Forex: GBP/USD rises to 1.6165 after falling below 1.6100 (The Forex Market)

FXstreet.com (Córdoba) – The Pound is recovering at a slow pace against the Dollar. GBP/USD is now back above 1.6150 after falling below 1.6100 to 1.6093 reaching a fresh 3-week low. Despite the recent recovery, the pair is still down more than 0.75% from today’s opening price.  Read More →

European Central Bank Keeps Interest Rate at 1 Percent

The European Central Bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 1 percent as it waits to see whether a massive infusion of credit into the banking system will help the euro zone’s struggling economy. Markets and analysts will be looking to Thursday’s remarks by bank President Jean-Claude Trichet about the ECB’s $623 billion in 12-month... Read more...

N.Y. Fed’s Chief Backs Preemptive Crisis Moves

The Federal Reserve should break with past policy and try to identify and deflate asset bubbles before they can damage the U.S. economy, New York Federal Reserve President William C. Dudley said. While interest-rate policy may not be the appropriate tool for popping bubbles, Fed officials have “other instruments in their toolbox,” Dudley... Read more...

Israel Cabinet Approves Law to Reform Central Bank

Israel’s cabinet approved a draft of a law on Sunday that would overhaul monetary policy and other decision-making by the Bank of Israel, the finance ministry said. The law was submitted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz. It has been in the works since Netanyahu was prime minister the first time, in the 1990s,... Read more...

Sri Lanka’s Need for IMF Wanes: Central Bank

Sri Lanka’s central bank chief said Saturday that the island could live without a major IMF bailout that had been delayed by the final stages of the government’s fight with Tamil Tiger rebels. The government had requested the 1.9-billion-dollar loan in March to help stave off its first balance of payments deficit in four years after foreign... Read more...

Yuan Use to Increase

THE PHILIPPINES may be next in a growing number of countries that have lessened their use of the US dollar, which has lost its luster as the world’s most reliable currency, the central bank said. While it may not replace the US dollar, the Chinese yuan may soon share prominence on the global stage as more countries diversify their currency holdings... Read more...

Russia and India Question Reliance on Dollar Before G-8 Summit

Russia and India said the world economy is too reliant on the U.S. dollar and called for changes in how $6.5 trillion in currency reserves are managed, as Group of Eight leaders prepare to meet this week. “The dollar system or the system based on the dollar and euro have shown that they are flawed,” Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview... Read more...

Saudis Would Ignore Israeli Jets En Route to Iran: Report

Saudi Arabia would turn a blind eye to Israeli warplanes flying over the kingdom in any raid on Iran’s nuclear sites, The Sunday Times said in a report denied by Israel. Citing diplomatic sources, it said the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service had assured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Saudi Arabia has tacitly agreed... Read more...

Biden: US will not stand in Israel’s way on Iran

Vice President Joe Biden says the U.S. will not stand in Israel’s way if Israel believes military action is needed to eliminate Iran’s nuclear threat. Biden says the U.S. “cannot dictate to another sovereign nation what they can and cannot do.” Read more…  Read More →

The Great American Bubble Machine

In Rolling Stone Issue 1082-83, Matt Taibbi takes on “the Wall Street Bubble Mafia” — investment bank Goldman Sachs. The piece has generated controversy, with Goldman Sachs firing back that Taibbi’s piece is “an hysterical compilation of conspiracy theories” and a spokesman adding, “We reject the assertion that... Read more...

H. Rodgin Cohen’s (Failed?) Quest To Backstop Every Bank… Ever (And Usurp Geithner’s Throne)

Over the past two weeks many banks issued press releases and opened up the PR spigot to indicate just how stable they all are now that a few have managed to pay down their TARP commitments. This of course, is nothing but a complete farce, and simply yet another chapter in the “consumer confidence” game played by the administration and its... Read more...

Weekeend Readings

More on StevePerkinsGate: PVM taking a page from the oldest playbook in the world (FT) India joins China, Russia in questioning USD dominance (Bloomberg) Palin to resign as Alaska governor, will not seek reelection (WSJ) [not even worth discussing the Republican due diligence process] Ignoring prophetic predictors (Nader) Staffer at SEC had warned... Read more...

Who Is Selling Wholesale Vol And Why?

The chart below indicates that while the market is exactly where it was in early December 2008, the VIX has droped by almost 60%. And traditional theories that suggest that the corporate risk is merely being offset to sovereing don’t seem to hold much sway- US CDS is again trading at a ludicrously tight level. So the question arises: just who... Read more...

Taibbi Goes On Air

Taibbi in his first TV interview since the “Squid” was let loose. Hat tip Calgary Schmooze Read more….  Read More →

FDIC TGI Failure F… er… T

Failure Friday is early today: today’s bank shooting green all the way to the grave is John Warner Bank, from Clinton, IL. Likely more to come today. The FDIC and State Bank of Lincoln entered into a loss-share transaction on approximately $31 million of The John Warner Bank’s assets. State Bank of Lincoln will share in the losses on the... Read more...

NYSE Extends Closing To 4:15 PM, Cites "System Irregularities"

Tsk tsk. Those pesky SPARCs. Anyone remember March 2007? In other news, Sky Net will be nominating a robo-president for 2012 shortly. Read more….  Read More →

Slow Afternoon News Roundup

Dan Loeb’s Third Point June P&L: 1.8%; 7.2% YTD (Third Point) Captain Morgan – Best use of $2.7 billion in TARP funding. Ever (Moneynews, h/t Cris) BOE’s Miles says helpful to include housing in inflation gauge [Amen] Unemployed finance guys in Buenos Aires search for sex, drugs, and their own souls (Playboy h/t Clusterstock) Boeing... Read more...

Goldman Sachs Responds To Zero Hedge

It seems quite a few individuals noticed our post attempting to justify some very peculiar language in not just a certain Goldman Sachs Internet disclaimer, but also the strange wording prominently featured in critical GS-client agreements. One happened to be Goldman Sachs itself. We take this opportunity to present the response by Goldman Sachs’... Read more...

Nigaz: The Return

We know this is the one you have all been waiting for. Ever since we first reported on the Nigaz JV, our proverbial phones would have been ringing off the hook, of course, if we had any listed phone numbers. Of course, the upside is many sleepless nights at the NSA… So we are considering it. In the meantime, some late morning amusement courtesy... Read more...

REIT Liquidity Update: Hold The Applause

If anyone had told us a year ago that Fitch would at least attempt to be a voice of reason, while Merrill Lynch, which has gotten destroyed on real estate, would be a CRE permabull, we would have punched them in the face. Alas, this seems to have become the case. While readers are all to aware of Zero Hedge’s coverage of the Merrill REIT team’s... Read more...

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