Fannie and Freddie: Worth Negative $50 Billion Each (3)
share
digg
by
Barry Ritholtz (98)
on
The Big Picture (708)
5 days, 5 hours
ago
permalink
Fascinating piece in Barron's this week on our favorite junk paper: Phoney and Fraudy. A few interesting factoids about the GSEs, many of which you may have been unaware of: • In the "1980s Fannie was effectively insolvent"; • These two GSEs currently have $5.2 trillion debt and guarantee obligations; • Both balance sheets contain a tax credit entry called "deferred tax assets." These increase Fannie's net worth by $36 billion and Freddie's by $28 ...
-
Soren said:
so why are we taking this junk on?
Amazing shots of Women's Olympic Fencing (PICS) (18)
share
digg
on
The Big Picture (708)
6 days, 4 hours
ago
permalink
Spectators at the fencing competition at the Olympics are often treated to some dramatic, emotional scenes - played out by passionate competitors dressed all in white, hi-tech gear, meeting inside a large darkened stadium. It also makes for some dramatic imagery, which I'll share with you here -- 16 scenes from recent women's fencing matches in Beijing. (16 photos total)China's Zhang Lei reacts to losing the Women's individual Foil round of 16 match to Italy's ...
Central Bank Spam (3)
share
digg
by
Barry Ritholtz (98)
on
The Big Picture (708)
6 days, 21 hours
ago
permalink
Dan Duncan tells us that a friend of his, who lives in Nigeria, received the following email this morning. Looks quite promising!FROM: Dr Ben BernankeCentral Bank of United States of America01-658-555-1234TO: CEOLagos, NigeriaDear Friend:I have been requested by the regional members Federal Reserve of the USA to contact you for assistance in resolving a matter. The Federal Reserve of the USA has recently concluded a large number of contracts for credit derivative investment vehicles "CDIV" ...
Fox's cruel summer: Not a $100-million hit in the bunch | The Big Picture | Los Angeles Times (3)
share
digg
by
LAT Blogs (6)
on
The Big Picture (708)
1 week, 1 day
ago
permalink
When News Corp. President Peter Chernin was taking a victory lap last week after the company reported a 27% jump in its fiscal fourth-quarter net income, he took pains to credit the 20th Century Fox Film Group for much of the good news. He also predicted healthy earnings in the future, pointing to such upcoming summer 2009 films as "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" and "Night at the Museum II: Escape from the Smithsonian." For Hollywood insiders, ...
Oil Update (Including a Chart of the Decade) (3)
share
digg
by
Barry Ritholtz (98)
on
The Big Picture (708)
1 week, 2 days
ago
permalink
Back in July, I noted that we had exited many energy positions, and would like to see Oil pull back to $105-110 to re-enter them. This was a tactical, not secular, repositioning. Why not secular? Well, for a few reasons. Commodities rallies tend to run decades, not years. And the rise of China and India means huge new demands on global energy reserves are going to keep prices elevated far above the old days of ...
Fuzzy Numbers (3)
share
digg
Bill Hader: Crazed movie fan? (1)
share
digg
by
LAT Blogs (6)
on
The Big Picture (708)
1 week, 2 days
ago
permalink
Every comic who can tell a joke seems to be part of a newly launched Web comedy series. Some are really funny; some are, well, just as bad as anything on B.O.T ( or "boring old TV"). One of my current favorites is "The Line," which stars a host of "Saturday Night Live" writers and cast members, most notably Bill Hader and Simon Rich, who co-created the Web series. It was financed by Lorne Michaels' ...
Bank Lending Practices Tighten as Loan Demand Falls (2)
share
digg
by
Barry Ritholtz (98)
on
The Big Picture (708)
1 week, 2 days
ago
permalink
While the Federal Reserve continues to pump money into the system at an unprecedented rate, less and less of it is finding its way to consumers and commercial borrowers. Instead, its being used to prop up speculators and financial firms. The Federal Reserve's Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices notes the impact the credit crunch is having on lending: After several years of lapse standards, we have now swung to the other extreme. ...
War in South Ossetia (62)
share
digg
on
The Big Picture (708)
1 week, 3 days
ago
permalink
On Thursday, August 7th, Georgian armed forces entered into the breakaway region of South Ossetia to assert Georgian governance of the region - a de facto (yet largely unrecognized) independent republic that has support from neighboring Russia. Russia responded on August 8th by sending its own military into Georgia - not only into region of South Ossetia - but also into the nearby breakaway republic of Abkhazia and deeper into Georgia itself. Many Airstrikes and ...
