A B C D E F G H I J K L
  MONEY AND 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
12-Jan-12 POL MON Chris Cillizza; Aaron Blake President Obama raised $68 million in fourth quarter Amounts raised by President Obama’s campaign for his 2012 re-election campaign: total of almost $141 million, including $42 million in 2011Q4 ($24 million was also raised for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) during 2011Q4). Governor Mitt Romney raised $24 million in 2011Q4. Washington Post 14
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 15
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 16
16-Jan-12 MKT MON Julia Werdigier London Wants to Tap Chinese Currency Market U.K.: the government plans to create a Chinese currency hub in London; according to George Osborne, the chancellor of the Exchequer, "there is scope for substantial expansion of the renminbi market in the coming years" -- the renminbi's share of the global foreign exchange market in Jun-2011 was 0.9%, China’s share in worldwide trade in 2010 was 11% NYT-DealBook 17
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 18
18-Jan-12 POL MON Wayne Barrett. Contributors: Jillian Anthony; Irina Ivanova; Clarissa León; Nicole Marsh; Kyle Roerink Is Gingrich’s Hard Line on Palestine Paid for by Sheldon Adelson? Wayne Barrett, on the linkage between big money and politics: Newt Gingrich flipped from "moderate" on the Middle East to "saber-rattling hawk" after Sheldon Adelson injected a multi-million dollar donation; concern: "The linkage between campaign contributions and compromised candidates has grown so familiar that it no longer shocks, and indeed rarely even interests, most of us" The Daily Beast 19
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 20
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 21
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 22
22-Jan-12 LAW WWW MON Sarah McBride; Lisa Richwine; Jasmin Melvin; Diane Bartz; Jonathan Weber (ed.); Maureen Bavdek (ed.) Epic Clash: Silicon Valley Blindsides Hollywood on Piracy U.S.: amounts spent on influencing policy during 1998-2011: technology companies (including computer and Internet companies), $1.2 billion; entertainment companies (including Hollywood movie studios), $906.4 million. Entertainment companies support SOPA and PIPA; technology companies do not. NYT: Reuters 23
23-Jan-12 POL REL MON Nicholas Confessore. Contributor: Jeremy W. Peters ‘Super PAC’ for Gingrich to Get $5 Million Infusion Sheldon Adelson and his wife Dr. Miriam Adelson reportedly contributed a total of $10 million to the super PAC "Winning Our Future." Sheldon Adelson is in the "gambling/leisure businesses"; he is a billionaire of Jewish provenance; his wife is an an Israeli physician [source: Wikipedia,   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheldon_Adelson]. Sheldon Adelson reportedly said at the Taglit Birthright event: “Read the history of those who call themselves Palestinians, and you will hear why [Newt] Gingrich said recently that the Palestinians are an invented people" [source: Revital Blumenfeld, "Sheldon Adelson to Birthright group: Gingrich is right to call Palestinians 'invented people,'" Haaretz, 26-Dec-2011, http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/sheldon-adelson-to-birthright-group-gingrich-is-right-to-call-palestinians-invented-people-1.403671] NYT 24
24-Jan-12 POL MON Romney Tax Returns Show 2-Year Income of $45 Million Mitt Romney likely to pay $6.2 million in taxes on $45 million in income over tax years 2010-2011 [effective tax rate of ~13.8%]; Newt Gingrich and his wife paid $994,708 in federal tax on an adjusted gross income of $3,162,424 in 2010 [effective tax rate of ~31.7%] NYT 25
25-Jan-12 BANK FIN MON Mark Scott European Banks Push to Meet Capital Goals European financial institutions raised ≥€40.7 billion ($52.8 billion) in new capital in 2011Q4 (estimates by Citigroup) NYT-DealBook 26
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 27
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 28
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 29
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 30
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 31
1-Feb-12 POL MON Evan Carmi; Matthew Ericson; David Nolen; Kevin Quealy; Michael Strickland; Jeremy White; Derek Willis Election 2012: The 2012 Money Race: Compare the Candidates U.S. presidential campaigns: amounts raised to date: all candidates, $186 million; Barack Obama, $139,526,311; Mitt Romney, $57,112,767; Ron Paul, $26,104,721; Newt Gingrich, $12,733,254 NYT 32
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 33
2-Feb-12 BUS FIN MON Isabella Steger Venture Capitalists Flock to China, Leave Europe Behind Dow Jones VentureSource: venture capital equity financing received by companies in 2011: globally, $49 billion; U.S., $32,6 billion (up 10% YOY); China, $6 billion (up 8% YOY); Europe, $6.1 billion; UK, $1.7 billion (down 32% YOY) WSJ 34
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 35
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 36
6-Feb-12 BANK MON LAW Giles Broom; Frank Connelly (ed,) Baer Slides as Swiss Bank Expects U.S. Fine on Taxes: Zurich Mover U.S.: 11 Swiss financial institutions are being investigated for alledgedly helping Americans hide money from the IRS Bloomberg 37
