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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (10176)	12/9/2002 12:25:09 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Shares in Citigroup, J.P. Morgan Slide Monday December 9, 11:12 am ET NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Inc. (NYSE:JPM - News) and Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C - News) fell on Monday amid fresh reports of congressional probes into whether they helped bankrupt energy trader Enron Corp. (Other OTC:ENRNQ.PK - News) hide debt. The U.S. banks also are part of a group of lenders providing bankrupt United Airlines, owned by UAL Corp. (NYSE:UAL - News), $1.5 billion in debtor-in-possession financing, possibly pressuring their stock prices, an analyst said. "It's UAL and Enron today, though probably the majority of it (the stocks' decline) is Enron," said Andrew Collins, an analyst at U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray. J.P. Morgan shares fell 3.2 percent, or 78 cents, to $23.65 and Citigroup shares lost 2.7 percent, or $1.03, to $36.53 on Monday morning on the New York Stock Exchange. Senate investigators said Citigroup's deals for Enron, as well as previously reported transactions by J.P. Morgan, show the banks aggressively helped Enron hide the shaky nature of its books right before its collapse, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal reported. The U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations already grilled J.P. Morgan and Citigroup this summer over their Enron ties, accusing the banks of helping Enron hide debt and also entering into Enron-style prepay financing deals with at least 10 other unidentified companies. Citigroup said in statement on Monday transactions it set up for Enron were legal, though it would not have approved them today. "Citigroup welcomes the opportunity to resume a discussion of the issues the Subcommittee raised on July 23rd," Citigroup spokesman Dan Noonan said in a statement. "Today, Citigroup would not approve the transactions that have been under review, even though they were legal and complied with prevailing standards." A J.P. Morgan spokeswoman on Sunday also defended other deals that bank arranged for Enron as legal. "The structure was reviewed with two Canadian law firms and found to be legal and appropriate under Canadian law," J.P. Morgan spokesman Kristin Lemkau told Reuters. J.P. Morgan set up a deal called Slapshot, using entities in Nova Scotia, Quebec and the United States, to reduce Enron's tax obligation in Canada, where it owned a paper mill, the New York Times reported this weekend.

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (10176)	12/9/2002 12:44:29 PM
From: t2	Respond to of 89467

"At the moment, the dollar uptrend is still intact, so the Fed's dangerous game still continues. Until the 104 dollar is breached, stocks and bonds can continue to rally. When it is breached they will fall simultaenously. It will be a double whammy for these assets, because not only will their prices fall in dollar terms -- as foreigners exit -- the dollar itself will be falling. In short, dollars and dollar denominated assets are overowned by the rest of the world. Once the reversal comes there will be no stopping its downward momentum in my opinion." -RICH SPOHR, Swiss America broker, 11/27/02 More evidence that the dollar is a bubble..just look at the Japanese efforts to try and weaken the YEN. Why are they unsuccessful? The dollar is just way overowned. Do you recall a few years ago when they were easily able to take Yen from 140ish to 105 in a matter of days? Why is the same type of tactic not working in the opposite direction? They are afraid to add even more dollars.....BUBBLE! All that region overowns dollar, afraid a late 1990s type of currency crisis...but they did not anticipate the reverse situation.