-
Ben said:
I think it's really interesting to see all of the tanks with Reactive Armor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactive_armour)---that's the brick-like things covering some of the tanks. It's designed to explode when hit by a projectile and redirect the charge. Good for the tank, bad for anything else around it.
Lessons Learned From A Dangerous Year (3)
share
digg
by
Barry Ritholtz (98)
on
The Big Picture (708)
1 week, 4 days
ago
permalink
In the beginning of the year, a column I wrote for Real Money discussed some lessons of the past year. It never was moved over to the free site, so here is my belated update. It is a mix of fundamental, economic, technical and even philosophical lessons that those savvy CEOs, fund managers and individual investors who were paying attention picked up in the recent turmoil. 1) Ignore market rumors: It seemed every time some ...
Oil Donations to Prez Campaigns (4)
share
digg
by
Barry Ritholtz (98)
on
The Big Picture (708)
1 week, 5 days
ago
permalink
I just discovered a cool site that tracks all of the donations between Oil companies and candidates -- Oil Change USA. All of their data is in either list form, or as below, based on relationships. Different views show Relationships, Politicians, and Oil Companies . Check out these two funky graphics as to who gave what to each Presidential Candidate: While McCain certainly has received more Oil firm donations ($971,418), Obama certainly is no stranger ...
Really Bad Call: SubPrime Doesn't Matter, Buy Bear Stearns (1)
share
digg
by
Barry Ritholtz (98)
on
The Big Picture (708)
1 week, 6 days
ago
permalink
In light of my earlier rant about PHSI, we introduce today a new and continuing series: Really, Really Bad Calls -- in research, print or TV. A few ground rules: We are not talking just a single bad call, or even a few -- but rather, a person's entire oeuvre. When a guy with a good track record gets a call wrong, we give him the benefit of the doubt, and he gets a pass. ...
300 Point Rally follow up (1)
share
digg
by
Barry Ritholtz (98)
on
The Big Picture (708)
2 weeks
ago
permalink
Wow, lots of interesting responses from yesterday's 300 Point Dow Gains? During Bear Markets ONLY. I appreciate those of you who actually do a little research, and sent in some form of analysis. Of course, as many of you pointed out, a percentage measure would be much more credible than mere numbers. I thought Rosenberg was having a little fun with it. I suspect he was pushing back against the "300 point rally? Its a ...
Mortgage Delinquencies: 2007 Even Worse Than 2006 (2)
share
digg
by
Barry Ritholtz (98)
on
The Big Picture (708)
2 weeks
ago
permalink
To all those recent bottom callers in Housing or Financials, here is yet another data point that reveals these two sectors are actually getting worse, not improving. (Why does it seem that so many posts begin that way?) Here's an excerpt from an article in tomorrow's WSJ, titled "Mortgage Delinquencies Accelerated During 2007": "Mortgages issued in the first half of 2007 are going bad at a pace that far outstrips the 2006 vintage, suggesting that ...
Suing, Threatening Analysts (1)
share
digg
by
Barry Ritholtz (98)
on
The Big Picture (708)
2 weeks, 1 day
ago
permalink
Remember this idiocy? Top US analyst hits back after death threats over Citigroup downgradeIt was exactly 9 months ago. What has that gestation period brought us? The note sent Citigroup shares down 9 per cent, to $38.62 by late morning in New York - their lowest levels in more than four years. Sentiment spread across the sector. Bank of America, the US's second-largest bank, fell $1.48 to $46.80, while Merrill Lynch was off $2.48 from ...
Total solar eclipse of 2008 - The Big Picture - Boston.com (25)
share
digg
on
The Big Picture (708)
2 weeks, 1 day
ago
permalink
On August 1st, 2008, starting in the morning, over northern Canada, observers on Earth could watch this years only total solar eclipse. While a partial eclipse could be seen over a larger area, the shadow of totality passed over Greenland, Norway and Russia, then evaporated into the night sky over China. Here you will find a collection of photographs of this eclipse, and people here on Earth, taking it all in. (18 photos total) (Also, ...
-
lindenb said:
A camel is silhouetted against the sun partly blocked by the moon during a solar eclipse in Gaotai, Gansu province August 1, 2008
