS] [see 10-Oct-11, Xinhua] NYT 174
15-Oct-11 GOV FIN DEBT G20 Ministers Meet to Resolve European Debt Crisis Paris: G-20 nations meet to deal with Europe’s sovereign debt crisis VOA News-AP-AFP-Reuters 175
18-Oct-11 BANK DEBT MKT Julia Talanova S&P downgrades Italian banks Standard & Poor's Ratings Services downgraded 24 Italian financial institutions, including 7 top banks CNN Money-CNN 176
18-Oct-11 GOV DEBT MKT Kathrin Muehlbronner; Bart Oosterveld Rating Action: Moody's downgrades Spain's government bond ratings to A1, negative outlook Moody's downgrades Spain's government bond ratings from Aa2 to A1, negative outlook Moody's 177
19-Oct-11 GOV BANK DEBT Jon Huntsman [Republican Presidential Candidate] Too Big to Fail' Is Simply Too Big: There is no evidence huge banks add sufficient value to offset the systemic risk they pose Jon Huntsman: "More than three years after the crisis and the accompanying bailouts, the six largest American financial institutions are significantly bigger than they were before the crisis . . . These banks now have assets worth over 66% of gross domestic product—at least $9.4 trillion, up from 20% of GDP in the 1990s. There is no evidence that institutions of this size add sufficient value to offset the systemic risk they pose" WSJ-Opinion 178
20-Oct-11 GOV BANK DEBT Meltdown: The men who crashed the world: The first of a four-part investigation into a world of greed and recklessness that led to financial collapse Meltdown: "The crash of September 2008 brought the largest bankruptcies in world history, pushing more than 30 million people into unemployment and bringing many countries to the edge of insolvency. Wall Street turned back the clock to 1929." Al Jazeera 179
20-Oct-11 BANK DEBT MKT Mark Scott Moody’s Downgrades Spain’s Biggest Banks Moody’s downgraded 5 banks: Santander, BBVA, La Caixa, CaixBank, and Confederación Española de Cajas de Ahorros (CECA) NYT-DealBook 180
20-Oct-11 PRO VIO DEBT Stelios Bouras; Alkman Granitsas Greece Gripped by Protests Greece: tens of thousands protested against austerity measures imposed by international creditors;violence reported WSJ 181
21-Oct-11 GOV FIN DEBT Stephen Castle; Jack Ewing; Liz Alderman Funds Approved for Greece, but Leaders Remain Divided European finance ministers to bailout Greece: €8 billion loan package to prevent an imminent default NYT 182
21-Oct-11 BANK FIN DEBT FDIC: Failed Bank List FDIC: number of failed banks by year: 2011 YTD, 84; 2010, 157; 2009, 140; 2008, 25; 2000-2007, 27 FDIC 183
23-Oct-11 GOV PRO DEBT Mary Beth Sheridan Libya declares liberation with an Islamic tone Libya: Mustafa Abdel Jalil, head of the Transitional National Council, declared Libya “liberated”: “The interest [on loans] will be ruled out. You will not pay it anymore” [Islam prohibits charging interest or usury] Washington Post 184
26-Oct-11 GOV BANK DEBT Euro Summit Statement Brussels: Way out of the debt crisis: New European plan to bailout Greece and restore confidence: the Private Sector Involvement (PSI) to reduce the Greek debt to GDP ratio to 120% by 2020; holders of Greek bonds to voluntarily cut the bonds' face value by 50%; Euro zone Member States to contribute to the PSI package up to €30 bn; the official sector to provide additional programme financing of up to €100 bn until 2014, including recapitalisation of Greek banks European Council 185
31-Oct-11 BUS DEBT ENER Tom Hals; Roberta Rampton; Dale Hudson (ed.); Eric Walsh (ed.) Beacon Power bankrupt; had U.S. backing like Solyndra 30-Oct-11: Beacon Power Corp. (an energy storage company) filed for bankruptcy; the company received a $43 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy program Reuters 186
31-Oct-11 GOV MKT DEBT Treasury Announces Marketable Borrowing Estimates  U.S. Department of the Treasury announced its current estimates of net marketable debt: 2011Q4, $305 billion, assuming an end-of-Dec cash balance of $60 billion; 2012Q1, $541 billion, assuming an end-of-Mar cash balance of $60 billion U.S. Department of the Treasury 187
1-Nov-11 GOV BANK DEBT Minutes of the Monetary Policy Meeting on October 6 and 7, 2011 – Statement on Monetary Policy The Bank of Japan to encourage the uncollateralized overnight call rate to remain at around 0% to 0.1% Bank of Japan 188
2-Nov-11 GOV BANK DEBT Federal Reserve issues FOMC statement FOMC to keep the target range for the federal funds rate at 0%-0.25% Federal Reserve Board 189
