A B C D E F G H I J K L
  DEBT NEWS: 1-JAN-12 - 5-JUN-12          
From 01-Jan-12 Copyright © 2011-2012 by Macroknow Inc. All Rights Reserved.
To 05-Jun-12  
Days 157  
News Items 670
Date Event Category Authors Title X Event Source URL Item
2-Jan-12 DEBT GOLD JOBS Niki Kitsantonis In Greece’s Sour Economy, Some Shops Are Thriving Greece: pawnshops and gold dealers are thriving while Greece's economy is shrinking, employees are being laid off en masse, and 1-in-4 small businesses are closing; some gold dealers buy gold teeth; some 80% of pawnshops and gold dealers were found guilty of tax evasion NYT 1
3-Jan-12 BANK DEBT BUS E. Scott Reckard Bank of America severing some small-business credit lines Bank of America is reportedly squeezing, calling or severing loans to small businesses; alternatively, it is reportedly demanding much higher interest rates Los Angeles Times 2
4-Jan-12 BANK FIN DEBT Nicole Bullock Citigroup raises $2.5bn in bond offering 3-Jan-11: Citigroup sold $2.5 billion of debt;  Financial Times 3
4-Jan-12 GOV BANK DEBT Federal Reserve offers $3 billion in 28-day term deposits through its Term Deposit Facility Federal Reserve to offer $3 billion in 28-day term deposits through its Term Deposit Facility Federal Reserve Board 4
5-Jan-12 RE DEBT MKT Amy Hoak 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at record low: Housing market showing signs of improvement, economist says The average rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages matched a record low of 3.91% for the week ending 5-Jan-12 [source: Freddie Mac] MarketWatch 5
5-Jan-12 BANK DEBT Bob Lawless Bankruptcy Filings Down 11.7% in 2011 U.S. bankruptcy filings in 2011: 1,379,000 (down 11.7% YOY) [see also Total Bankruptcy Filings Decrease 12 Percent In 2011, Commercial Filings Fall 19 Percent, American Bankruptcy Institute, 4-Jan-2012, http://www.abiworld.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=64959] Credit Slips 6
6-Jan-12 GOV BANK DEBT Mark Scott European Banks Stash Extra Cash With Central Bank European banks deposited €455 billion ($578 billion) into the European central Bank (ECB) a record high since 1999 implying a significant reduction in short-term bank-to-bank lending NYT-DealBook 7
9-Jan-12 GOV BANK DEBT Jack Ewing Swiss Central Bank Chief Resigns After Uproar Philipp M. Hildebrand, head of the Swiss central bank, resigned; Mrs. Hildebrand apologized to the Swiss people and to her husband: “I failed my husband by not considering the perception of a ‘conflict of interest’ created by my purchase of dollars. My husband is a man of the utmost integrity, and I deeply regret that my actions might have led anyone to question this" [Reuters] NYT 8
9-Jan-12 Gov Bank DEBT Consumer Credit - G.19 Federal Reserve Statistical Release: consumer credit outstanding surged to $2,477.7 billion (up $20.4 billion MOM; up an annual rate of 10.4%) in Nov-2011 Federal Reserve Board 9
10-Jan-12 GOV BANK DEBT Reserve Bank income and expense data and transfers to the Treasury for 2011 The Federal Reserve Board: the Reserve Banks paid ~$76.9 billion of their 2011 net income (estimated at $78.9 billion) to the U.S. Treasury Federal Reserve Board 10
11-Jan-12 GOV FIN DEBT Deborah Levine Treasurys gain after record-setting auction The U.S. Treasury Department sold $21 billion in 10-year notes at a yield of 1.90%, an all-time record low MarketWatch 11
12-Jan-12 BANK DEBT RE Mortgage Rates Continue Trend of Record-Breaking Lows Freddie Mac: Primary Mortgage Market Survey: mortgage rates easing to all-time record lows in week ending 2-Jan-2012; 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.89% ; 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.76% Freddie Mac-PR Newswire 12
12-Jan-12 GOV BANK DEBT 12 January 2012 - Monetary policy decisions ECB to keep the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility unchanged at 1.00%, 1.75%, and 0.25% respectively European Central Bank 13
13-Jan-12 RES GOV DEBT Moritz Kraemer; Frank Gill Standard & Poor's Takes Various Rating Actions On 16 Eurozone Sovereign Governments Standard & Poor's Ratings Services announced rating actions on 16 members of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU or eurozone): S&P "lowered the long-term ratings on Cyprus, Italy [from A/Watch Neg/A-1 to BBB+/Negative/A-2], Portugal, and Spain [from AA-/Watch Neg/A-1+ to A/Negative/A-1] by two notches; lowered the long-term ratings on Austria, France [from AAA/Watch Neg/A-1+ to AA+/Negative/A-1+], Malta, Slovakia, and Slovenia, by one notch; and affirmed the long-term ratings on Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Germany [affirmed at AAA/Watch Neg/A-1+], Ireland, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands" Standard & Poor's 14
13-Jan-12 GOV BANK DEBT Margit Feher ECB Overnight Deposits Again Hit Record High 12-Jan-2012: Euro-zone: banks' overnight deposits with the European Central Bank (ECB) hit an all-time record of €489.906 billion ($627.77 billion) European Central Bank 15
17-Jan-12 GOV BANK DEBT Bank of Canada maintains overnight rate target at 1 per cent The Bank of Canada to keep its target for the overnight interest rate unchanged at 1.0%; the Bank Rate and the deposit rate to set set at 1.25% and 0.75%, respectively; Canada's GDP grew by 2.4% in 2011; the Bank of Canada projects it will grow by 2.0% in 2012 and 2.8%t in 2013 Bank of Canada 16
