Implode-Explode Heavy Industries news feed

Swiss Franc Wiped Out Everest's Main Fund

Tue, 20 Jan 2015 14:02:48 GMT

``Marko Dimitrijevic, the hedge fund manager who survived at least five emerging market debt crises, is closing his largest hedge fund after losing virtually all its money this week when the Swiss National Bank unexpectedly let the franc trade freely against the euro, according to a person familiar with the firm. Everest Capital's Global Fund had about $830 million in assets as of the end of December, according to a client report.''

Ukraine's electricity crisis deepens as a plan to import South African coal collapses

Sun, 07 Dec 2014 14:20:50 GMT

``Ukraine's fuel crisis has deepened after a deal to buy South African coal collapsed. The head of a Ukrainian state energy firm has been arrested on suspicion of embezzlement in relation to the deal.''

U.S. housing starts fall 2.8% in October

Wed, 19 Nov 2014 17:23:44 GMT

``Construction started on new U.S. homes fell 2.8% in October, led down by volatile apartment building, according to government data released Wednesday. The annual rate of total housing starts declined to 1.01 million last month from 1.04 million in September, the U.S. Commerce Department reported. The October starts rate in buildings with at least five units dropped 15.5%. Meanwhile, construction starts for single-family homes rose 4.2% to hit the highest pace since November 2013. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected an overall October starts rate of 1.03 million, compared with an originally estimated pace of 1.02 million in September''

Russia May Go For Its Own Space Station, Walk From ISS

Tue, 18 Nov 2014 16:04:41 GMT

``The Russian space agency is reportedly considering construction of a high-altitude orbital station starting from 2017. This means that Moscow may walk away from the ISS after 2020, when its obligations under the current project are fulfilled.'' -- Seems much more in Russia's interest to have a station orbiting over its own territory and the arctic, actually...

BofA Reportedly Cutting Back 1000 Jobs in Mtg Fulfillment; Adding To Loss Mit

Fri, 10 Oct 2014 02:02:37 GMT

This just in from a reader:

BOA just shut down all fulfillment jobs (over 1000) in Jacksonville FL site and announced a majority of us will be converted to loss mit. As a DE underwriter, I am patiently waiting to see if they pay my salary to be a Hamp Underwriter. This shows the economy is sucking, Hamp was ended 2 years ago, and now it is panic mode at Bank of America.

The economy is still in the toilet, you say? We are shocked... SHOCKED...

Doug Noland: What We Know

Sat, 27 Sep 2014 13:56:47 GMT

``Heightened global market instability has began to be transmitted to U.S. securities markets... We can safely assume that the $10bn of uncovered fraud in the commodities financing area is the tip of the iceberg. I feel comfortable with my assumption that the financial world has never seen fraud and malfeasance to the extent that has manifested throughout China over the past decade, particularly during the post-crisis stimulus fiasco.''

Welcome to the Everything Boom, or Maybe the Everything Bubble

Wed, 09 Jul 2014 14:17:25 GMT

Welcome to the Everything Boom -- and, quite possibly, the Everything Bubble. Around the world, nearly every asset class is expensive by historical standards. Stocks and bonds; emerging markets and advanced economies; urban office towers and Iowa farmland; you name it, and it is trading at prices that are high by historical standards relative to fundamentals. The inverse of that is relatively low returns for investors.
...
Prefer a more solid asset? The price of office and apartment building has risen similarly; office space in central business districts nationwide costs $300 per square foot on average, up from $147 in early 2010, according to Real Capital Analytics. In Manhattan, an investor in an office building can expect rent payments after expenses to add up to only a 4.4 percent return, known as the capitalization rate, lower than even in 2007, the top of the last boom.

New Year's Eve Gold Rush At Shanghai Shopping Mall

Wed, 01 Jan 2014 18:36:51 GMT

``Total sales at the shopping mall were 578 million RMB, a little less than 100 million dollars. 200 kilos of gold bars is already 10% of the total. So 200 kilos of gold bars and gold jewelry and diamond, and luxury watch sales make up a big percentage of total sales. This is just one shopping mall in a city of 30 million people. And Shanghai is just one city in a country of 1.4 billion people. ''

Electrical Workers #527 Federal Credit Union Closes

Sat, 25 May 2013 10:04:41 GMT

``Electrical Workers #527 Federal Credit Union served 527 members and had assets of $622,857, according to the credit union's most recent Call Report. Chartered in 1963, Electrical Workers #527 Federal Credit Union served a number of select groups centered primarily on electrical workers in the Texas City area.'' -- micro-implode...

