Implode-Explode Heavy Industries news feed

Jury Convicts Leaders of RMBS Defraud Scheme | Mortgage News | Daily National and State Headlines

Mon, 10 Mar 2014 21:55:55 GMT

``According to the evidence introduced during the three-week trial, in response to the 2008 financial collapse, the U.S. Department of Treasury introduced the Legacy Securities Public-Private Investment Program (PPIP) and used more than $22 billion of bailout money from TARP to restart the trading markets for many troubled securities, including certain kinds of RMBS. The program created nine PPIP funds, and more than 100 firms applied to manage the funds. TARP infused between $1.4 billion and $3.7 billion of bailout money into each of the PPIP funds that was to be invested alongside private capital.''

World stocks, copper and oil hit by weak China exports

Mon, 10 Mar 2014 16:57:48 GMT

``China's exports unexpectedly tumbled in February, falling 18.1 percent from a year earlier and swinging the trade balance into deficit. The data underscored recent concerns about the outlook for China's economy, even though the Lunar New Year holidays were blamed for the slide.''

Euro Anxieties Wane as Bunds Top Treasuries, Spain Debt Rallies

Mon, 10 Mar 2014 16:56:42 GMT

``While the decline in European yields relative to those in the U.S. points to investor faith in Draghi's pledge to backstop the bond markets, it also reflects concern the region will need more support to recover from the sovereign debt crisis. Economists predict the euro-area will expand 1.1 percent this year, compared with 2.9 percent growth in the U.S., boosting the case for the ECB to keep down borrowing costs as the Fed moves closer to ending stimulus and raising interest rates.''

Carney Faces Grilling as Currency Scandal Snares BOE

Mon, 10 Mar 2014 16:48:18 GMT

``Bank of England Governor Mark Carney will face his toughest public testimony to date as he seeks to defend the integrity of an institution that's become embroiled in the currency-manipulation scandal.''

Doug Noland - Flowing Funds Fund Geopolitical Strife

Sat, 08 Mar 2014 16:04:20 GMT

``I don't believe the ongoing melt-up in U.S. stocks and the rapidly deteriorating geopolitical backdrop are coincidental. Again, from my analytical framework, both are creatures of historic monetary inflation. Serious (faltering Bubble) stress at the "periphery" now dictates erratic behavior many would view (from the old world view) as irrational. Meanwhile, liquidity flooding into the "core" feeds a historic speculative Bubble''

The Mainstream Grapples with the Last Manipulated Asset Class

Sat, 08 Mar 2014 15:57:20 GMT

``it seems a bit irresponsible to have ignored the vast archives created by the Gold Antitrust Action Committee (GATA) or the constant commentary from its officers who ask the questions for them. Certainly, they Google "Ted Butler" and read one article from 20 years ago outlining the mechanism that is alive and well today, as this is typed and read. Even better, they could call them up or send them email for comment.''

China's Road To Secret Gold Accumulation (exclusive translation)

Sat, 08 Mar 2014 15:55:50 GMT

``Synopsis: China may gradually acquire gold on the international gold market through non-central bank financial entities, the newly acquired gold shipped back to China to be converted into central bank gold reserves. Credit in various forms including gold reserves will support China's Renminbi and its internationalization.''

Banks bear brunt of gold-fix blame (SA)

Sat, 08 Mar 2014 15:54:02 GMT

``Evidence emerging in the United Kingdom about the possible manipulation of the gold price for a decade could have major implications for South African investors and mining companies who might be able to sue for damages in terms of South African law.''

BOE Heard Traders' Currency-Rigging Concerns Years Ago

Wed, 05 Mar 2014 22:37:39 GMT

``Bank of England officials knew of concerns the foreign-exchange market was being manipulated as early as July 2006, more than seven years before regulators opened formal probes into alleged rate-rigging... The notes raise questions about whether the BOE could have done more to stop practices at the heart of investigations by authorities around the world of allegations traders colluded to rig rates.''

Bruce Berkowitz's Bogus Bombast | David Stockman

Wed, 05 Mar 2014 18:56:59 GMT

``... now comes the patented crony capitalist rush. The worthless Freddie and Fannie preferreds have lately erupted from $0.25 per share to $12, meaning that some speculators have already garnered a paper return of 48X. And why did this revival miracle transpire? Quite simply because Berkowitz's Fairholme Capital and his posse of punters---John Paulson, Perry Capital and Pershing Square, among others--have taken turns bidding up the paper. Meanwhile, their deplorable plan to do the American people a favor and swap these bogus securities for those of a new tax-payer underwritten, mortgage guarantee stamping machine, has but one objective--that is, to put a statutory floor under the current $12 per share price and enable them to dicker with Capitol Hill staffs for an ultimate take-out at par($25) under the guise of "privatization". ''

Supreme Court: No More Avoiding Whistleblower Lawsuits With Artful Subcontracting

Wed, 05 Mar 2014 18:50:36 GMT

The court ruled that two whistleblowers were legally protected against retaliation after they raised concerns to their employer, FMR LLC, the parent company of Fidelity Investments, about how some mutual funds were being managed. While Fidelity's mutual funds are public companies and are required to file reports with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, management services are provided by private companies under contract with the funds, including Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC.
The case, which will now return to lower courts for further litigation, concerns claims made by former employees Jackie Lawson and Jonathan Zang, both of the Boston area. Both said they were retaliated against after highlighting what they believed to be improper company practices.

