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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: TobagoJack who wrote (31333)3/19/2008 1:38:32 AM
From: Cogito Ergo Sum  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 218163
 
I do find it fascinating that the US Transportation Index is up over 2% for the year, in spite of much higher fuel costs for these companies.. (Trucking at any rate)

Transport companies pass Fuel surcharge directly to users... so not automatically far fetched... Yes that's the Oliveman perspective LOL

from point of view of 'where is the business coming from' Don't know ... maybe it's not..



To: TobagoJack who wrote (31333)3/19/2008 5:29:40 AM
From: carranza2  Respond to of 218163
 
Transports, the Russell bugaboo.

I think increased US exports answers the question. Enough to support the Dow and Russell's theory.



To: TobagoJack who wrote (31333)3/19/2008 7:49:29 AM
From: carranza2  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 218163
 
cnbc.com



To: TobagoJack who wrote (31333)3/19/2008 4:26:10 PM
From: Elroy Jetson  Respond to of 218163
 
Bath Building Society and Earl Shilton Building Society have withdrawn all of their home loans, except their standard variable rates, with Bath saying it had simply run out of money to lend.

channel4.com

Meanwhile Newbury, Melton Mowbray and Tipton & Coseley Building Societies have restricted lending to people in their local areas, while Tipton has also pulled out of the intermediary market.

A Bath Building Society spokesman said: "We need to keep our liquidity high. Wholesale money is difficult to get and we have come to a standstill at the moment.

"We are hoping it will just be for a month, but we have taken on so much (new business) we have just run out of money to lend at the moment."

Chris Martin, of Tipton & Coseley Building Society, said it had decided to restrict lending to people in the local area after being inundated with business.

The group, which has recently featured in best buy tables, is one of a decreasing number of lenders still prepared to advance 95% of a property's value to first-time buyers.

The moves come as other lenders continue to raise their rates and increase the deposits they demand from borrowers, with deals being pulled on a daily basis.

The credit crunch is continuing to ratchet up the pressure on lenders who are struggling to secure funding after wholesale money markets effectively dried up.

A move by the Bank of England to improve liquidity by pumping £5 billion into the market appears to have done little to ease the pressure, with the cash five times oversubscribed.



To: TobagoJack who wrote (31333)3/19/2008 7:44:16 PM
From: Elroy Jetson  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 218163
 
Malicious traders in the City try to topple the Halifax bank

Times (London) -- Christine Seib -- March 20, 2008
business.timesonline.co.uk

Stock market manipulators yesterday tried to bring down one of Britain’s biggest banks by spreading false rumours through the City.

The Bank of England was forced to issue an unprecedented denial that HBOS was about to become a second Northern Rock.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) said that it would pursue traders guilty of “market abuse” by spreading untrue claims that banks were on the brink of collapse.

The authorities believe that the fear and uncertainty in financial markets are allowing unscrupulous traders to make multimillion-pound profits by whipping up hysteria about the stability of big banks.

Yesterday’s drama began at about 8.30am when rumours started spreading through London’s stock market that HBOS, which owns Halifax, the UK’s biggest mortgage lender, and Bank of Scotland, had begged the Bank of England for a multi-billion-pound emergency loan. Within 20 minutes HBOS’s shares had plunged by more than 17 per cent as investors dumped their stakes. An hour later, the Bank of England announced that no bank needed emergency funding, while the FSA issued a statement warning investors to stop spreading false accusations.

It is feared that short-sellers — investors who use falling share prices to make money — were deliberately spooking the market in order to profit from plunging stocks in a practice called trash ’n’ cash.

Rumours that the American investment bank Bear Stearns was short of cash contributed to its near-collapse last week after its lenders were scared into demanding that it repay them immediately.

The warning to speculators came as it emerged that the American financial watchdog was investigating similar activity in the trading of shares of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, another US investment bank heavily exposed to risky American mortgage business.

Andy Hornby, the HBOS chief executive, vehemently denied that the bank needed an emergency loan. He said: “It’s categorically untrue that we’ve approached any central bank for funding.”

Sally Dewar, the FSA’s managing director of wholesale markets, said that a series of “completely unfounded rumours about UK financial institutions in the London market” had been spread over the past few days, usually accompanied by short-selling of the banks’ stocks.

The FSA can listen to office telephone calls and investigate suspicious transactions but has never brought a trash ’n’ cash prosecution.HBOS shares closed 7 per cent down at 446.25p.
.



To: TobagoJack who wrote (31333)3/19/2008 7:53:34 PM
From: Moominoid  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 218163
 

As for the Armstrong "cycle turn," I'm guessing that it is not for a stock market this time. Perhaps it is for the US dollar? For if a European Bank is really going bust, the Euro would probably get absolutely trashed, helping the US dollar for the medium term.....


That then becomes a non-falsifiable hypothesis. My bet is that the rumors that UBS or HBOS is going under marks the bottom. But as always we will have to see.



To: TobagoJack who wrote (31333)3/20/2008 8:08:07 AM
From: Dr. Voodoo  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 218163
 
biz.yahoo.com

Securities Drag Credit Suisse 2007
Thursday March 20, 6:57 am ET
Credit Suisse Slashes 2007 Figures, Cuts Forecast After Internal Probe Into Securities

ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) -- Credit Suisse Group on Thursday slashed previously released 2007 profit figures because of an internal investigation into securities valuations and said it doesn't expect to post a profit for the first quarter.


Credit Suisse said it has determined that the pricing errors "were, in part, the result of intentional misconduct by a small number of traders.

The bank, Switzerland's second largest, said it revised its fourth-quarter net profit downward to 540 million Swiss francs ($541 million) from the previously stated 1.33 billion francs.

The full-year net profit figure now forecast is 7.76 billion francs ($7.8 billion), down from the previously stated 8.5 billion francs.

"With regard to 2008, including these valuation reductions, Credit Suisse was profitable through the end of February," a company statement said. "However, in light of the difficult market conditions in March, at this time, Credit Suisse believes it is unlikely to be profitable in the first quarter."

The bank, which has been profitable despite the subprime crisis, said it has put into place controls to prevent future problems.

"These employees have been terminated or have been suspended and are in the process of being disciplined under local employment law. The review also found that the controls put in place to prevent or detect this activity were not effective."

Chief Executive Brady Dougan called the incident "unacceptable" and said the bank's overall controls remain sound.

"Credit Suisse continues to be well positioned through the challenging and volatile markets that have existed since the middle of 2007," Dougan said. "We are one of the world's best capitalized banks, and our funding is conservative."

Credit Suisse shares fell 8.8 percent to 47.20 francs ($47.3) in Zurich.