****$242 Billion: That Is How Much Record "Window Dressing" Banks Got Today Thanks To The Fed
mar 31 14
The last time banks scrambled to pad their books into the quarter end, and come begging at the front door of the NY Fed's Liberty 33 office, was on the last day of Q4 and 2013, when nearly $200 billion in Treasurys were handed out by the Fed to over 100 counterparties in what was the largest reverse repo operation conducted by Ben Bernanke, and his brand new Fixed-Rate Reverse Repo operation, in history.
That was the record until today, when just over an hour ago the Fed disclosed that as part of its most recent reverse repo operation, it had handed out to 93 dealer banks and other financial intermediaries, both foreign and domestic, some $242 billion in Treasurys in what is now the biggest reverse repo operation in history, a privilege for which the collateral-starved banks paid the Fed the king's ransom of 0.05% in annual interest, i.e., nothing.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-03-31/242-billion-how-much-record-window-dressing-banks-got-today-thanks-fed
The last time banks scrambled to pad their books into the quarter end, and come begging at the front door of the NY Fed's Liberty 33 office, was on the last day of Q4 and 2013, when nearly $200 billion in Treasurys were handed out by the Fed to over 100 counterparties in what was the largest reverse repo operation conducted by Ben Bernanke, and his brand new Fixed-Rate Reverse Repo operation, in history.
That was the record until today, when just over an hour ago the Fed disclosed that as part of its most recent reverse repo operation, it had handed out to 93 dealer banks and other financial intermediaries, both foreign and domestic, some $242 billion in Treasurys in what is now the biggest reverse repo operation in history, a privilege for which the collateral-starved banks paid the Fed the king's ransom of 0.05% in annual interest, i.e., nothing.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-03-31/242-billion-how-much-record-window-dressing-banks-got-today-thanks-fed
**Forget Bitcoin, African E-Money Is the Currency-Killer
15 Mar 31, 2014 2:55 PM ET
All the talk of bitcoin in recent years has overshadowed the real e-finance revolution: In Africa, India and now Eastern Europe, a service called M-Pesa has replaced banking for millions of people who don't have or, in fact, even need a bank account.
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-03-31/forget-bitcoin-african-e-money-is-the-currency-killer
All the talk of bitcoin in recent years has overshadowed the real e-finance revolution: In Africa, India and now Eastern Europe, a service called M-Pesa has replaced banking for millions of people who don't have or, in fact, even need a bank account.
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-03-31/forget-bitcoin-african-e-money-is-the-currency-killer
China Confiscates Billions In "Ugliest Corruption Scandal" In History
mar30 14
With Chinese authorities increasingly looking like they are sticking to their reform promises, fighting moral hazard and allowing defaults to occur (in a completely 'contained' way, of course); the continued crackdown on graft and government corruption has hit a new high (or low). As Reuters reports, Chinese authorities have seized assets worth at least 90 billion yuan ($14.5 billion) from family members and associates of retired domestic security tsar Zhou Yongkang, who is at the center of China's biggest corruption scandal in more than six decades. 71-year-old Zhou has been under house arrest since first being investigated late last year but the size and scale of the corruption is unprecedented including 300 apartments, 60 vehicles, bonds, stocks, and gold - "it's the ugliest in the history of the New China."
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-03-30/china-confiscates-billions-ugliest-corruption-scandal-history
With Chinese authorities increasingly looking like they are sticking to their reform promises, fighting moral hazard and allowing defaults to occur (in a completely 'contained' way, of course); the continued crackdown on graft and government corruption has hit a new high (or low). As Reuters reports, Chinese authorities have seized assets worth at least 90 billion yuan ($14.5 billion) from family members and associates of retired domestic security tsar Zhou Yongkang, who is at the center of China's biggest corruption scandal in more than six decades. 71-year-old Zhou has been under house arrest since first being investigated late last year but the size and scale of the corruption is unprecedented including 300 apartments, 60 vehicles, bonds, stocks, and gold - "it's the ugliest in the history of the New China."