FDIC Sues Management of Failed Florida Bank for $48M

Sat, 18 May 2013 02:55:14 GMT

``The defendants are nine former executives and directors of Peninsula, including its former chairman and chief executive, Simon Portnoy, and its president and executive vice president of commercial real estate lending, Richard Solano, along with the estate of a deceased former director.''

A Disappointing Debut at the S.E.C.

Tue, 07 May 2013 04:43:18 GMT

``The S.E.C. proposal would let the foreign branches of American banks avoid rules being developed under the Dodd-Frank financial reform law and instead follow rules that prevail in the foreign countries where the deals are done. Foreign banks involved in derivative deals with American companies also could adhere to their own country's rules as long as those rules are deemed broadly comparable to Dodd-Frank rules. ''

FDIC Hits Six Banks with Enforcement Actions

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 04:29:28 GMT

``The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took enforcement actions against six banks last month that tied to their capital, compliance and financial condition, according to a series of orders released Friday.''

The Best Way to Save Banking Is to Kill It

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 14:27:24 GMT

``A genuinely radical approach would be to kill banking as we know it. Rip all banks, large or small, in two -- separate deposit-taking from credit-creation. Back the deposits one-for-one with reserves at the central bank. Then fund loans not with deposits or other money-like liabilities but by tapping investors who understand they've put their savings at risk.''

Callaway: Cyprus omen for U.S. stock rally

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 14:26:36 GMT

``While Cyprus may be puny -- even smaller than Greece -- in terms of its significance to global markets, its turmoil is symptomatic of a European financial system careening from crisis to crisis without end.''

Imploded: I.C.E. FCU of Inglewood, Califorina

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 23:44:40 GMT

The National Credit Union Administration, closed tiny I.C.E. FCU of Inglewood, Califorina, making it the third federally insured credit union liquidation in 2013. The ailing credit union had assets of $3.4 million. Read our full coverage here.

Debt-Ridden Car Salesman Turned Congressman Lectures About Importance Of Balanced Budget

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 19:16:14 GMT

Car salesman turned congressman, Rep. Roger Williams (R-TX) whose car dealership has at least $2.5 million in debts insisted that companies and individuals must balance their budgets "every single day."

Gold Bears, Beware! Don't Take On Central Banks

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 13:02:16 GMT

``"When you see central bankers acquiring gold, you can kind of take it like this: You don't fight in the stock markets when the Fed (U.S. Federal Reserve) is easing, so you wouldn't want to fight the central banks when they're buying gold, because they have deep pockets," Philip Silverman, managing director at Kingsview Management in New York told CNBC on Thursday.''

New Stream Hedge Fund Executives Charged with Criminal Fraud

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 16:10:41 GMT

Today at 1pm in Hartford, Conn. federal court executives of Ridgefield-based hedge fund New Stream Capital were indicted on 19 counts of conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud. Tom Carson, DOJ pressman, confirmed the arrest of David Bryson and his co-founder Bart Gutekunst along with his CFO Richard Pereira last week. The case has been unsealed today. I first reported in 2009 the hedge fund was being investigated for investor fraud by the FBI at Hedge Fund Implode and continued to report on the fund's bankruptcy and investor lawsuits for DealFlow Media and Forbes over the last two years.

Imploded: Amez United Credit Union of Detroit, Michigan

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 00:34:27 GMT

Amez United Credit Union of Detroit, Michigan, was been shut down by the Michigan Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation today and it's carcass was fed to the National Credit Union Association as receiver. The tiny credit union served about 160 members and had $168,000 in assets. Read our full coverage here.

Imploded: Covenant Bank, Chicago, Illinois

Sat, 16 Feb 2013 13:45:20 GMT

Covenant Bank, Chicago, Illinois, is the 3rd FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation in 2013. The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $21.8 million. Read our full coverage here.