19-Jan-12 BANK FIN DEBT John Glover; Abigail Moses; Paul Armstrong (ed.) Banks Flush With ECB Cash Outperform Sovereigns Banks with an ECB lifeline outperform sovereigns; according to Bloomberg, euro governments are expected to borrow ~$2 trillion in 2012 Bloomberg 17
19-Jan-12 BANK DEBT RE 30-year Fixed-rate Mortgage Averages 3.88 Percent Freddie Mac: 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to 3.88%, an all-time record low Freddie Mac-PR Newswire 18
19-Jan-12 GOV BANK DEBT New York Fed Sells $7.014 Billion in Face Value of ML II LLC Assets  New York Fed to sell $7.014 billion in face value of assets Maiden Lane II LLC [AIG assets] portfolio to Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC Federal Reserve Bank of New York 19
25-Jan-12 GOV BANK DEBT Federal Reserve issues FOMC statement of longer-run goals and policy strategy Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), on principles regarding its longer-run goals and monetary policy strategy: "inflation at the rate of 2 percent . . . is most consistent over the longer run with the Federal Reserve's statutory mandate. . . FOMC participants' estimates of the longer-run normal rate of unemployment had a central tendency of 5.2 percent to 6.0 percent . ." Federal Reserve Board 20
25-Jan-12 GOV BANK DEBT Federal Reserve issues FOMC statement FOMC to keep the target range for the federal funds rate at 0%-0.25% and currently anticipates economic conditions are" likely to warrant exceptionally low levels for the federal funds rate at least through late 2014" Federal Reserve Board 21
29-Jan-12 GOV BANK DEBT Peter Eavis U.S. Banks Tally Their Exposure to Europe’s Debt Maelstrom Exposure of 5 large American banks to Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Greece: >$80 billion; ~$50 billion after adjusting for financial insurance against default (using credit-default swaps) and other credit protection NYT-DealBook 22
30-Jan-12 GOV DEBT Deborah Levine U.S. 5-year yields hit record low on Europe woes U.S. yields on 5-year notes fell to an all-time record low of 0.71%; investors are concerned, among other things, about delays of a bailout deal for Greece MarketWatch 23
31-Jan-12 GOV DEBT The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2012 to 2022 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projection: U.S. federal budget deficit to reach $1.1 trillion in FY2012, if current laws remain unchanged (7% of GDP) Congressional Budget Office 24
2-Feb-12 GOV BANK DEBT Chairman Ben S. Bernanke The Economic Outlook and the Federal Budget Situation: Before the Committee on the Budget, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, on the economic outlook and the federal B\budget: " . . . risks remain that developments in Europe or elsewhere may unfold unfavorably and could worsen economic prospects here at home. . . The Committee (FOMC) now anticipates that economic conditions are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate at least through late 2014. . . The federal budget deficit widened appreciably with the onset of the recent recession, and it has averaged around 9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) over the past three fiscal years. . . As we have seen in a number of countries recently, interest rates can soar quickly if investors lose confidence in the ability of a government to manage its fiscal policy. Although historical experience and economic theory do not indicate the exact threshold at which the perceived risks associated with the U.S. public debt would increase markedly, we can be sure that, without corrective action, our fiscal trajectory will move the nation ever closer to that point. . . " Federal Reserve Board 25
6-Feb-12 GOV DEBT JOBS Niki Kitsantonis; David Jolly Greece to Eliminate 15,000 Government Jobs Greece to cut 15,000 government jobs in 2012; Greece needs €130 billion ($170.5 billion) in new bailout funds to avoid default in Mar-2012 NYT 26
6-Feb-12 BANK BUS DEBT Mark Scott Europe’s Banks Reluctant to Lend to Companies in Need of Cash European credit crunch: banks are reluctant to lend to cash starved companies. Jonathan Loynes: “There’s a lack of business confidence across Europe”; insolvency is expected to increase by 12% in 2012 in the Eurozone NYT-DealBook 27
7-Feb-12 PRO GOV DEBT Greek Police Clash with Austerity Protesters Greece: thousands of workers protested the latest austerity measures imposed by creditors (EU, ECB, and IMF) VOA News-AP-AFP-Reuters 28
9-Feb-12 GOV BANK DEBT Bank of England maintains Bank Rate at 0.5% and increases size of Asset Purchase Programme by Ł50 billion to Ł325 billion The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee to keep the official Bank Rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 0.5%; and to increase the size of its asset purchase programme, financed by the issuance of central bank reserves, by Ł50 billion (15.4%) to Ł325 billion Bank of England 29