6-Feb-12 ELITE MON Maria Di Mento; Caroline Preston. Contributor: Caroline Bermudez Most-Generous Donors Gave More in 2011 but Still Lag Their Pre-Recession Pace The Chronicle of Philanthropy: the top 50 wealthy donors in America gave a total of $10.4-billion in 2011 (up from $3.3-billion in 2010); the median gift from donors was $61 million (down from $74.7 million in 2007). The top 5 donors in 2011 and the total amounts they committed are: 1. Margaret A. Cargill, $6 billion; 2. William S. Dietrich II, $5 billion; 3. Paul G. Allen, $372.6 million; 4. George Soros, $335 million; 5. Michael R. Bloomberg, $311.276 million. The Chronicle of Philanthropy 38
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 39
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 40
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 41
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 42
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 43
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 44
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 45
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 46
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 47
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 48
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 49
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 50
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.,  51
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.,  52
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 53
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 54
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 55
21-Feb-12 FIN MON Mark Scott BC Partners Raises $8.6 Billion Fund London, U.K.: BC Partners raised €6.5 billion ($8.6 billion);   NYT-DealBook 56
21-Feb-12 BANK MON David Enrich Top Banks in EU Rush for Safety WSJ: as of 31-Dec-2011, the top 8 European banks held ~$816 billion (up 50% YOY) in cash and deposits at central banks WSJ 57
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 58
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 59
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 60
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 61
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 62
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 63
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 64
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 65
29-Feb-12 FIN MON Thomas P. DiNapoli (New York State Comptroller) Wall Street Bonuses Declined in 2011; Industry Profits Down by Half from Prior Year New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli: the bonus pool for securities industry employees who worked in New York City in 2011 is estimated at $19.7 billion (down 14% YOY); the average Wall Street bonus is estimated at $121,150 (down 13% YOY); the profits for the broker/dealer operations of New York Stock Exchange member firms fell to ~$13.5 billion in 2011 (down 51% YOY) Office of the New York State Comptroller 66
1-Mar-12 ELITE MON Mary Alice Salinas. Contributors: Leo Keyen (Hausa Service chief); Ibrahim Abdulaziz; Medina Dauda; Muhammed Salisu Rabiu; Zainab Babaji; Nasiru Batsari More Nigerians Slip Into Poverty, Particularly in North Nigeria: The National Bureau of Statistics on poverty in Nigeria: 97.6 million people (61% of Nigerians) earned <$1/day in 2010 (up 10% from 2004) VOA News 67
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 68
4-Mar-12 GOV FIN MON Lingling Wei China's CIC Gets Injection: Government Provides Sovereign-Wealth Fund With $30 Billion in New Capital China: the government injected ~$30 billion of new capital into China Investment Corp. WSJ 69
5-Mar-12 FIN MON GOV Noah Buhayar; Bei Hu; Andreea Papuc (ed.); Linus Chua (ed.) AIG Sells $6 Billion AIA Shares for $182.3 Billion Rescue American International Group Inc. (AIG) to sell $6 billion of AIA Group Ltd. shares to pay back the U.S. government; AIG received a $182.3 billion bailout San Francisco Chronicle: Bloomberg News 70
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 71
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 72
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 73
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 74
8-Mar-12 ELITE MON Forbes Staff The World's Billionaires Forbes: the wold's 1,226 billionaires are worth a record $4.6 trillion. Net worth of the top 5 billionaires: 1. Carlos Slim Helou and family, $69 billion; 2. Bill Gates, $61 billion; 3. Warren Buffett, $44 billion; 4. Bernard Arnault, $41 billion; 5. Amancio Ortega, $37.5 billion. Forbes 75
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 76
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 77
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 78
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 79
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 80
12-Mar-12 ELITE TECH MON Rob Cox The Ruthless Overlords Of Silicon Valley Rob Cox, on "the Overlords of Silicon Valley": "Though Silicon Valley’s newest billionaires may anoint themselves the saints of American capitalism, they’re beginning to resemble something else entirely: robber barons. Behind the hoodies and flip-flops lurk businesspeople as rapacious as the black-suited and top-hatted industrialists of the late-19th century." The Daily Beast 81
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 82
