The recent merger announcements from the London Stock Exchange and Toronto Exchange Group (TMX), and Deutsche Börse and NYSE Euronext brought a surge of speculation and potential merger stories to the forefront of business wires.
Who will merge next? Who will offer a competitive bid? I guess it is inevitable but there is something annoying about seeing the business press simply speculating on potential deals once these mergers get in the public consciousness.
There has been a lot written to try and explain the banking bailouts, especially the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Recently, a lot has been made about these TARP loans actually being profitable for the U.S. government. Additionally, a few places have begun uncovering the actual cost of the bank bailouts. (more…)
Yesterday I received the following update from one of my contributors:
“One needs to call what is going on with agricultural commodities for what it is: A PANIC. Fears of food shortages are everywhere that has created a hoarding mentality and an escalation of what seems to be never ending rising prices.” (more…)
Saw a strange headline in the FT this week. It was “The Daleys: the last dynasty in US politics,” referring to the recent appointment of William Daley as President Obama’s chief of staff. Daley is the brother of retiring Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and son of legendary Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley.
In a somewhat strange comment letter, a group of financial trade groups have asked financial regulatory agencies to slow down the pace of its rule implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act. Strange in that representatives of the private sector more often than not view government workers as being slow and plodding. Most would say that those government workers wouldn’t last very long in the private sector where efficiency is a must.
The Financial Times reported yesterday that non-U.S. banks were among the biggest users of the $3.3 trillion in emergency lending facilities and programs created to address the financial crisis that emerged in the summer of 2007.
We know this thanks to the Dodd-Frank Act, which requires the Federal Reserve to post transaction level details of the 13 facilities and programs instituted by the Fed to help alleviate the global credit crisis.
Warren Buffett wrote an interesting op ed piece in the New York Times last week thanking Uncle Sam for the bailout. In it he points out the dire consequences we were in back in 2008 and while acknowledging that the government missed the numerous warning signs leading up to the crisis he gives the government and the leaders who orchestrated the bailout high marks.
At the Association of Financial Professionals (AFP), which took place in San Antonio in November, the number of attendees (thousands) and exhibits from some of the largest banks and financial firms were positive indicators of an economy seemingly undecided about which direction to go. It appears, at the AFP anyway, banks were open for business.
The Financial Times published a commentary on Monday talking about the success of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The basic premise of the story seemed to be that for a piece of legislation that has been roundly criticized — demonized even — TARP has actually been successful in doing what it was supposed to do. In a sense TARP is the Rodney Dangerfield of legislative programs.
With all the speculation of the U.S. economy entering into a double dip recession it is appropriate to note that it is now possible because the arbiter of such things has officially determined that we are out of the recession that began in December 2007.
The Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) met on Monday and determined that “a trough in business activity” occurred in the U.S. economy in June 2009.