9-Feb-12 GOV BANK DEBT Federal Reserve Board announces agreement in principle with five banking organizations regarding the issuance of monetary sanctions The Federal Reserve Board reached an agreement in principle with 5 banking organizations regarding the issuance of monetary sanctions totaling $766.5 million "for unsafe and unsound processes and practices in residential mortgage loans servicing and foreclosure processing." Total amounts of the monetary sanctions: Bank of America, 175.5 million; Wells Fargo, $87 million; JPMorgan Chase, $275 million; Citigroup, $22 million; Ally Financial, $207 million. Federal Reserve Board 30
9-Feb-12 GOV BANK DEBT Greece Reaches Accord on Austerity Demands Greece reached an accord on international creditors' austerity demands; to avoid default in Mar-2012, Greece needs a $172-billion bailout from the European Union, the ECB and the IMF VOA News 31
9-Feb-12 GOV BANk DEBT 9 February 2012 - Monetary policy decisions The Governing Council of the ECB decided to keep the interest rate on the main refinancing operations, the interest rates on the marginal lending facility, and the deposit facility unchanged at 1.00%, 1.75%, and 0.25%, respectively European Central Bank 32
10-Feb-12 PRO VIO DEBT Athens clashes over Greece eurozone austerity deal Greece: protesters clashed with police in Athens over austerity measures imposed by eurozone ministers; austerity measures include: cut of 15,000 public-sector jobs, weakening of labor laws, decreasing the minimum wage by 20%; Greece's unemployment rate is >20%. BBC News 33
10-Feb-12 RES BANK DEBT Italian Banks Downgraded; S.&P. Cites Lending Risk Standard & Poor’s (S&P) downgraded 34 Italian financial firms, including UniCredit, Intesa Sanpaolo, and Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena NYT: Bloomberg 34
11-Feb-12 GOV FIN DEBT Harry Papachristou; Matt Robinson; Michael Roddy (ed.) It's bailout or chaos, PM Papademos tells Greece Greece: Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, to Greek lawmakers: back the financial bailout or condemn Greece to "uncontrolled economic chaos and social explosion" Reuters 35
11-Feb-12 PRO GOV DEBT Andrei Khalip
 Lisbon Protests: More Than 100,000 Rally Against Austerity In Portugal Lisbon, Portugal: >100,000 protesters (300,000, according to organisers) rallied against austerity measures Huffington Post: Reuters 36
12-Feb-12 PRO VIO DEBT Niki Kitsantonis; Rachel Donadio. Contributors: Julie Creswell; Elisabetta Povoledo Greek Parliament Passes Austerity Plan After Riots Rage Greece: financial bailout: the Greek Parliament approved harsh austerity measures imposed by creditors (European Commission, ECB, IMF); more than 80,000 people demonstrated against financial capitulation; violent riots were reported in many cities NYT 37
13-Feb-12 RES GOV DEBT Rating Action: Moody's adjusts ratings of 9 European sovereigns to capture downside risks Moody's Investors Service downgraded the sovereign debt ratings of 9 EU countries, including Italy, Malta, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain; the ratings for Austria, France, and the U.K. were changed to negative Moody's Investors Service 38
13-Feb-12 PRO VIO DEBT Niki Kitsantonis; Rachel Donadio. Contributors: Dimitris Bounias; Stephen Castle; Melissa Eddy  Athens Shaken by Riots After Vote for Austerity Greece: austerity measures imposed on Greece by creditors triggered massive protests (80,000 demonstrators), riots, vandalism, and looting; ~150 stores were vandalized and looted, and ~45 buildings, including banks, were torched NYT 39
15-Feb-12 RES BANK DEBT Rating Action: Moody's Reviews Ratings for European Banks Moody's Investors Service announced rating actions affecting 114 financial institutions in 16 European countries: the following were placed on review for downgrade: (i) the standalone credit assessments for 99 financial institutions; (ii) the long-term debt and deposit ratings for 109 institutions; (iii) the short-term ratings for 66 institutions. The distribution of the headquarters of the financial institutions affected by this announcement, by country and rank, is as follows: Italy (24), Spain (21), France (10), UK (9), Austria (8), Denmark (8), Germany (7), Netherlands (6), Portugal (6), Sweden (5), Slovenia (4), Switzerland (2), Belgium (1), Finland (1), Luxembourg (1), Norway (1). Moody's Investors Service, Inc.,  40
15-Feb-12 RES Bank DEBT Announcement: Moody's Reviews Ratings for Banks and Securities Firms with Global Capital Markets Operations Moody's Investors Service announced a review of 17 banks and securities firms with global capital markets operations; the long-term ratings and standalone credit assessments  for Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Royal Bank of Canada were placed under review. Moody's Investors Service, Inc.,  41
16-Feb-12 GOV FIN DEBT Ylan Q. Mui Consumer agency wants oversight of debt collectors, credit bureaus The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) proposed to oversee debt collectors, credit bureaus, and credit reporting agencies (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) Washington Post 42
19-Feb-12 PRO GOV DEBT Greeks rally against austerity steps Greece: hundreds of protesters protested deep budget cuts imposed by creditors, including a 22% cut in the minimum wage and a 12% cut in pensions of more than $1,700/month Al Jazeera: Agencies 43