3-Nov-11 GOV ECON DEBT Charles Forelle; David Gauthier-Villars; Marcus Walker  Europe's Greece Ultimatum: France, Germany Say the Nation Must Decide Whether to Stay in Euro or Go European leaders give Greece an ultimatum: German Chancellor Angela Merkel: "Does Greece want to remain part of the euro zone or not, that is the question the Greek people must now answer"; French President Nicolas Sarkozy, on what would happen should Greece opt out of the euro zone: "no French taxpayer money, no German taxpayer money." [Dr. Edward E. Ayoub, on Usurious Powers subjugating Democracy to Usury -- in the very cradle of Democracy: "Greeks must choose between continued 'usury' or bankruptcy"; will Greeks opt for an American-style revolt: "give me freedom or give me death"?] WSJ 190
3-Nov-11 GOV FIN DEBT Rachel Donadio; Niki Kitsantonis. Contributors: Steven Erlanger; Alan Cowell Greek Leader Calls Off Referendum on Bailout Plan Greece: Prime Minister George A. Papandreou called off referendum on Greece’s new bailout deal with the euro zone  NYT 191
3-Nov-11 GOV BANK DEBT 3 November 2011 - Monetary policy decisions The Governing Council of the ECB to decrease the interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility by 0.25% to 1.25%, 2.00% and 0.50% respectively European Central Bank 192
3-Nov-11 GOV FIN DEBT Kent Cline Greek Crisis Dominates G20 Talks Cannes, France: G20 summit VOA News 193
9-Nov-11 GOV DEBT Rachel Donadio; Elisabetta Povoledo. Contributors: Alan Cowell; Stephen Castle Crisis in Italy Deepens, as Bond Yields Hit Record Highs Italy: Italy's cost of debt hit 7.4%, a 10-year+ record high potentially triggering calls for a bailout; Italy's public debt is 120% of GDP NYT 194
9-Nov-11 BANK DEBT LAW U.S. Foreclosure Activity Hits 7-Month High in October RealtyTrac: U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™ for Oct-11: foreclosure filings were reported on 230,678 U.S. properties (up 7% MOM; but down ~31% YOY); top foreclosure rates were reported in Nevada, California, and Arizona
 RealtyTrac 195
9-Nov-11 GOV DEBT LAW Jefferson County, Ala., to file for bankruptcy Jefferson County, AL, to seek Chapter 9 protection from creditors in a $4.1 billion filing [source: Birmingham News] MarketWatch 196
9-Nov-11 GOV BANK DEBT Federal Reserve offers $5 billion in 28-day term deposits through its Term Deposit Facility Federal Reserve to offer $5 billion in 28-day term deposits through its Term Deposit Facility Federal Reserve Board 197
9-Nov-11 GOV ECON DEBT Steven Erlanger Euro Fears Spread to Italy as the Debt Crisis Deepens Country debt statistics: total and external debts in dollars and as percents of GDP: Greece: $493 bn and $259 bn (149.5% and 78.5%); Italy: $2.758 trillion and $1.191 trillion (121.5% and 52.5%) [sources: World Bank; Eurostat] NYT 198
10-Nov-11 GOV DEBT LAW Barnett Wright. Contributors: Kent Faulk; Marie Leech; Joseph Bryant  Jefferson County files largest government bankruptcy in U.S. history Jefferson County, saddled with $4.23 billion in debt, filed the largest government bankruptcy in U.S. history Alabama Live-The Birmingham News 199
10-Nov-11 MKT DEBT Virginia Harrison Asia markets dive on Italian debt fears Bond yields on Italian 10-year notes rose over 7%; Hang Seng Index tumbled 5.3%; Nikkei fell 2,9% MarketWatch 200
10-Nov-11 GOV BANK DEBT Bank of England maintains Bank Rate at 0.5% and size of Asset Purchase Programme at £275 billion Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee to keep the official Bank Rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 0.5% and to continue with its programme of asset purchases totalling £275 billion financed by the issuance of central bank reserves Bank of England 201
11-Nov-11 GOV DEBT Gaia Pianigiani; Niki Kitsantonis. Contributor: Alan Cowell Italy and Greece Act With More Force on the Debt Crisis Acting on the debt crisis: Greece swore in a new prime minister, Lucas Papademos; Italy's Senate approved a package of austerity measures NYT 202
12-Nov-11 EDU DEBT Matt Wirz What Hedge Funds Can Teach College Students Estimated average U.S. tuition costs in 2011: public 2-year colleges, $2,963/year; 4-year private colleges, $28,500/year [source: The College Board]. Estimated current default rate range for student loans bundled into bonds, 30%-$0% [source: Chris Haid, at Barclays Capital] WSJ 203