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-03-30/china-confiscates-billions-ugliest-corruption-scandal-history
China Construction Bank eyes issue of 20b yuan of subordinate debt
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 01 April, 2014
China Construction Bank plans to issue 20 billion yuan (HK$25.2 billion) of subordinate debt on the mainland and is studying the feasibility of issuing preference shares to boost capital.
http://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/1462065/china-construction-bank-eyes-issue-20b-yuan-subordinate
China Construction Bank plans to issue 20 billion yuan (HK$25.2 billion) of subordinate debt on the mainland and is studying the feasibility of issuing preference shares to boost capital.
http://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/1462065/china-construction-bank-eyes-issue-20b-yuan-subordinate
Free-fall: IMF to accelerate Ukraine’s economic collapse?
mar 31 14
Ukraine is bankrupt. It has wavered on the cusp for some time. However, it is about to suffer the cruelest indignity: discovering that Western politicians who promised prosperity have been encouraging the IMF to deliver a leveraged poisoned chalice.
http://www.rt.com/op-edge/imf-ukraine-economic-collapse-301/
Ukraine is bankrupt. It has wavered on the cusp for some time. However, it is about to suffer the cruelest indignity: discovering that Western politicians who promised prosperity have been encouraging the IMF to deliver a leveraged poisoned chalice.
http://www.rt.com/op-edge/imf-ukraine-economic-collapse-301/
Dollar reserve role secure but set to shrink: BIS
BERLIN Sat Mar 29, 2014
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/29/us-markets-usd-reserves-idUSBREA2S0H220140329
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/29/us-markets-usd-reserves-idUSBREA2S0H220140329
Dear Unnamed "Significant Financial Institution": The DOJ Has Some Very Bad News For You
mar 31 14
Looks like someone didn't pay their annual "cost of conducting criminal business" bribe
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-03-31/dear-unnamed-significant-financial-institution-ny-attorney-general-has-some-bad-news
Looks like someone didn't pay their annual "cost of conducting criminal business" bribe
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-03-31/dear-unnamed-significant-financial-institution-ny-attorney-general-has-some-bad-news
High-Speed Traders Rip Investors Off, Michael Lewis Says
By Nick Baker and Sam Mamudi Mar 31, 2014
The U.S. stock market is rigged when high-frequency traders with advanced computers make tens of billions of dollars by jumping in front of investors, according to author Michael Lewis, who spent the past year researching the topic for his new book “Flash Boys.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-30/high-frequency-traders-ripping-off-investors-michael-lewis-says.html
The U.S. stock market is rigged when high-frequency traders with advanced computers make tens of billions of dollars by jumping in front of investors, according to author Michael Lewis, who spent the past year researching the topic for his new book “Flash Boys.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-30/high-frequency-traders-ripping-off-investors-michael-lewis-says.html
Putin Flushes the US Dollar: Russia’s Gold Ruble Payments System Delinked from Dollar?
mar 31 14
A New Financial System independent from Wall Street and City of London begins to take shape concretely in Russia?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article38112.htm
A New Financial System independent from Wall Street and City of London begins to take shape concretely in Russia?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article38112.htm
Russia And China Make Another Move That Threatens The Dollar – The Ruble Is Now Backed By Gold And China Continues To Make Deals With Other Countries.
Monetary Blockade Of Russia Begins: JPMorgan Blocks Russian Money Transfer "Under Pretext" Of Sanctions
on 04/01/2014
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-04-01/monetary-blockade-russia-begins-jpmorgan-blocks-russian-money-transfer-under-pretext
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-04-01/monetary-blockade-russia-begins-jpmorgan-blocks-russian-money-transfer-under-pretext
China Burns Speculators as $5.5 Billion Lost on Yuan Bets
By Ye Xie and Kyoungwha Kim Apr 1, 2014 4:22 PM GMT+0100
China is succeeding in making its currency less predictable. Investors are paying the price.
Clients of U.S. commercial banks have lost about $2 billion this year on $332 billion of options betting the yuan would appreciate, while Chinese companies lost $3.5 billion on $150 billion wagered on a benchmark forwards contract, according to data compiled by Morgan Stanley and the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. in Washington. These contracts, when including bearish bets, account for more than a third of global trading in the Chinese currency.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-01/china-burns-speculators-as-5-5-billion-lost-on-yuan-bets.html
China is succeeding in making its currency less predictable. Investors are paying the price.
Clients of U.S. commercial banks have lost about $2 billion this year on $332 billion of options betting the yuan would appreciate, while Chinese companies lost $3.5 billion on $150 billion wagered on a benchmark forwards contract, according to data compiled by Morgan Stanley and the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. in Washington. These contracts, when including bearish bets, account for more than a third of global trading in the Chinese currency.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-01/china-burns-speculators-as-5-5-billion-lost-on-yuan-bets.html
The Currency War Enters Stage 2: Bank Runs!
