The Beginning of the End of the Beginning of the Gutting of the Big Banks Has Begun!

In 2009 I warned that putback risk will be the harbinger of big bank downfall. Not much was made of it then, but to quote WSJ now, $8.5 billion in putbacks for BofA could "embolden mutual-fund managers, insurance companies and investment partnerships to seek similar settlements with other major U.S. banks by arguing that billions of dollars in loans they bought before the housing collapse didn't meet sellers' promises or were improperly managed."

New York Sun: A first step to sound money

 

 

Guest Post: The Screaming Fundamentals For Owning Gold And Silver 

This report lays out an investment thesis for gold and one for silver. Various factors lead me to conclude that gold is one investment that you can park for the next ten or twenty years, confident that it will perform well. My timing and logic for both entering and finally exiting gold (and silver) as investments are laid out in the full report. The punchline is this: Gold and silver are not (yet) in bubble territory, and large gains remain, especially if monetary, fiscal, and fundamental supply-and-demand trends remain in play. 

 

 

 

 

 

Gold And Silver Ownership And Prices Not Be Affected By Dodd-Frank Legislation On July 15 

Concerns arose due to reports that retail foreign exchange, spread betting and CFD providers are set to discontinue offering their gold and silver over the counter products. These allow speculators to take leveraged positions, short and long, in over the counter derivative products. After July 15, U.S. residents are prohibited from trading these OTC gold and silver derivative products. All precious metal transactions that are leveraged and not delivered in 28 days, must be conducted in a “designated contract market,” a board of trade or exchange designated by the CFTC. Those who own bullion should be reassured that their bullion ownership will not be affected as the legislation does not apply to the physical coin and bar market. The legislation will also not apply to contracts fully paid for or delivered within 28 days, and commodity futures contracts trading on an exchange such as the CME Group CME and the many other international exchanges. With regard to prices, some are concerned that there could be spillover from the OTC derivative market into the futures and physical market. Thus, some are concerned that the unwinding of OTC positions by U.S. residents could put result in falling gold and silver prices. We believe this to be very unlikely. We acknowledge that it may lead to an increase in volatility in the coming days and in the days preceding July 15th.

Greek Ministry of Finance Is Now Burning 

All in a day's work for a country whose people have to carry the fat kleptofascists on their backs. Next up: all other institutional buildings. And yes, this is starting to look like May 6. In the meantime, this should be good for another 100 pips in the EURUSD. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Italy Banks Go For The Trifecta On Sigma X 

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 06/29/2011 10:57 -0400

Italian banks and other companies refuse to relinquish the top volume spots on the world's most active dark pool, Goldman's Sigma X. As a reminder, non-open ATS venues like dark pools, represent what the big money is trading when not masked with the churn volume of HFT darlings that provide easy liquidity rebates, and thus massive volume (but absolutely no liquidity). As we reported in the past two days, Intesa, Unicredit and Banca Monte dei Pasci have been consistently among the top traded names, and continue to be so for the third day in a row. Today it may be time to add Enel SpA. Also, Italian CDS in the 175 bps range are likely very cheap now that the law of communicating insolvent vessels means the bond vigilantes will finally shift their attention to an increasingly troubled Italy. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HFT Packet Flinging Accelerating On The NYSE 

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 06/29/2011 10:07 -0400

If the green line passes 200 for any extended period of time, we just may have conditions that are very to quite very reminiscent of the first flash crash. We will warn readers if we see any persistent quote stuffing/churning activity on the NYSE, whose poor Liquidity Replenishment Points just may not be able to take it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Message Saluting The Latest Banker Bailout Via The Greek Conduit, Brought To You By Dexia 

The world's most insolvent bank, Belgium's Dexia of course, is happy to bring this message of solidarity with the disenfranchised people of Greece who will be a fund flow conduit to keep Dexia alive for 3-6 months, via its subsidiary, the European Council: "With today's approval by the Greek Parliament of the revised economic programme, the country has taken an important step forward along the necessary path of fiscal consolidation and growth-enhancing structural reform. But it has also taken a vital step back – from the very grave scenario of default. This was a vote of national responsibility." No point in even pointing out the unbearable hypocrisy there.

What's Next For The Euro? Two Contrasting Opinions From Goldman And Citi 

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 06/29/2011 09:33 -040

Wish you had some guidance with the confusion on whether what just happened is good or bad for the EUR and thus for the S&P? Well, don't read this post, which presents two diametrically opposite opinions on what is next for the euro, one from Goldman's Thomas Stolper (not Jim O'Neill or John Noyce, both of whom are massively short the European currency), and another from Citi's Steven Englander. The two couldn't be more diametrically opposite. That said, some of the mea culpas in the Stolper piece (the same guy who got not a single FX call right in 2010) are worth the $0.00 price of admission alone. 

 

 

 

 

 

JPY Buying Ushers Selling The News 

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 06/29/2011 09:19 -0400

As we predicted yesterday, the knee jerk bounce in the second Greek bailout was already largely priced in. And now: heeeeeere's selling the news, led by a USDJPY carry unwind first, and soon spreading to other risk metrics.

PAPANDREOU HAS VOTES TO PASS AUSTERITY BILL: 155 VOTED TO EXTEND BANKER OLIGARCHY STATUS QUO 

Fascism wins again, this time by a 4 vote margin. The world is saved... for a few hours.