21-Feb-12 GOV BANK DEBT David Mchugh. Contributors: Derek Gatopoulos; Elena Becatoros; Sarah di Lorenzo; Don Melvin; Paul Wiseman Greece bailout wards off Europe meltdown European ministers agreed to an extra €130 billion ($172 billion) bailout package for Greece funded by the EU and the IMF; Greece's first bailout package in 2010 was for €110 billion ($146 billion); the total bailout per capita is ~€22,000 ($29,000); private bondholders' losses on Greek bonds are estimated at >70%  AP 44
22-Feb-12 RES GOV DEBT Paul Rawkins (Primary Analyst); Chris Pryce (Secondary Analyst); David Riley (Committee Chairperson) Fitch Downgrades Greece to 'C' from 'CCC' Fitch Ratings downgraded Greece's Long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) from 'CCC' to 'C' Fitch Ratings 45
22-Feb-12 PRO FIN DEBT Alain Badiou; Jean-Christophe Bailly; Étienne Balibar; Claire Denis; Jean-Luc Nancy; Jacques Ranciere; Avital Ronell Alain Badiou. Save the Greeks from their Saviors! [Translation into English by Anastazia Golemi and Drew S. Burk] Alain Badiou et al: "At a time when one Greek youth out of two is unemployed. Where 25,000 homeless wander the streets of Athens. Where 30% of the population has fallen under the poverty line and where millions of families are forced to place their children in the care of someone else in order for them not to die of hunger or cold, where refugees and the new poor compete for trashcans at the public dump, the “saviors” of Greece, under the pretext that “Greece is not trying hard enough”, impose a new aid plan that doubles the lethal administered dose. A plan that abolishes the right to work and reduces the poor to the most extreme misery, at the same time as it makes the middle class disappear. The goal is not about “saving” Greece. All economists worthy of this name agree on this point. It’s about gaining time in order to save the creditors at the same time it leads the country into deferred collapse. Above all it’s about making a laboratory of social change out of Greece that, in a second generation, will spread throughout all of Europe..." The European Graduate School 46
24-Feb-12 GOV DEBT Howard Schneider Greece posts debt offer to investors on Web site Greece: the Finance Ministry made a bond exchange offer to investors: current Greek bonds can be swapped for (1) a 30-year note worth 31.5% of the bonds' face value, and (2) a short-term security worth another 15% backed by the euro zone Washington Post 47
24-Feb-12 FIN DEBT GOV Kevin Roose A.I.G. Buys $2 Billion in Maiden Lane Bonds AIG acquired almost $2 billion in bonds held in Maiden Lane II, a vehicle financed by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as part of the financial bailout in 2008 NYT-DealBook 48
24-Feb-12 BANK GOLD DEBT IMF Executive Board Approves Distribution of US$1.1 Billion Gold Sales Profits to Facilitate Contributions to Support Concessional Lending to Low-Income Countries The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved the distribution of SDR 700 million (~$1.1 billion) in reserves attributed to profits from IMF gold sales for IMF members to voluntarily support concessional lending to low-income countries (LICs) [2009-2010 gold sales: total proceeds, SDR 9.54 billion (~$14.8 billion); profit, SDR 6.85 billion ($10.6 billion)] IMF 49
27-Feb-12 GOV FIN DEBT Heiner Kiesel / mll; Ben Knight (ed.) Big majority for unpopular Greek rescue Germany: the Bundestag agreed to 2nd Greek rescue package worth ~€130 billion ($97 billion) Deutsche-Welle 50
29-Feb-12 PRO GOV DEBT Raf Casert Unions protest on eve of EU summit Belgium, Spain, Greece: unions protest against unfair austerity measures imposed by creditors AJC: AP 51
29-Feb-12 GOV BANK DEBT Chen Zhi (ed.) ECB allots a further half a trillion euros to 800 banks The European Central Bank (ECB) injected >€0.5 trillion into 800 banks as part of its 2nd 3-year longer term refinancing operation (LTRO); the total LTRO amount injected by the ECB into financial institutions is >€1 trillion ($1.3 trillion) Xinhua 52
4-Mar-12 RES GOV DEBT Moody's downgrades Greece after debt swap 2-Mar-2012: Moody's Investors Service cut Greece's local and foreign-currency bond ratings from Ca to C – the lowest possible rating Ahram Online: Reuters 53
5-Mar-12 BANK GOV DEBT Nicholas Dunbar; Elisa Martinuzzi; Edward Evans (ed.) Goldman Secret Greece Loan Shows Two Sinners as Client Unravels The following are comments by Dr. Edward E. Ayoub, founder of Macroknow: (1) The article by Nicholas Dunbar et al. deals with the machinations and consequences of "Greece’s secret loan from Goldman Sachs Group Inc." (2) The consequences include: "On the day the 2001 deal was struck, the government owed the bank about 600 million euros ($793 million) more than the 2.8 billion euros it borrowed, said Spyros Papanicolaou . . ." (3) the machinations give flesh to Tanachic wisdom, such as: "The rich rule the poor and the borrower is the slave of the lender" [Proverbs 22:7] and "The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure . . . and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail . . . " [Deuteronomy 28:12-13]. For more quotations on debt, see Ayoub's article – "Nothing But a Tail" – posted December 8, 2001, at http://www.mindhat.com/editorials-eea/op-ed-20011208.htm.]
