Is Bernanke Hiding A Smoking Gun?

A Republican senator said Tuesday that documents showing Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke covered up the fact that his staff recommended he not bailout AIG are being kept from the public. And a House Republican charged that a whistleblower had alerted Congress to specific documents provide “troubling details” of Bernanke’s role in the AIG [...]

Fed Made Taxpayers Junk-Bond Buyers

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and then-New York Fed President Timothy Geithner told senators on April 3, 2008, that the tens of billions of dollars in “assets” the government agreed to purchase in the rescue of Bear Stearns Cos. were “investment-grade.” They didn’t share everything the Fed knew about the money. The so-called assets [...]

US Lobby Group Formed For High-Frequency Traders

The Futures Industry Association on Wednesday said it formed a new lobby group to represent high-frequency trading firms that have come under heightened scrutiny for trading practices that may have contributed to Wall Street’s May 6 “flash crash.” The lobby, the Principal Traders Group (PTG), represents a who’s who of high-frequency traders, including Getco LLC [...]

Liquidnet Promoting Dark Pool in New Zealand

A US firm which specialises in “dark pools” trading is hoping to increase the number of international fund managers trading in New Zealand listed securities by bringing its electronic trading service here. The type of trading is called “dark pools” because it allows investors to trade anonymously with prices only made public once trading is [...]

GBP/USD Hits Fresh 3-Day Low

The pound fell to a fresh 3-day low against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday, after official data showed that U.S. private sector employment fell more than expected in June. GBP/USD hit 1.4965 during European afternoon trade, the pair’s lowest since June 25; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.4970, shedding 0.62%. Read more about GBP and [...]

USD/JPY Tests Daily Lows

USD/JPY moved away from 88.70 and fell to test daily lows around 88.35 after Moody’s put on review Spain’s Aaa rating. The pair is still moving in a narrow range between 88.70 and 88.35 but weakened after the Yen gained momentum across the board following the announcement and a decline in US stocks. Read more [...]

EUR/USD Retreating Again

Having reached an intraday high around 1.2297 in the past hour, EUR/USD is again retreating from the 1.2300 area, despite market is on risk aversion mood. Strength of the common currency comes from crosses such as EUR/CHF and EUR/GBP short covering, after past journeys’ slump, pulled them to multi years or even historical lows. Some [...]

Russia Buys 22 Tons Of Gold In May

Ten days ago we reported the most recent data on gold reserve holdings as presented by the World Gold Council, where we pointed out that Russia had purchased 27.6 tons of gold in the most recent reporting period, bringing its total to 668.6 tons. It appears Russia is only getting started. According to the latest [...]

North Korea Warns Accident Could Start War

North Korea warned Tuesday that any accidental clash during an upcoming US-South Korea naval exercise could spark war, as tensions remained high over the sinking of a South Korean warship. Minju Josun, the cabinet’s official daily, accused the South and its US ally of “fabricating” facts about the sinking to incite a war against the [...]

Russian Intelligence Found Gold Market Info Valuable

Russian spies in the United States whose arrest was announced Monday last year conveyed information about the gold market that the Russian security service considered “very valuable” and forwarded to the Russian finance ministry and ministry of economic development, according to the criminal complaint filed by the FBI with U.S. District Court in New York. [...]

Panel Examines Role of Derivatives in Crisis

The complex instruments at the heart of the financial meltdown, and the way two giant companies were wrapped around them and entwined with each other, are being examined by the special panel investigating the origins of the economic crisis. The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission is turning its focus to derivatives at two days of hearings [...]

Circuit Breaker Stops Trades of Citigroup

An experimental circuit breaker for stock markets that was put in place after last month’s so-called flash crash kicked in for the second time on Tuesday after an erroneous trade caused a sudden plunge in the price of Citigroup shares. Trading in the shares of Citigroup, one of the most heavily traded stocks in the [...]

Barclays to Launch Europe Equities Dark Pool

Barclays Plc’s (BARC.L) investment bank arm said it plans to launch a European “dark pool” trading platform, building on its U.S. platform as part of plans to expand its equities business globally. Rival banks such as Morgan Stanley (MS.N) and Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX) already run in-house European “dark pools”, electronic platforms that allow buyers and [...]

Getco Launches a Dark Pools Arm in Europe

Getco, one of the largest US market-making firms, will today formally launch a type of “dark pool” share trading platform in Europe. Dark pools match trades anonymously with prices posted only after trades are done. The move highlights the inroads that US firms are making into the region’s fragmented equity markets. The Chicago firm has [...]

Time to Shut Down the Federal Reserve?

Like a mad aunt, the Fed is slowly losing its marbles. Kartik Athreya, senior economist for the Richmond Fed, has written a paper condemning economic bloggers as chronically stupid and a threat to public order. Matters of economic policy should be reserved to a priesthood with the correct post-doctoral credentials, which would of course have [...]

GBP USD Holds Steady

The Pound Dollar exchange rate is 0.364% lower with 1 GBP = 1.5053 USD at 1:15 PM in London. The GBP USD rate has turned around since the Election and hit the turbo button after the Emergency Budget. The 900-pip rise since mid-May has propelled the rising 21-day moving average up through the 50-day version. [...]

USD/JPY Rises to 88.60

The Dollar moved away from the lows of the day against the Yen and rose to 88.60, recovering from 88.26, fresh 7-week low. The Yen also moved away from the highs of the day against European currencies as the downside rally in Wall Street paused. Read more…

Euro Losses Continue

Classic risk off trading saw EUR/USD falling to 1.2150 before stabilizing. We see euro losses continuing, and next key level is 1.2110, break of which would target the year’s low at 1.1877. Weak China data was followed by very weak U.S. consumer confidence report, and markets are nervous about the expiry of ECB’s one-year lending [...]

The Fed Bashes Bloggers

Some Fed economist (with a hard-earned Ph.D mind you) named Kartik Athreya (who lasted at Citigroup as an associate Vice President for a whopping 7 months before getting sacked in 1998 only to find solace for his expiring unemployment benefits in the public sector) has written the most idiotic “research” piece to come out of [...]

The Global Political Awakening

There is a new and unique development in human history that is taking place around the world; it is unprecedented in reach and volume, and it is also the greatest threat to all global power structures: the ‘global political awakening.’ The term was coined by Zbigniew Brzezinski, and refers to the fact that, as Brzezinski [...]

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