March 30, 2014
The Currency War, Stage 2, is already Manifest in another Way. Consider that the Economic/Financial Crises of the early 1930s were characterized by Bank Runs. We are already seeing such runs this year in Crimea, Ukraine and Rural China.
http://www.silverdoctors.com/the-currency-war-enters-stage-2-bank-runs/
The Currency War, Stage 2, is already Manifest in another Way. Consider that the Economic/Financial Crises of the early 1930s were characterized by Bank Runs. We are already seeing such runs this year in Crimea, Ukraine and Rural China.
http://www.silverdoctors.com/the-currency-war-enters-stage-2-bank-runs/
Goldman Loan Talk Propels Biggest Bond Advance: Argentina Credit
By Daniel Cancel Apr 1, 2014
Argentina’s effort to repair ties with overseas investors is starting to yield results in the bond market as the country tries to stem a plunge in foreign-currency reserves.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-01/goldman-loan-talk-propels-biggest-bond-advance-argentina-credit.html
Argentina’s effort to repair ties with overseas investors is starting to yield results in the bond market as the country tries to stem a plunge in foreign-currency reserves.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-01/goldman-loan-talk-propels-biggest-bond-advance-argentina-credit.html
Goldman Said to Pursue Sale of NYSE Market-Making Unit
By Michael J. Moore Apr 1, 2014
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) is seeking a buyer for its New York Stock Exchange designated market-making business acquired through the 2000 purchase of Spear, Leeds & Kellogg, a person briefed on the matter said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-01/goldman-said-to-pursue-sale-of-nyse-market-making-unit.html
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) is seeking a buyer for its New York Stock Exchange designated market-making business acquired through the 2000 purchase of Spear, Leeds & Kellogg, a person briefed on the matter said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-01/goldman-said-to-pursue-sale-of-nyse-market-making-unit.html
Expensive chaos: Billions of dollars meant for Afghanistan development wasted
Published time: April 01, 2014 12:27
'A lot of fraud' in Afghanistan is hampering any positive results Western money might bring, the head of oversight for US work in Afghanistan believes. RT’s correspondent in Kabul has witnessed some of the misspending.
'A lot of fraud' in Afghanistan is hampering any positive results Western money might bring, the head of oversight for US work in Afghanistan believes. RT’s correspondent in Kabul has witnessed some of the misspending.
http://rt.com/news/afghanistan-us-aid-wasted-513/
Albuquerque security forces use tear gas on raging protesters after fatal police shooting
Published time: March 31, 2014
Albuquerque police have violently cracked down on protesters, using tear gas and arresting several demonstrators, after over nine hours of unrest. Hundreds expressed their anger over last week's police shooting that saw a homeless man killed.
http://www.rt.com/usa/albuquerque-police-tear-gas-269/
April 01, 2014 19:25
Albuquerque police have violently cracked down on protesters, using tear gas and arresting several demonstrators, after over nine hours of unrest. Hundreds expressed their anger over last week's police shooting that saw a homeless man killed.
http://www.rt.com/usa/albuquerque-police-tear-gas-269/
April 01, 2014 19:25
Bolivian miners clash with police at mining law protest
Bolivian police clashed with groups of independent miners in Cochabamba in central Bolivia on Monday during a protest against a new mining law.
http://rt.com/in-motion/bolivia-miners-clashes-police-597/
China: Dozens Beaten Bloody, up to Ten Possible Deaths at Maoming Anti-PX Protests
Taiwan 500,000 Join National March Against China Trade Pact
Tens of thousands First Nation children died in residential schools
March 30th, 2014
The death records of tens of thousands of First Nations children who died during the time residential schools were operating in Canada have been handed over to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Several provincial governments gave up the records to the commission, which will now cross-reference the information with student lists to determine who among the children died while in the care of the church-run schools and where they might be buried.
http://westcoastnativenews.com/tens-of-thousands-first-nation-children-died-in-residential-schools/
The death records of tens of thousands of First Nations children who died during the time residential schools were operating in Canada have been handed over to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Several provincial governments gave up the records to the commission, which will now cross-reference the information with student lists to determine who among the children died while in the care of the church-run schools and where they might be buried.
http://westcoastnativenews.com/tens-of-thousands-first-nation-children-died-in-residential-schools/