 Bloomberg 54
6-Mar-12 BANK DEBT RES Sarah Mulholland; Zeke Faux; Alan Goldstein (ed.) S&P Blocked by Banks in CMBS Market After Derailed Goldman Deal: Mortgages Five big banks – Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Deutsche Bank AG, and Morgan Stanley – dumped S&P’s credit ratings as they issued $11.3 billion of commercial mortgage bond market debt Bloomberg 55
6-Mar-12 BANK LAW DEBT Michael J. De La Merced Lehman Estate Emerges From Bankruptcy Lehman exits from Chapter 11; Lehman filed for bankruptcy on 15-Sep-2008 NYT-DealBook 56
8-Mar-12 GOV BANK DEBT Revenues Have Exceeded Investments, but Concerns about Outstanding Investments Remain U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO): Report to Congressional Committees: CAPITAL PURCHASE PROGRAM [CPP]: Under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), Treasury had the authority to use a bailout fund of up to ~$700 billion buy or guarantee “troubled assets," including mortgages, mortgage-backed securities, and other financial instruments. Treasury disbursed $204.9 billion to 707 financial institutions from Oct-2008 through Dec-2009. As of 31-Jan-2012, Treasury received $211.5 billion in repayments and income from its CPP investments. As of 30-Nov-2011, Treasury estimated a lifetime gain of $13.5 billion for CPP. The number of institutions that exited CPP is 341. Of these: 43% (146 institutions) exited by fully repaying their investments; 11 institutions made partial repayments but remained in the program; 48% (165 institutions) exited CPP by exchanging their investments under other federal programs -- 28 through the Community Development Capital Initiative (CDCI) and 137 through the Small Business Lending Fund (SBLF) program! GAO 57
8-Mar-12 GOV BANK DEBT 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 1.00%, 1.75% and 0.25% respectively ECB 58
8-Mar-12 GOV BANK DEBT News Release - Bank of England maintains Bank Rate at 0.5% and the size of the Asset Purchase Programme at Ł325 billion The 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 Ł325 billion financed by the issuance of central bank reserves Bank of England 59
9-Mar-12 GOV FIN DEBT Over 80% of Greek creditors accept debt swap Greece: 83.5% of Greece's private-sector bondholders agreed to a bond-swap deal; 83.5% corresponds to €172 billion out of a total of €206 billion MarketWatch 60
9-Mar-12 BANK FIN DEBT ISDA EMEA Determinations Committee: Restructuring Credit Event Has Occurred with Respect to The Hellenic Republic The EMEA Credit Derivatives Determinations Committee of The International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA) determined unanimously that "a Restructuring Credit Event has occurred with respect to The Hellenic Republic (Greece)" ISDA 61
11-Mar-12 PRO GOV DEBT Hundreds of thousands protest austerity measures in Spain Spain: hundreds of thousands of people protest against austerity measures in 60 cities across Spain  USA Today: AP 62
12-Mar-12 BANK MKT DEBT Susanne Walker; Dave Liedtka (ed.) Banks Buy Treasuries at Seven Times Pace in 2011 Banks purchased $78.2 billion of Treasuries and securities of agencies in Jan-Feb 2012 (up from $62.6 billion in all of 2011); total bank holdings of Treasuries reached $1.78 trillion Bloomberg 63
13-Mar-12 GOV BANK DEBT Federal Reserve issues FOMC statement FOMC decided to keep the target range for the federal funds rate at 0% to 0.25% Federal Reserve Board 64
14-Mar-12 GOV BANK DEBT Federal Reserve Board launches its Twitter channel Federal Reserve Board launched its official Twitter channel: @federalreserve Federal Reserve Board 65
14-Mar-12 GOV FIN DEBT Stephen Castle With Details Settled, a 2nd Greek Bailout Is Formally Approved A 2nd bailout for Greece was formally approved; the bailout package is valued at €130 billion ($170 billion) NYT 66
14-Mar-12 GOV BANK DEBT Federal Reserve offers $3 billion in 28-day term deposits though its Term Deposit Facility Federal Reserve to offer $3 billion in 28-day term deposits through its Term Deposit Facility Federal Reserve Board 67
15-Mar-12 GOV BANK DEBT IMF Executive Board Approves €28 Billion Arrangement Under Extended Fund Facility for Greece The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a 4-year SDR 23.8 billion (~€28 billion, or US$36.7 billion) arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for Greece IMF 68
15-Mar-12 GOV BANK DEBT Vikas Bajaj. Contributors: Heather Timmons; Neha Thirani Bad Loans at State-Run Banks Add to India’s Woes India: Reserve Bank of India survey indicates that bad loans pose “the most significant risk to the financial system”; as percent of GDP, the government of India debt is ~69% NYT 69
22-Mar-12 BANK DEBT Bank of America Outlines Limited Pilot Test of Mortgage to Lease Program Bank of America announced a pilot program to offer a limited number of mortgage customers (<1,000) facing foreclosure an opportunity to remain in their homes as tenants Bank of America 70
26-Mar-12 Bank DEBT BUS Robin Emmott; John O'Donnell. Contributors: Sakari Suoninen; Claire Davenport; Mike Peacock (ed.) Nervous Banks Hold Back Europe's Revival Strategy European banks are not lending, especially in Greece, Ireland, and Portugal; according to Mark Fielding, head of the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association, "Most small businesses feel almost hatred towards their banks" NYT: Reuters 71