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 83
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 84
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 85
14-Mar-12 LAW MON RES Ellen M. Ryan; Laura E. Simmons Securities Class Action Settlements: 2011 Review and Analysis The number of court-approved securities class action settlements in 2011 decreased to 65 (a 10-year low; down 25% YOY); and settlement funds in 2011 tumbled to $1.362 (down 58% YOY) [see also http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/court-approved-class-action-settlements-at-decade-low/] Cornerstone Research 86
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 87
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 88
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 89
16-Mar-12 GOV BANK MON Nicholas Dunbar; Elisa Martinuzzi; Edward Evans (ed.) Italy Said to Pay Morgan Stanley $3.4 Billion Italy to pay Morgan Stanley $3.4 billion to cancel speculative derivative contracts from the 1990s  Bloomberg 90
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 91
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 92
29-Mar-12 ELITE FIN MON Julie Creswell; Azam Ahmed Large Hedge Funds Fared Well in 2011 U'S.: top hedge fund managers earned $14.4 billion in 2011. Top 3 hedge managers: 1. Raymond Dalio, Bridgewater Associates, $3.9 billion; 2. Carl Icahn, Icahn Capital Management, $2.5 billion; 3. James Simons, Renaissance Technologies Corp, $2.1 billion [source: Stephen Taub, "The Rich List," AR Magazine, 29-Mar-2012, http://www.absolutereturn-alpha.com/Article/3001821/The-Rich-List.html] NYT-DealBook 93
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 94
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 95
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 96
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 97
7-Apr-12 ELITE MON RPIG Natasha Singer In Executive Pay, a Rich Game of Thrones Data on 100 top-paid CEO's in 2011: median salary, $14.4 million (more than 318 times the average American salary); the aggregate salary of the 100 top-paid CEO's, $2.1 billion [source: Equilar]. According to a study by Emmanuel Saez (University of California, Berkeley): "In 2010, average real income per family grew by 2.3% but the gains were very uneven. Top 1% incomes grew by 11.6% while bottom 99% incomes grew only by 0.2%. Hence, the top 1% captured 93% of the income gains in the first year of recovery. Such an uneven recovery can help explain the recent public demonstrations against inequality" [see Emmanuel Saez, "Striking it Richer: The Evolution of Top Incomes in the United States (Updated with 2009 and 2010 estimates)", 2-Mar-2012, http://elsa.berkeley.edu/~saez/saez-UStopincomes-2010.pdf]. NYT 98
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 99
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 100
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 101
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 102
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 103
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 104
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 105
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 106
16-Apr-12 ELITE GOV MON Fiona Shaikh Six percent of UK's wealthiest pay less than 10 percent tax: data UK tax system benefits the wealthiest: 4% of people with an income of Ł5-10 million and 6% of those with an income greater than Ł10 million pay less than 10% tax Reuters 107
17-Apr-12 LAW MON ELITE Zachary Roth Will Team Obama's Buffett Rule strategy succeed? 16-Apr-2012: President Obama's "Buffett Rule" won a majority in the Senate but was blocked by Republicans msnbc.com-mojoe 108
20-Apr-12 GOV BANK MON IMF to Double Lending Power as Pledges Top $430 Billion Group of Twenty (G-20), together with the broader IMF membership, pledged to boost the IMF’s lending capacity by more than $430 billion – almost doubling the IMF’s lending power IMF 109
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 110
21-Apr-12 POL MON T.W. Farnam Big money in a big way for Obama’s reelection campaign Big money “bundlers” supporting President Obama’s reelection campaign and/or the Democratic National Committee (DNC): 533 people raised each ≥$50,000; 117 people raised each ≥$500,000; supporters include Hollywood and lawyers Washington Post 111
22-Apr-12 GOV FIN MON Robert Tuttle; Mahmoud Kassem; Shaji Mathew (ed.) Qatar Investment Authority Has $30 Billion to Invest in 2012 Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) has >$100 billion in assets and $30 billion to invest in 2012 Bloomberg 112
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 113
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 114
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 115
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 116
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 117
26-Apr-12 PRO EDU MON Quebec government rejects plan to resume student talks Montreal, Canada: students protested tuition hikes and clashed with police; violence was reported; 85 people were arrested CBC News-Canadian Press 118
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 119