13-Nov-11 GOV FIN DEBT Anthony Faiola. Contributor: Sarah Delaney Mario Monti named Italy’s interim prime minister after Silvio Berlusconi resigns Italy: Mario Monti, a former university president and European Commission member, was named interim prime minister; President Silvio Berlusconi resigned as prime minister on 12-Nov-2011 and vowed to work to “save Italy.”  Washington Post 204
13-Nov-11 BANK FIN DEBT Eric Dash Banks Quietly Ramping Up Costs to Consumers Banks are quietly adding new charges and higher fees on bank transactions and accounts NYT 205
16-Nov-11 GOV DEBT MKT Eurozone Contagion Poses Threat to U.S. Bank Rating Outlook Fitch Ratings: ". . . unless the Eurozone debt crisis is resolved in a timely and orderly manner, the broad credit outlook for the U.S. banking industry could worsen" Fitch Ratings Ltd. 206
17-Nov-11 PRO BANK DEBT Colleen Barry Italy hit by protests as PM unveils economic plan Mario Monti, Italy's new premier: Italy facing a "catastrophic danger": anti-austerity protesters clashed with police in Milan, Turin, Sicily AP 207
17-Nov-11 GOV DEBT David Jolly. Contributors: Nicholas Kulish; Rachel Donadio; Stephen Castle; Graham Bowley Euro Debt Worries Shift to Spain and France Bond yields on Spanish 10-year debt soared to a dangerous 6.97%; Spain auctioned ~€3.6 billion ($4.8 billion) in 10-year debt NYT-Reuters 208
17-Nov-11 BANK DEBT LAW Delinquencies Decrease, Foreclosures Rise in Latest MBA Mortgage Delinquency Survey Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA): National Delinquency Survey: the delinquency rate for mortgage loans on 1-to-4-unit residential properties decreased to a seasonally adjusted rate of 7.99% of all loans outstanding as of the end of 2011Q3 (down 0.45% QOQ; down 1.14% YOY); the percentage of loans in the foreclosure process at the end of 2011Q3 was 4.43% (unchanged QOQ; up 0.04% YOY); the percentage of loans that are ≥90 days past due or in the process of foreclosure was 7.89% (up 0.04% QOQ; down 0.81% YOY) Mortgage Bankers Association 209
21-Nov-11 GOV DEBT Lori Montgomery; Paul Kane. Contributor: Felicia Sonmez Supercommittee announces failure in effort to tame debt U.S.: A congressional "supercommittee" tasked with curbing the national debt admitted failure to reach a deal Washington Post 210
22-Nov-11 GOV BANk DEBT Jack Ewing Europe Banks Seek More Cash From Central Bank Confronting a credit crunch, European banks have borrowed €247 billion ($333 billion) from the European Central Bank (ECB) in just one week NYT 211
22-Nov-11 GOV DEBT MKT Deborah Levine U.S. sells 5-year debt at record-low yield U.S. Treasury Department sold $35 billion in 5-year notes at a record low yield of 0.937% MarketWatch 212
23-Nov-11 GOV DEBT MKT Michael Birnbaum German bond auction falls short in new euro debt worry Germany: German bond auction raised only $5.2 billion of the desired $8.1 billion; Germany’s deb-to-GDP ratio is 83% Washington Post 213
25-Nov-11 GOV DEBT MKT Ratings On Belgium Lowered To 'AA' On Financial Sector Risks To Public Finances; Outlook Negative Standard & Poor's Ratings Services downgraded Belgium's credit rating from AA+/Negative/A-1+ to AA/Negative/A-1+ Standard & Poor's 214
25-Nov-11 GOV DEBT MKT Zoltan Simon; Edith Balazs; Balazs Penz (ed.) Hungary Credit Rating Cut to Junk at Moody’s Moody’s Investors Service cut Hungary’s credit rating to junk Bloomberg 215
25-Nov-11 GOV DEBT MKT New Fears on Europe, Italy’s Borrowing Costs Jump Again Italy: the interest rate on 6-month Italian bonds soared to 6.5% (up ~100% from the previous month); the interest rate on long-term Italian bonds is >7% VOA News 216
27-Nov-11 GOV BANK DEBT Bob Ivry; Bradley Keoun; Phil Kuntz; Gary Putka (ed.) Secret Fed Loans Gave Banks Undisclosed $13B Bloomberg article, on the secret bailout of banks: "The Fed had committed $7.77 trillion as of March 2009 to rescuing the financial system, more than half the value of everything produced in the U.S. that year. . . Total assets held by the six biggest U.S. banks increased 39 percent to $9.5 trillion on Sept. 30, 2011, from $6.8 trillion on the same day in 2006, according to Fed data. . . The 190 firms for which data were available would have produced income of $13 billion, assuming all of the bailout funds were invested at the margins reported, the data show" Bloomberg 217
28-Nov-11 GOV BANK DEBT Consumer Debt Falls in Third Quarter Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit: consumer debt fell ~$60 billion to $11.66 trillion in 2011Q3; delinquency rates increased to 10% as of the end of Sep-2011, vs. 9.8% at the end of Jun-2011; ~$1.2 trillion of consumer debt is delinquent and $834 billion is seriously delinquent (more than 90 days) Federal Reserve Bank of new York 218