30-Mar-12 GOV FIN DEBT James Kanter 30-31-Mar-2012: Copenhagen: European finance ministers agreed to establish an almost €800-billion bailout fund for the euro zone NYT 72
30-Mar-12 GOV FIN DEBT Barbara Kollmeyer Spain announces €27 billion deficit-cutting plan Spain: the Spanish government announced a €27 billion ($36 billion) deficit-reduction plan MarketWatch 73
3-Apr-12 RES BUS DEBT Rating Action: Moody's downgrades GE rating to Aa3, GE Capital to A1 Moody's Investors Service downgraded (1) the senior unsecured debt rating of General Electric Company (GE) to Aa3 from Aa2; and (2) the senior unsecured rating of its finance subsidiary, General Electric Capital Corporation, to A1 from Aa2. The rating outlook for GE and GECC is stable Moody's Investors Service 74
4-Apr-12 GOV BANK DEBT 4 April 2012 - 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 75
9-Apr-12 GOV BANK DEBT Chairman Ben S. Bernanke Fostering Financial Stability [Speech by Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, at the 2012 Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Financial Markets Conference, Stone Mountain, Georgia] Chairman Ben S. Bernanke on regulating "shadow banking": ". . . the growth of what has been termed "shadow banking" creates additional potential channels for the propagation of shocks through the financial system and the economy. Shadow banking refers to the intermediation of credit through a collection of institutions, instruments, and markets that lie at least partly outside of the traditional banking system. . . The initial efforts have focused on the vulnerabilities created by the large amounts of intraday credit provided by clearing banks in the triparty repo market. Intraday credit, while a great convenience in normal times, may foster systemic risk by creating large mutual exposures between securities dealers and clearing banks. . ." Federal Reserve Board 76
10-Apr-12 BANK DEBT Jessica Silver-Greenberg; Tara Siegel Bernard Lenders Again Dealing Credit to Risky Clients Some big lenders, including Capital One and GM Financial, are trying to woo subprime customers again; in their defense, these lenders are now distinguishing between "chronic deadbeats" and “fallen angels”  NYT 77
10-Apr-12 BANK ECON DEBT World Economic Outlook (WEO) – Growth Resuming, Dangers Remain International Monetary Fund (IMF) released "World Economic Outlook (WEO) – Growth Resuming, Dangers Remain" IMF 78
11-Apr-12 GOV BANK DEBT Jack Ewing Greek Crisis Leaves Cyprus Mired in Debt According to the IMF, banks in Cyprus have outstanding loans or money at risk totaling €152 billion (8 times Cyprus' GDP) NYT 79
11-Apr-12 BANK MON DEBT Linda Sandler; Pierre Paulden; John Pickering (ed.) Lehman Creditors to Get $22.5 Billion, 53% Over Top Estimate Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. to pay creditors an initial $22.5 billion (53% more than a previous estimate) Bloomberg-Businessweek 80
13-Apr-12 BANK DEBT LAW Les Christie Flood of foreclosures to hit the housing market A flood of accelerated foreclosures is expected following the $26 billion mortgage settlement (agreed to by Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, Wells Fargo, and Ally Financial) CNN Money 81
13-Apr-12 GOV BANK DEBT Spanish banks borrow record €227.6 bn from ECB The European Central Bank (ECB) lent Spanish banks a record €227.6 billion ($299 billion) in Mar-2012 (up 124.5% from Jan-2012) [see "Balance Sheet Of The Banco De Espańa. Net Lending To Credit Institutions And Its Counterparts," Banco De Espańa, http://www.bde.es/webbde/es/estadis/infoest/e0801e.pdf] AFP 82
13-Apr-12 GOV LAW DEBT Saleh Hennessy Portugal Ratifies Key EU Pact Portugal: Portuguese politicians ratify a key European treaty – apparently, a precondition for a "new bailout in about 18 months"  VOA News 83
21-Apr-12 GOV DEBT Daniel Ten Kate; Takashi Hirokawa; Peter Hirschberg (ed.) Myanmar Wins Japan Debt Forgiveness as Thein Sein Visits Tokyo Japan: Japan to forgive Ą303.5 billion ($3.7 billion) in loans and interest to Myanmar Bloomberg-Businessweek 84
23-Apr-12 GOV ECON DEBT Kyle Almond Five things to know about the French election 22-Apr-2012: France: Presidential elections, first round of voting: Francois Hollande (Socialist Party) won 28.6% of the vote; Nicolas Sarkozy (Union for a Popular Movement – UMP) won 27.2%. Key issues include: France's economy and debt, unemployment, immigration. CNN 85
25-Apr-12 RES GOV DEBT Takahira Ogawa (Primary Credit Analyst):  Outlook On India Revised To Negative On Slow Fiscal Progress, Deteriorating Economic Indicators; 'BBB-' Rating Affirmed Standard & Poor's Ratings Services: (1) affirmed the 'BBB-' long-term and 'A-3' short-term unsolicited sovereign credit ratings on India; (2) revised the outlook on the long-term rating to negative from stable Standard & Poor's 86
25-Apr-12 RES GOV DEBT Outlook On Province of Ontario Revised To Negative From Stable Due To Risks To Fiscal Plan Standard & Poor's Ratings Services: (1) revised its outlook on the Province of Ontario to negative from stable; (2) affirmed its ratings, including its 'AA-' long-term and 'A-1+' short-term issuer credit ratings on the province. {See also "Moody's downgrades Ontario credit rating," CBC News-Agency websites, 26-Apr-2012, http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2012/04/26/toronto-ontario-deficit.html] Standard & Poor's 87