A Standoff of Lawyers Veils Madoff's Ties to JPMorgan Chase

Wed, 05 Mar 2014 16:33:22 GMT

That dispute, which positioned JPMorgan against the government and ultimately one government agency against another, traced to the point after Mr. Madoff's arrest in December 2008. Around that time, JPMorgan's lawyers interviewed dozens of bank employees who potentially crossed paths with Mr. Madoff's company.
Federal regulators at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency sought copies of the lawyers' interview notes, the government document and other records show, hoping they would open a window into the bank's actions. The issue gained urgency in 2012, according to the records, when the comptroller's office conducted its own interviews with JPMorgan employees and discovered a "pattern of forgetfulness."

China Banks Show Too-Connected-to-Fail Link to Loans

Wed, 05 Mar 2014 16:21:23 GMT

``Banks have more than their reputations on the line. They have channeled their own capital as well as clients' money through trusts to risky borrowers they're normally prohibited from lending to, such as coal mines and property developers, according to the Trustee Association... Banks had an estimated 6.6 trillion yuan of off-balance-sheet loans channeled mostly through trusts to risky corporate and local-government borrowers, according to Mike Werner, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. That figure is equal to more than 80 percent of banks' shareholder capital and has increased 65 percent annually for the past three years, Werner wrote in a Jan. 22 note.''

Barclays, Deutsche Bank Accused of Gold Fix Manipulation: Lawsuit

Wed, 05 Mar 2014 16:17:25 GMT

``Barclays Plc, Deutsche Bank AG and three other banks were accused in a lawsuit of manipulating the London gold fix, a benchmark used throughout the $20 trillion market for the metal. Kevin Maher, a New York resident who says he bought and sold gold and gold futures and options, sued yesterday in Manhattan federal court claiming the five banks overseeing the century-old benchmark colluded to manipulate it.'' -- It was only a short matter of time.

Spring fails in Ukrainian plunderland - Pepe Escobar

Wed, 05 Mar 2014 16:04:55 GMT

If a wide-ranging poll were to be conducted today, it would reveal that the majority of Ukrainians don't want to be part of the EU - as much as the majority of Europeans don't want the Ukraine in the EU. What's left for millions of Ukrainians is the bloodsucking IMF, to be duly welcomed by "Yats" (as Prime Minister Yatsenyuk is treated by Vic "F**k the EU" Nuland).
...
The endgame is all but written; Moscow controls an autonomous Crimea for free, and the US/EU "control", or try to plunder, disaster capitalism-style, a back of beyond western Ukraine wasteland "managed" by a bunch of Western puppets and oligarchs, with a smatter of neo-nazis.

Gold in 2013: the foundation for 2014 - Alasdair MacLeod

Wed, 05 Mar 2014 00:26:29 GMT

``In 2014 there is likely to be a growing realisation that the vaults in the West are very low on [gold] stock.''

Did Derivatives Cause PIMCO's $2 Trillion Divorce?

Tue, 04 Mar 2014 16:15:24 GMT

``The WSJ highlighted a very stressful moment last June on PIMCO's trading floor,when Mohamed El-Erian "squared off in front of more than a dozen colleagues amid disagreements about Mr. Gross's conduct." Gross snarled he had a 41-year track record and challenged El-Erian contribution to PIMCO. El-Erian snapped back, "I'm tired of cleaning up your s--." ... At the time of the incident, the bond market was under selling pressure and PIMCO losses were causing clients to yank billions of dollars from the firm. Very few of clients have any clue regarding the massive amount of derivative risk PIMCO takes with their money''

Putin Advisor Threatens With Dumping US Treasurys, Abandoning Dollar If US Proceeds With Sanctions

Tue, 04 Mar 2014 16:11:21 GMT

``... his advice is that "authorities should dump US government bonds in the event of Russian companies and individuals being targeted by sanctions over events in Ukraine." Glazyev said the United States would be the first to suffer in the event of any sanctions regime.''

Publicity about market manipulation will hasten gold's rise - Sprott

Sat, 01 Mar 2014 15:51:09 GMT

``On the weekly market review program at Sprott Money News, Sprott Asset Management CEO Eric Sprott says the increasing publicity about gold market manipulation likely will make gold price suppression harder for central banks and their agents---and hasten a freer market in gold and a much higher price.''

Wall Street Hates JPMorgan Fee for $1 Trillion Junk Loans

Sat, 01 Mar 2014 15:49:15 GMT

``On Wall Street, $3,500 goes further than anyone dared imagine in the 1980s when the predecessor to JPMorgan Chase & Co. charged the fee to trade each non-investment grade loan it sold. That surcharge remains the same today and helps the biggest U.S. bank dominate the secretive $1.1 trillion junk-loan market while stifling profits for investors and rivals...''