Here’s a story about a bank that failed, got rescued, was resuscitated, and made its private equity investors more than 100% on their money, all the while costing the FDIC around $5.9 billion.
Let’s address two tragedies today.
The first is how Jamie Dimon & Co. and all the guilty big banks get away with murder.
The second is something I want to share with you because 50 years ago today, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated. It isn’t a conspiracy theory about who did it, but a likely theory about what happened and the conspiracy to cover that up.
Be careful out there.
The stock market rally that started in March 2009… The one that’s taken us out of the Great Recession and to new highs… The rally that’s driving sentiment indicators of people who benefit from rising financial assets directly, peripherally, or because they hope all boats rise with the market…
Nothing goes up forever. Not the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet, not global debt levels, and not stock markets… even when governments don’t shut down.
Are you FERC-ing kidding me? That’s “FERC,” as in Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. And they FERC-ing rock! The ostensibly obscure regulator of electricity transmission lines, natural-gas pipelines, and electricity and power trading just shocked some dirty banks into coming clean about their manipulation of the nation’s electricity markets. Electricity markets? Who knew? You may remember […]
It’s the old saw that Washington seems to have down to an art: The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
You want to know why the entire global financial system almost collapsed in 2008?
There seems to be a simple answer. Not encouraging, but simple: The European Commission is exploring the possibility that there was a conspiracy among 13 of the world’s major banks that colluded to keep the entire house of cards a secret.
Strap on your seat belts…and get ready for a ride…a very bumpy ride.
After having assumed US equities would keep chugging higher with little deviation from “up,” things are starting to look a bit different.
There’s going to be a lot of very heavy betting over the next few days, weeks, and months on what’s going up, what’s going down, and what’s going around:
- How far will Facebook IPO price go?
- How far DOWN from here will JPMorgan go, with the FBI and DOJ now sniffing around?
- How far AROUND the globe will the fallout be if Greece loses its game of chicken?
If you don’t have the stomach for what’s going to feel like an out-of-control rollercoaster ride, sideline yourself.
If, on the other hand, you like a lot of action, welcome to Mayhem – the preamble month to what will likely be the Summer of Some Discontent.
That is, unless you like rapid-fire trading.
Which, by the way, is not just fun, but can be very, very profitable. I’m in, and so are the subscribers to my Capital Wave Forecast. We’re gearing up for some heavy betting in the weeks and months ahead.
So, what’s front and center today? You know. The big three headlines: Facebook, JPMorgan Chase, and Greece. Are you sick of hearing about them? I’m not. I like trading the headlines.
Here’s my “heads-up” on the big three headlines.
And the strong to seem to get more
While the weak ones slave
Empty pockets don’t ever make the grade
Mama may have, and Papa may have
But God bless the child that’s got his own
That’s got his own.”
We can thank the late, great Billie Holiday for those lyrics. And we can thank our higher education system for giving “the child that don’t his own”a chance to get some.
Some debt, that is.
Students, many of them adults looking to gain new skills, are being systematically ripped off and enslaved by schools and lenders, blinding them with hope about what a higher education can do for them while bilking them for billions in the process.
It’s a dirty game, and a big one at that. You probably know, because you probably owe.
But wait.
First, let me offer some insights on the market before I get to my indictments…
Why the Doom and Gloom?
So far, so good…as far as earnings season, that is. Three quarters of companies reporting, so far, have beaten Street expectations. And 81% have offered up better than expected revenue forecasts for the future.
So… why all the doom and gloom?