28-Apr-12 GOV MON Fabrice Arfi; Karl Laske Gaddafi funding of Sarkozy election campaign: the proof Mediapart provides evidence that President Nicolas Sarkozy's successful 2007 election campaign was partly funded (€50 million) by former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi Mediapart 120
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 121
2-May-12 MKT MON Auction History Made At Sotheby’s New York – Edvard Munch’s The Scream Sets The Highest Price For Any Work Of Art At Auction: $119,922,500 / Ł73,921,284 / €91,033,826 Edvard Munch’s ‘The Scream’ was sold at Sotheby's in NYC for a record $119,922,500 Sotheby's 122
2-May-12 POL ELITE MON Nicholas Confessore; Greg Veis (ed.) Obama’s Not-So-Hot Date With Wall Street Funds raised by Obama from the securities and investment industry: $2.4 million by the end of Jan-2012 (down from $7 million by the end of Jan-2008) [see also, "Who Was at Obama’s $35,800 Dinner?," NYT, http://6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/02/who-was-at-obamas-35800-dinner] NYT Magazine 123
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 124
7-May-12 ELITE MON POL Nicholas Confessore Liberals Steer Outside Money to Grass-Roots Organizing 2012 U.S. election cycle donations: top liberal donors are expected to inject up to $100 million into projects with focus on "grass-roots organizing, voter registration and Democratic turnout"; George Soros will reportedly donate $1 million each to America Votes and American Bridge 21st Century NYT 125
9-May-12 MON FRAUD Quebec police bust $100M credit card fraud ring Quebec, Canada: police takedown a $100 million credit/debit card fraud ring CBC News 126
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 127
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 128
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 129
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 130
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 131
11-May-12 BANK FIN MON David Benoit J.P. Morgan Reveals ‘London Whale’-Size Losses 10-May-2012:WSJ on J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. conference call: "CEO Jamie Dimon said the bank had taken $2 billion in trading losses in the past six weeks and could face an additional $1 billion in second-quarter losses due to market volatility" WSJ 132
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 133
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 134
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 135
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 136
16-May-12 GOV MON Liz Alderman; Rachel Donadio. Contributors: Niki Kitsantonis; Dimitris Bounias Flight of Euros Accelerates, Adding to Greece’s Worries Greece: average monthly outflow of funds from Greece since 2009 estimated at 4 billion euros ($5.1 billion) NYT 137
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 138
17-May-12 PRO EDU MON Montreal student protest ends with 122 arrests – Police declare protest illegal and break up demonstration Montreal, Canada: thousands of students protested against tuition increases CBC News 139
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 140
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 141
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 142
22-May-12 PRO EDU MON Quebec Student Protest Timeline Marks 100 Days Quebec student protest timeline: official start of student protest: 13-Feb-2012 Huffington Post: Canadian Press 143
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 144
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 145
25-May-12 GOV BANK MON Dara Doyle; Jeff Black; Matthew Brockett (ed.) Frozen Europe Means ECB Must Resort to ELA for Banks EU: European Central Bank (ECB): Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) amounts are included under “other claims on euro-area credit institutions” in the euro system’s balance sheet; “other claims on euro-area credit institutions” increased from €184.7 billion 3 weeks ago to €212.5 billion this week Bloomberg 146
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 147
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 148
26-May-12 PRO EDU MON Canada protest spreads as arrest list hits 2,500 benchmark Quebec student protest against tuition hikes and Bill 78 spreads to Ontario; >2,500 protesters have been arrested in Quebec RT 149
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 150
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 151
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 152
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 153
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 154
31-May-12 BANK MON Floyd Norris Amid Uncertainty on Euro, Europeans Hedge Their Bets "Slow-Speed" bank runs reported: depositors are moving their money from more or less solid banks to German banks NYT 155
1-Jun-12 BUS AUTO MON GM Announces U.S. Salaried Pension Plan Actions General Motors to offer ~42,000 salaried retirees and surviving beneficiaries a voluntary single lump-sum payment option; the pension plan is expected reduce GM's U.S. pension obligation by $26 billion GM 156
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 157
5-Jun-12 ELITE FIN MON Laura Marcinek; Nikolaj Gammeltoft; Michael Serrill (ed.). Contributors: Laurie Meisler; Vince Bielski (ed.) Wall Street CEO Pay Rises 20% With KKR’s Kravis No. 1 The compensation of top 50 financial CEOs increased as a group by an average of 20.4% in 2011 Bloomberg Markets Magazine 158