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Strategies & Market Trends : John Pitera's Market Laboratory -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: robert b furman who wrote (7245)	10/27/2005 12:39:28 AM
From: Louis V. Lambrecht	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 33421

The winner could as well be Greenspan as he has been trying for year to pass the netting law for futures.

To: robert b furman who wrote (7245)	10/27/2005 11:09:37 AM
From: John Pitera	Respond to of 33421

Hi Bob, The Refco story is not over.... we are seeing very bearish developments in the 10 year note trading. And GM is becoming increasingly interesting in terms of their pension liablities and exposures. Of course as we see corporate bond downgrades and then defaults it will stress the rapidly burgeoning credit default derivatives Market we also have the potential that the finite loss insurance are understating Corporate Debt obligations something akin to the way Enron reduced their stated debt through off balance sheet vehicles. John some GM news on Subpoenas........ ------------------------ General Motors Corp. said it received subpoenas from the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding its pension practices, retiree benefits and certain transactions between the auto maker and former parts unit Delphi Corp. The world's largest auto maker by production also said its finance unit received subpoenas from the SEC and a federal grand jury in connection with a probe of insurance-industry practices regarding insurance policies known as finite-risk insurance. "We're just cooperating with the SEC at this point," said GM spokeswoman Toni Simonetti, adding the SEC hasn't given the company a timeline for when the investigation would be completed. She added: "This is an investigation, not an accusation. We have not been accused of any wrongdoing." The subpoenas, which indicate that the SEC has upgraded an informal probe of GM's practices to a formal investigation, comes as GM grapples with declining market share, intense competition, high gasoline prices and efforts to squeeze health-care concessions from its unionized work force. Word of the subpoenas follows a disclosure Tuesday by DaimlerChrysler AG that it had received a subpoena from the SEC in September related to GM. (See related article.) GM said the subpoenas include recovery of costs related to product recalls from suppliers, as well as price reductions or credits it received from suppliers. The subpoenas also cover any obligation GM may have to fund pension and other employee retirement benefits in connection with Delphi's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing earlier this month. Though GM and Delphi became separate companies in 1999, GM remains liable for some Delphi retirement obligations. Ms. Simonetti declined to disclose further details about the subpoenas. Delphi couldn't be reached for comment. GM also said that SEC and federal grand-jury subpoenas have been served on entities within its General Motors Acceptance Corp. finance unit in connection with an investigation into insurance-industry practices related to loss-mitigation insurance products such as finite-risk insurance. Ms. Simonetti said the subpoenas are part of a previously disclosed investigation that involves a number of other insurance companies. Authorities believe that at least some finite-risk transactions, also called financial insurance and reinsurance policies, actually function as loans, with the insurer taking little or none of the risk of loss that is required for true insurance. Authorities are investigating whether some insurers use the policies to burnish their financial statements. GMAC is both a buyer and a seller of reinsurance, Ms. Simonetti said. She declined to comment further on the GMAC subpoenas. online.wsj.com