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

To: paul61 who wrote (84658)	12/16/2011 9:41:02 AM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 217575

Fitch downgrades seven leading banks: BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, BofA, Citigroup, Goldman and Sachs, Fitch left UBS’s ratings unchanged following a downgrade in October. Société Générale and Morgan Stanley escaped with their long-term debt ratings unchanged, but both suffered downgrades of their viability rating, which measures a bank’s intrinsic financial strength. Fitch downgrades seven leading banks: By Simon Mundy Fitch Ratings has cut its long-term ratings for seven major banks in Europe and the US, warning that big financial institutions “are particularly sensitive to the increased challenges the financial markets face”. BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank both had their long-term issuer default rating downgraded by one notch to A plus, while Bank of America, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs were downgraded from A plus to A. Barclays and Credit Suisse were downgraded by two notches to A, Fitch announced on Thursday evening. “Over time market conditions are likely to ease, but Fitch expects market volatility to remain above historical averages and economic growth in developed markets to remain subdued for a prolonged period. This makes many business lines in securities operations more difficult, due to lower activity and higher funding costs,” said Fitch, the smallest of the three major rating agencies. While it noted their progress in building up capital and liquidity buffers, Fitch warned that new regulation could exacerbate the banks’ difficulties by restricting their earnings potential and increasing costs. Fitch left UBS’s ratings unchanged following a downgrade in October. Société Générale and Morgan Stanley escaped with their long-term debt ratings unchanged, but both suffered downgrades of their viability rating, which measures a bank’s intrinsic financial strength. Investors took the downgrades in their stride when European markets opened on Friday. Shares in the banks affected were broadly flat, with Barclays rising 1.6 per cent to 173.15p. “I’m not sure how much notice equity markets take of credit ratings on banks at the moment – I don’t change my valuation model if there’s a rating agency downgrade,” said Bruce Packard, a banking analyst at Seymour Pierce. “The funding costs are already quite high … and there is already some anticipation of [intervention by] the European Central Bank.”

To: paul61 who wrote (84658)	12/16/2011 11:45:53 AM
From: Solon	1 Recommendation Respond to of 217575

I think Maurice deserved his 13 recs. You may disagree. That does not indicate any partiality on my part. But your post did puzzle me. It just seemed gratuitous. And I don't restrict my appreciation of views to a select few...and this is not a criticism. It is an honest observation and an expression of affect. Perhaps I simply did not properly interpret your interjection? It did not feel right and I confess that I am responding mainly to that component. I could not seem to relate your response to what was actually said. It was as though you were defending people instead of ideas... Outside of one sentence everything seemed to be a defense of persons... I like your reference to boots on the ground view, however. But I AM on the internet. I like to qualify the things I hear from total strangers before I put either of them (strangers or ideas) on pedestals. Do you know whose boots are on the ground in any particular field relevant to these latter posts?? And please do not bother telling me that mine are not--because you may know some people, but you do not know me! ...Said with a friendly smile! I confess I have a prejudice. I wish that ideas rather than people were always the issue. But it seems that on SI some people do not care too much about ideas but more about clicking a "REC" button and defending somebody they like? Well, shouldn't it be about liking ideas and being able to kick your very supporter in the internet face? This is an opportunity for people to get out of that who knows who game and to use ideas and facts and reality to make the world better. WHAT AN OPPORTUNITY TO CHANGE THE WORLD AND TO ENCOURAGE DECENCY AND REASON TO JOINTLY PREVAIL FOR A BETTER WORLD! But every day is a day closer to death. Hopefully we can all separate out who to hate and who to tolerate and who to enjoy and LOVE before we die. But right now I have a poker tournament commencing. Win or lose it will be a good day because everyone there is WORTHY!!

To: paul61 who wrote (84658)	12/16/2011 3:45:57 PM
From: Maurice Winn	1 Recommendation Respond to of 217575

1 billion is nothing. We have done 10 billion in only 100 years. < Can anyone imagine raising One Billion plus People out of Poverty?? > And the next 10 billion are inheriting the vast assets we have produced over that 100 years. So they will be even more wealthy than we are. It's the most amazing era in biological history, since the invention of DNA. And it's the end of an era because the era now starting is extra-somatic sentience, albeit for now integrated with the chimpoids who initiated it. China is still in relative poverty. It's hopeless how long it has taken them to figure out how to create wealth and they are still way off track. They are working for low pay for the actual wealth creators. That's not the way to create wealth, but it does help and I have done more than my share of that. Mqurice