US Finance World

by Richard Vigilante

Democrat Solutions? Republican Solutions? Let’s have both.

The President’s speech was a lot like the Dodd and Frank bills themselves. To the extent one believes that regulators numbering, practically speaking, in the dozens for any one of these giant firms, can actually get a firm grasp on what the megabanks are doing, what they own and what they owe, or reliably distinguish risky and reckless practices from safe and sound, then the President’s vision has a chance of succeeding. We certainly don’t want to get in the way of his trying. By all means, give the regulators the tools they ask for and let them do their best.

It’s just that there is so very little evidence that they can succeed. The glaring and disheartening truth is that last time round the regulators endorsed and often required every one of the practices that led to the crisis. Even the

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International business may not be for everyone, but are you sure it’s not for you?

There are 259,000 exporters in the United States.  Seventy two percent of them have fewer than 20 employees. Compare that to 19 years ago when those numbers were 108,000 exporters and 59 percent with fewer than 20 employees, small business has been leading the charge for exporting from our country.

The biggest cause for this dramatic change is the ease of travel and communication. In the 90’s you had to travel abroad or employ someone overseas to conduct business. Now with the convenience of e-mail and video conferencing you can bring your customer to your computer monitor.

I think we assume the typical international business is one where a mega-manufacturer assembles a product and ships it overseas where a mega-distributor buys it and sells it to their local market. Howe

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We were without internet from Saturday until about an hour ago. I realized how much technology runs our lives and when it’s not working like it should it can cause a lot of problems.  I didn’t really have anything important that I needed the internet for but my boyfriend uses the internet for school and had to be on campus all weekend to work on his homework and senior project.  I did write a letter to my internet provider and I mailed it today.

Dear Internet Provider,

We have been without an internet connection since Saturday the 17th. This ruined my weekend in the following ways. I was unable to monitor my bank account online. I could not check my e-mails. And lastly I was not able to catch up on my favorite blogs.

I contacted your tech support specialist and they were no help to me. I did everything they asked me to and nothing worked. Some were very nice and tried to be helpful while others treated me like I was an idiot that didn’t even know how to turn on my laptop.

The amount of time that I had to wait on hold was unbelievable. Your hold

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What’s a good score? It’s the million dollar question. Lenders’ appetite for credit risk has softened sharply since the end of 2007, but consumers still need credit. So what credit scores are they going to need in order to be approved, and at the best rates and terms?

A “good” score is, frankly, any score that gets you approved with the best deal the lender or insurer has to offer. If that means you need FICO® 750 across all three credit reporting agencies, then that’s your score target. If you can convince a lender to approve you at great terms with FICO 690, then your score target changes and becomes easier to achieve.

There is no “one” score recognized by all lenders and insurance companies as good, great, average or terrible. That’s why you hear different targets from different people, from different industries.

Scores in the low- to mid-600s will still get you approved for most secured loans but not for most unsecured credit cards. Scores in th

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As the bridal industry continues to grow, it also continues to grow more expensive. Many couples getting married focus on the cost of the wedding itself and forget they will have another huge expense the night before. However, it is best to budget for all wedding expenses, including the rehearsal dinner.

As CNN notes in a May 2005 article entitled “Ka-ching! Wedding price tag nears $30K,” the 2005 average cost of a rehearsal dinner was $1153, up 51 percent from 1999. CNN also noted that the average wedding in 2005 cost $26,327. Other hefty expenses included the engagement ring $4146 (up 39 percent from 1999), photography/videography $2570 (up 103 percent from 1999) and flowers $1121 (up 45 percent from 1999).

In general, prices seem to vary from area to area, amount of guests, venue and food. If you live in an affluent area, prices will be much higher. For example on Weddingbee, a bride from Westchester County, NY, located right outside of New York City and one of the most expensive places to live in the nation, reports her rehearsal dinner costing $4500.

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Goldman Sachs (GS) has yet another statement out on the subject of the SEC charges against it, which adds little to the last two. But since Goldman is making such a big deal of it, let’s take a closer look at ACA’s “investment” in the Abacus deal.

Here’s Goldman, which doesn’t seem to have put this latest statement up on its website:

ACA Capital Management was both the portfolio selection agent and the overwhelmingly largest investor in the transaction ($951 million, with the other professional investor’s exposure being $150 million)…

ACA, the Largest Investor, Selected and Approved the Portfolio.

And here’s the facts, as laid out in the SEC complaint, none of which have been disputed by Goldman:

ABACUS 2007-AC1 closed on or about April 26, 2007…

On or about May 31, 2007, ACA Capital sold protection or “wrapped” the $909 million super senior tranche of ABACUS 2007-AC1…

The super senior transaction with ACA Capital was intermediated by ABN AMRO Bank N.V. (“ABN”), which was one of

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Nothing like a bit of foreknowledge that you’re about to get charged by the SEC, right?

ThinkOrSwim has a relatively new tool called “OnDemand” that allows one to “replay” history when it comes to the markets – complete to the tick. They are now the “best friend” of people like me who enjoy rooting out pernicious and outrageous insider trading conduct.

Let’s present Goldman Sachs, as the option chain for expiration on Friday existed Thursday morning at 8:45 Central time (that is, at the opening bell.)

Due to how TOS presents the “volume” column I have allowed the screen to roll forward until the first actual trades take place in the PUT strikes down to $160 – they continue to display the previous day’s volume until the first trade occurs.

So once we get into the “meat” of the day around 9:00 (half an hour in) the options chain looks like this – pay special attention to the highlighted block with Goldman trading at $184.19 at that particular moment in time (click any of these for larger, more-easily viewed copies; the first numerical column after the change in each of these tables is volume, the second open interest which is valid as of the close the previous day) (click charts to enlarge):

This looks completely normal.

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Robert Rubin ought to be feeling a bit uncomfortable this morning, in the wake of public comments from two men he is very closely associated with. First, there’s Bill Clinton:

Clinton acknowledged that he was wrong to take what he now views as bad advice from his Treasury secretaries, Robert Rubin and Larry Summers, who told him the market for complex financial instruments known as derivatives ought to remain unregulated.

“On derivatives, yeah, I think they were wrong and I think I was wrong to take [their advice],” Clinton said.

Then there’s Vikram Pandit:

“All of us at Citi recognize that we would not be where we are without the assistance of American taxpayers. We are gratified that Citi has been able to repay their TARP investment in our company, with a substantial return, as well as create a significant increase in the value of their equity in Citi.

“Still, that is not enough. We owe taxp

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