25-Apr-12 GOV BANK DEBT Federal Reserve issues FOMC statement  FOMC to keep the target range for the federal funds rate at 0%-0.25%; FOMC anticipates that economic conditions "are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels for the federal funds rate at least through late 2014" Federal Reserve Board 88
26-Apr-12 RES GOV DEBT Research Update: Ratings On Spain Lowered To 'BBB+/A-2' On Debt Concerns; Outlook Negative Standard & Poor's Ratings Services: (1) lowered its long-term sovereign credit rating on the Kingdom of Spain to 'BBB+' from 'A': (2) lowered the short-term sovereign credit rating to 'A-2' from 'A-1'; the outlook on the long-term rating is negative Standard & Poor's 89
27-Apr-12 GOV BANK DEBT Enhancement of Monetary Easing Japan: the Policy Board of the Bank of Japan decided to increase the total size of the Asset Purchase Program by ~Ą5 trillion, from ~Ą65 trillion to ~Ą70 trillion; the program to include an increase of ~Ą10 trillion in the purchase of Japanese government bonds Bank of Japan 90
2-May-12 GOV BANK DEBT Speech given by Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England: The 2012 BBC Today Programme Lecture, London, 2-May-2012 Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England: The 2012 BBC Today Programme Lecture: " . . . despite low inflation, the advanced economies of the world were plunged into a financial crisis which led to the sharpest decline in world trade since the 1930s, recessions across the world, rising unemployment and the near collapse of our banking system. . . what went wrong? . . . By the end of 2006, some banks had borrowed as much as Ł50 for every pound provided by their own shareholders. So even a small piece of bad news about the value of its assets would wipe out much of a bank’s capital . . . markets correctly believed that no government could let a bank fail . . . This meant that large banks in particular benefited from an implicit taxpayer guarantee, enabling them to borrow cheaply to finance their lending. In good times, banks took the benefits for their employees and shareholders, while in bad times the taxpayer bore the costs. For the banks, it was a case of heads I win, tails you – the taxpayer – lose. Bank of England 91
3-May-12 MKT RE DEBT Amy Hoak Mortgage rates hit record lows: Freddie Mac – 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.84% this week U.S.: evidence of slow growth and subdued inflation: the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate fell to 3.84% for the week ending 3-May-2012, down from 4.71% a year ago MarketWatch 92
9-May-12 GOV BANK DEBT Federal Reserve offers $3 billion in 28-day term deposits through its Term Deposit Facility Federal Reserve to offer $3 billion in 28-day term deposits through its Term Deposit Facility Federal Reserve Board 93
9-May-12 GOV BUS DEBT Landon Thomas Jr. In Spain, a Debt Crisis Built on Corporate Borrowing As percent of GDP, Spain is saddled with the largest nonfinancial corporations' debt and the UK with the largest financial institutions' debt. Composition of Spain's debt as percent of GDP in 2011Q2: household, 82%; nonfinancial corporations, 134%; financial institutions, 76%; government, 71%; total, 363%. Total as percet of GDP by country: Japan, 512%; UK, 507%; Spain, 363%; France, 346%; Italy, 314%; South Korea, 314%: U.S., 279%; Germany 278%; Australia, 277%; Canada, 276%. [See Charles Roxburgh et al., "Debt and Deleveraging: Uneven Progress on the Path to Growth" (and sources therein) Jan-2012, McKinsey & Company, http://www.mckinsey.com/Insights/MGI/Research/Financial_Markets/Uneven_progress_on_the_path_to_growth.] NYT 94
10-May-12 MKT RE DEBT Ruth Mantell 30-year mortgage rate hits record low of 3.83% U.S.: the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage average fell to a record low of 3.83% MarketWatch 95
10-May-12 GOV BANK DEBT Chairman Ben S. Bernanke Banks and Bank Lending: The State of Play [Speech Delivered at the 48th Annual Conference on Bank Structure and Competition, Chicago, Illinois (via satellite)] Chairman Ben S. Bernanke: " . . . large banks in the aggregate have more than doubled their holdings of cash and securities since 2009. Large banks have reduced their collective dependence on short-term wholesale funding, and many are flush with retail deposits . . . The credit quality of large banks' assets is looking better as well, although the improvements have been uneven across types of loans. . . The most systemically important financial firms will face meaningfully higher capital and liquidity requirements and continue to undergo regular supervisory stress tests. . . Since its peak, U.S. home mortgage credit outstanding has contracted about 13 percent in real terms. Many factors suggest that this situation will be difficult to turn around quickly . . . The stock of small loans to businesses on bank balance sheets at the end of last year was more than 15 percent below its peak in 2008. . . " Federal Reserve Board 96
10-May-12 GOV BANK DEBT Bank of England maintains Bank Rate at 0.5% and the size of the Asset Purchase Programme at Ł325 billion The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (1) to maintain the official Bank Rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 0.5%, and (2) to maintain the stock of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at Ł325 billion Bank of England 97