29-Nov-11 BANK DEBT MKT Susanne Craig; Ben Protess; Nelson D. Schwartz S.&P. Cuts Its Ratings for 15 Banks Standard & Poor’s (S&P) downgraded 15 banks, including Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase NYT-DealBook 219
29-Nov-11 EDU DEBT LAW Michelle Singletary Student debt hint: Avoid it According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, student loans increased from $845 billion in 2011Q2 to $865 billion in 2011Q3 (by comparison, credit card debt decreased slightly from $694 billion in 2011Q2 to $693 billion in 2011Q3); according to the U.S. Education Department, the national student-loan default rate increased from 7% in FY2008 to 8.8% in FY2009 Washington Post-Bloomberg 220
30-Nov-11 GOV BANK DEBT Coordinated central bank action to address pressures in global money markets The Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve, and the Swiss National Bank agreed: (1) to coordinate actions to increase their capacity to provide liquidity to the global financial system; (2) to lower the pricing on the existing temporary U.S. dollar liquidity swap arrangements by 50 basis points; (3) to establish temporary bilateral liquidity swap arrangements (liquidity provided in each jurisdiction in any currency) Federal Reserve Board 221
30-Nov-11 GOV BANK DEBT China PBOC cuts bank-reserve rule 0.5 point China: the People's Bank of China (PBOC) to lower banks' reserve requirement ratio by 0.50% MarketWatch 222
2-Dec-11 BANK DEBT LAW Ben Carter UK banks charging as much as 800,000% to borrow Some UK banks charging as much as an annualized interest rate of 800,000% to borrow BBC News 223
2-Dec-11 BANK DEBT MKT David Oakley; Tracy Alloway; Ralph Atkins ECB lending soars as banks feel squeeze ECB lending soared to €8.64 billion; Eurozone banks are having difficulty raising funds in markets Financial Times 224
4-Dec-11 GOV ECON DEBT Rachel Donadio Italy’s Leader Unveils Radical Austerity Measures Italy: Prime Minister Mario Monti unveiled radical austerity "Save Italy" measures, including spending cuts, cuts to regional governments, tax increases, and higher retirement age NYT 225
6-Dec-11 GOV BANK DEBT Neil Irwin Fed disputes report of secret help to big banks Chairman Ben S. Bernanke denied "repeated claims that the Federal Reserve conducted ‘secret’ lending that was not disclosed either to the public or the Congress" Washington Post-Bloomberg 226
7-Dec-11 GOV BANK DEBT Robert Friedman (ed.); John Voskuhl (ed.) Bloomberg News Responds to Bernanke Criticism of U.S. Bank-Rescue Coverage Bloomberg rebuted Chairman Bernanke's rebuttal [see 6-Dec-11]: the amount the Federal Reserve “lent, spent or committed” or the total of all “guarantees and lending limits” was $7.77 trillion; re the "penalty rate" the fed charges, Bloomberg’s 28-Nov story included "During the crisis, Fed loans were among the cheapest around, with funding available for as low as 0.01 percent in December 2008, according to data from the central bank and money-market rates tracked by Bloomberg" Bloomberg 227
9-Dec-11 BANK DEBT MKT Moody's Ratings News Moody’s dowgraded long-term ratings for France's top 3 banks: Société Générale (to A1), BNP Paribas (to Aa3), and Crédit Agricole SA (to Aa3) Moody's Investors Service 228
13-Dec-11 GOV BANK DEBT Federal Reserve issues FOMC statement FOMC to keep the target range for the federal funds rate at 0%-0.25% Federal Reserve Board 229
14-Dec-11 GOV DEBT FIN Deborah Levine U.S. sells 30-year bonds at record-low yield The U.S.  Treasury Department sold $13 billion in 30-year bonds at a yield of 2.925% an all-time record low MarketWatch 230
14-Dec-11 BANK DEBT MKT Fitch Cuts Ratings on 5 European Banks Fitch Ratings lowered the long-term issuer-default and viability ratings for Banque Federative du Credit Mutuel, Credit Agricole, Danske Bank, OP Pohjola Group, and Rabobank Group NYT: AP 231
16-Dec-11 BANK DEBT MKT Fitch Ratings 15-Dec-11: Fitch Ratings dowgraded the Issuer Default Ratings of Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corporation; Fitch Ratings also downgraded Long-term Issuer Default Rating of BNP Paribas, Barclays Bank plc, Deutsche Bank AG, Credit Suisse AG Fitch Ratings Ltd. 232
18-Dec-11 MIL DEBT OIL Edward E. Ayoub Neocon Intentionality: Nothing But Malice The War on Iraq: "Neocon Intentionality: Nothing But Malice," Mind Chronicle, 12-Apr-2007:
● The World Crisis of Debt-Based Capitalism.
● Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs).
● U.S. Power Serving Israel's Interests.
● Oil.		 Mind Chronicle 233
19-Dec-11 BUS AUTO DEBT Bankruptcy looks to be end of the road for Saab Sweden: Saab Automobile filed for bankruptcy Los Angeles Times 234
19-Dec-11 GOV BANK DEBT EU Finance Ministers statement on IMF resources Council of the European Union: Euro area Member States agreed to provide €150 billion of additional resources to the IMF's General Resources Account. Burden-sharing between euro area Member States: Germany, 27.67%; France, 20.94%; Italy, 15.66%; Spain, 9.91%; Netherlands, 9.07%... Consilium 235
19-Dec-11 BUS DEBT David Jolly Saab Files for Liquidation After G.M. Balks at China Deal Sweden: Saab and 2 subsidiaries filed for bankruptcy; General Motors, to protect key patents used by Saab, refused to back an investment offer from China NYT 236
21-Dec-11 GOV BANK DEBT Nelson D. Schwartz; David Jolly. Contributor: Jack Ewing European Bank in Strong Move to Loosen Credit To avoid a possible collapse, European central bankers pumped ~$640 billion into the European banking system (3-year loans with a trivial interest rate of 1%); the move mimics the "easy-money policy pursued by the Federal Reserve after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008" NYT 237
22-Dec-11 GOV FIN DEBT Rachel Donadio. Contributor: Gaia Pianigiani Senators in Italy Pass Plan for Budget Italy: Italy’s Senate passed a $40 billion austerity and growth package – including tax increases, a raise in the retirement age (to 66 for men and 62 for women), and measures to crack down on tax evasion NYT 238
23-Dec-11 GOV BANK DEBT Phil Kuntz; Bob Ivry; Gary Putka (ed.) Fed Once-Secret Loan Crisis Data Compiled by Bloomberg Released to Public Bloomberg released previously secret data detailing lending transactions the U.S. central bank made through 7 facilities including "the Asset-Backed Commercial Paper Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility, the Commercial Paper Funding Facility, the Primary Dealer Credit Facility, the Term Auction Facility, the Term Securities Lending Facility, the discount window and single-tranche open market operations, or ST OMO" Bloomberg 239
24-Dec-11 BANK DEBT RE Michael Forsythe; Henry Sanderson China’s local governments are taking on a lot of debt China: borrowing to finance projects such as the Yujiapu financial district (a copy of Manhattan) has reached $622 billion; 231 borrowers account for >75% of a total debt estimated at 4.97 trillion yuan Washington Post-Bloomberg 240
29-Dec-11 BANK FIN DEBT FDIC: Failed Bank List FDIC: number of failed banks by year: 2011, 92; 2010, 157; 2009, 140; 2008, 25; 2007, 3; 2007-2011, 417; 2000-2011, 441 FDIC 241
30-Dec-11 GOV DEBT PRO Suzanne Daley. Contributor: Rachel Chaundler As Spain Acts to Cut Deficit, Regional Debts Add to Woe Spain: plagued by regional overspending, and under pressure from European bond markets, Spain’s government announced austerity measures: a $19.3 billion package of tax increases and spending cuts; the cuts triggered protests and strikes NYT 242