11-May-12 RES BANK DEBT Joo-Yung Lee (Primary Analyst); Christopher Wolfe (Secondary Analyst); Ed Thompson (Committee Chairperson) Fitch Downgrades JPMorgan to 'A+/F1'; L-T IDR on Watch Negative Fitch Ratings downgraded JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s (JPM) (1) long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR), from 'AA-' to 'A+' and (2) its short-term IDR, from 'F1+'  to 'F1'; Fitch placed all parent and subsidiary long-term ratings on Rating Watch Negative. Fitch Ratings 98
14-May-12 BANK DEBT LAW Ally Financial Announces Key Strategic Actions to Strengthen Company and Accelerate Ability to Repay U.S. Treasury Ally Financial's mortgage subsidiary Residential Capital, LLC and certain of its subsidiaries (ResCap) decided to file Chapter 11 Ally 99
15-May-12 GOV DEBT Landon Thomas Jr. Bet on Greek Bonds Paid Off for ‘Vulture Fund’ Greece made a €436 million bond payment to hold-out investors; almost 90% was reportedly made to Dart Management, a "vulture fund" based in the Cayman Islands NYT 100
15-May-12 RES BANK DEBT Sonia Sirletti; Andrew Frye; Frank Connelly (ed.) UniCredit, Intesa Among 26 Italian Banks Cut by Moody’s Moody’s Investors Service cut the credit ratings of 26 Italian banks, including UniCredit SpA and Intesa Sanpaolo SpA Bloomberg 101
17-May-12 RES BANK DEBT Rating Action: Moody's downgrades Spanish banks; ratings carry negative outlooks or remain on review for downgrade Moody's Investors Service downgraded the long-term debt and deposit ratings for 16 Spanish banks and Santander UK PLC (a subsidiary of Banco Santander (Spain) SA) Moody's Investors Service 102
18-May-12 BANK DEBT Charles Penty; Frank Connelly (ed.) Spanish Banks’ Bad Loans Worsen as Recession Bites: Economy Spain: bad loans increased to €8.21 billion (up 90% YOY); as percent of total lending, bad loans increased to 8.37% in Mar-2012 (up from a restated 8.30% in Feb-2012) Bloomberg 103
22-May-12 BANK DEBT ECON Eduardo Porter The Modest Worth of Big Banks Estimates by Andrew G. Haldane, executive director for financial stability at the Bank of England, regarding big banks: (1) the financial crisis wiped out up to 3.5 years’ worth of the world’s economic output, in present value; (2) in 2008, large financial institutions in the U.S. borrowed $98 for each $100 in investment. FDIC estimate regarding concentration of the U.S. banking system: (3) the total assets of the top 3 US banks as percent of total commercial banking-sector assets surged from ~10% in the early 1990s to ~40% in 2008. NYT 104
22-May-12 GOV BANK DEBT Liz Alderman; Jack Ewing Largest Greek Banks to Receive Financing Greece: the Greek government to inject €18 billion (~$23 billion) into Greece's 4 largest commercial banks; Greece received a bailout of €25 billion from the European Financial Stability Facility; depositors withdrew >€23 billion from Greek banks during the time period from Aug-2001 to Mar-2012 NYT 105
24-May-12 RE DEBT MKT Ruth Mantell 30-year mortgage rate hits record low of 3.78% 30-year fixed-rate mortgage average rate fell to 3.78% (a record low) from 3.79% in the prior week MarketWatch 106
24-May-12 PRO FIN DEBT John Kolesidis Crisis-led suicide epidemic: Greek mother & son jump to death Greece: austerity-induced suicide epidemic RT: Reuters 107
25-May-12 RES BANK DEBT Niklas Pollard; Sven Nordenstam; Ole Petter Skonnord; Simon Jessop; Alistair Scrutton (ed.) Louise Heavens (ed.); Jane Merriman (ed.) Moody's Downgrades Three Big Nordic Banks Moody's Investor Service downgraded 3 Nordic banks: Nordea, Handelsbanken, and Norwegian group DNB NYT: Reuters 108
25-May-12 BANK FIN DEBT Raphael Minder Giant Lender in Spain Asks for Billions to Fend Off Collapse Spain: Bankia, Spain’s largest mortgage lender, needs an additional €19 billion ($23.88 billion) to avoid collapse NYT 109
28-May-12 GOV MKT DEBT Raphael Minder. Contributor: David Jolly Spain's Borrowing Costs Rise as Bank Woes Deepen Spain: borrowing costs soared; the risk premium for holding 10-year Spanish government bonds, over German bonds, hit 5.1% (a record since the introduction of the euro); the yield on Spanish 10-year bonds hit 6.5% (0.5% below the level that triggered the bailout of Greece) NYT 110
28-May-12 BUS LAW DEBT Peter Lattman Dewey & LeBoeuf Files for Bankruptcy law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf filed for bankruptcy; the firm has $315 million in liabilities NYT-DealBook 111
30-May-12 GOV DEBT JOBS Henry Ridgwell Warnings of Humanitarian Crisis in Greek Port Town Henry Ridgwell, on Greece's human tragedy: "most of the residents of Perama are unemployed and many are unable to afford basic healthcare or provisions" VOA News 112
30-May-12 GOV DEBT MKT Deborah Levine Treasury yields hit new low on Spain worries U.S. Treasury yields on 10-year notes tumbled to 1.62%, a record low MarketWatch 113
31-May-12 BANK DEBT RE Average 15-Year Fixed-Rate Mortgage Breaks Barrier, Falls To 2.97 Percent Freddie Mac: Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS): 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) for the week ending 31-May-2012 averaged 3.75%, a new all-time record low; 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.75% Freddie Mac-PR Newswire 114
4-Jun-12 BANK DEBT Mark Scott Global Banks Cut Lending in Response to Economic Slowdown According to the Bank for International Settlements banks cut overseas lending by $799 billion in 2012Q4; ~80% of the cut was due to banks not lending money to each other NYT-DealBook 115