Category: Preliminary Analytics

• Citigroup Explores Bid to Pare U.S. Stake – “Citigroup officials said they planned to raise outside capital in order to repay the outstanding bailout funds. Treasury officials responded to Citi that they didn’t object to the company paying back Washington as long as Citi first raised offsetting capital” In other words, everyone calm down. It’s more like Citi actually got the stones to call up the Treasury. At this point, Treasury is still a little grossed out. [WSJ]
• Bank of America Ruling Leaves SEC With Few Options for Pursuit – Judge Rakoff: ‘the proposed consent judgment was a contrivance designed to provide the SEC with the façade of enforcement and the management of the bank with a quick resolution of an embarrassing inquiry.’ So much for winning anybody’s respect Schapester. [Bloomberg]
• A Tough Crowd on Wall Street – Shockingly, very few lined up to congratulate the President on the speech, which probably caught him off guard a little bit. [NYT]
• How accounting changes can create a world of investment banks – So, accountants will be blamed for the next crisis too? Awesome. [FT Alphaville]

• Cadbury attacks Kraft’s strategy – “Cadbury has ratcheted up its defence against a proposed takeover by Kraft, the US foodmaker, by releasing a letter describing the US group as a ‘low-growth conglomerate.’ [FT]
• Police Eye Mysterious Death of Financier – Ponzi schemes. Murdered ex-wives. Seems like Danny Pang’s death puts a nice bow on this whole thing. [WSJ]
• Serbia ‘cuts jobs for IMF loan’ – Weren’t there loan sharks in Serbia that would have given the government a better deal? [BBC]
• BlackRock to launch trading platform – BlackRock, um may be reaching TBTF territory. [FT]
• PwC’s “Bundler” Outlives His Usefulness – P. Dubs shifting with the political winds? [RTA]
• A Clear Message to Fake Non-profits: If You’re Going to Have Drunken Sex Parties, at Least File with the IRS – Seems like good advice. [JDA]

• Accountants Misled Us Into Crisis – Yes. You. [Floyd Norris/NYT]
• Prosecutors Are Poised to Impanel AIG Grand Jury – “In the AIG matter, the swaps at issue led to billions of dollars in write-downs for the insurer after PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, its auditor, said the process AIG used to value them was flawed. Pricewaterhouse could be called to testify about, among other things, the way in which it came to determine there was a material weakness in the internal controls used by Mr. Cassano’s group to value the swaps, the people familiar with the matter said.” [WSJ]
• Bloomberg Among Potential Bidders for McGraw-Hill’s BusinessWeek – Whether the Big 4 remains on the Launch list remains to be seen. [WSJ]
• New Charges in Stanford Case – “Mr. Perraud arranged for a shredding company to come to the office and supervised the shredding of a 95-gallon bin full of documents, the indictment said.” This guy thought he knew how to destroy documentation. Fool. Leave that to us. [Reuters via NYT]

• The Oprah effect: Winfrey credited with helping boost Michigan Avenue business Tuesday – Oprah encourages us back to irresponsible behavior. Wa-hoo! [CT]
• Madoff Slept Here May Prove Selling Point for NY, Florida Homes – ‘People will be underwhelmed when they see the Palm Beach house — the location is great but the house is so dated it will probably be knocked down.’ That’s a shame. [Bloomberg]
• Brooklyn’s Madoff, Ponzi-schemer Philip Barry, getting public assistance – No surprise here since he was running a business from the stone age. [NYDN]
• Steve Jobs lights up Apple show – In other news, Apple fanboys, he’ll be dead eventually. [BBC]
• Phone transcript reveals Bernie Madoff coached potential witness on duping SEC investigators – “Bernie Madoff once coached a potential witness on how to fool SEC investigators, saying ‘you don’t have to be too brilliant’ to get away with it, it was revealed Wednesday.” So Bern was at least providing training, unlike some people we know…[NYDN]

• War of Words Heats Up Over Cadbury – “Kraft Foods Inc. ratcheted up the rhetoric in its takeover battle for Cadbury PLC Tuesday, with the U.S. food giant dismissing criticism that the $16.8 billion offer is too low, as the two sides dug in for what is likely to be a months-long merger saga.” This will be the new story that involves confectionary in the coming months.
• Madoff’s Belgian Shoes Stashed as U.S. Markets Home – Shoes only get mentioned once but dog feces being thrown at the marshals gets mentioned at least twice. A title change may be in order. [Bloomberg]
• Goldman chief hits at ‘useless’ banking – Stemming the tide LB? [FT]
• July consumer credit falls a record $21.6 billion – “July consumer credit outstanding fell at a 10.4 percent annual rate to $2.47 trillion”. In other words, people are either wising up or we not interested in helping participating in the economic recovery. [Reuters]

• Study: 2 out of 5 working-age Californians jobless – That sorta seems not good. [AP via SF Chronicle]
• Volunteer 5-0: Civilian Patrols Grow As Recession Puts Citizens on Guard – “After parking her truck in this beachside town in July, local resident Pamela Miller says she was confronted by a man wearing a neon-lemon “Parking Enforcement” T-shirt. He accused her of parking illegally, called her “retarded,” and, after she refused to move her truck, bumped her legs with his Ford Crown Victoria, she later told town officials.” [WSJ]
• Closely Watched Buffett Recalculating His Bets – Not that you’re going to do anything about it. [NYT]
• Deadline for $24m Leibovitz loan – Due today. If this somehow gets pulled off, can any of you help this woman? [BBC]
• Cadbury vows to fight Kraft offer – Because chocolate eggs and manufactured cheese don’t belong together. [FT]
• France to oppose Google book scheme – Your back-up career plan to scan the likes of Atlas Shrugged and the Harry Potter series may be put on hold. [FT]
• Swiss topple U.S. as most competitive economy: WEF – Obviously not taking the whole ‘End of Swiss Banking as we know it’ very well. [Reuters]

• Stanford’s Money-Losers, Unlike Madoff’s, Get No Help From SIPC – Sucks. [Bloomberg]
• Ex-SEC Lawyer: Madoff Report Misses Point – “Genevievette Walker-Lightfoot told Dow Jones Newswires on Thursday the SEC inspector general should have focused more of his attention on how supervisors, rather than the staff examiners and investigators, handled the agency’s many stillborn probes of Mr. Madoff.” Supervisors? Responsibility? Get out. [WSJ]
• Zimbabwe to get $500m IMF loans – Seems silly that these are called loans. [BBC]
• U.S. Job Losses Increased in August, Unemployment Rose to 9.7% – And the spin is that this good news. [Bloomberg]
• Congress to probe SEC’s lapse on Madoff – Because this is a perfect opportunity for members of Congress to talk about how smart they are and how stupid the SEC is. We haven’t had enough of these anyway. [Reuters]

• Treasury Retreats From Standoff With TARP Watchdog – “Neil Barofsky, special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, a position also known as Sigtarp, declared victory Wednesday in his effort to clarify that he doesn’t answer to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.” [WSJ]
• Oracle Faces In-Depth EU Probe Over Sun Purchase – Larry Ellison will not stand this aggression. [Bloomberg]
• Will AIG Rein In Its Brash CEO? – “Mr. Benmosche said New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo ‘doesn’t deserve to be in government’ and that Mr. Benmosche would leave dealing with ‘all those crazies down in Washington’ to the company’s chairman, according to an account by Bloomberg News that was confirmed by Mr. Benmosche.” For the sake of the rest of us, let the man say his piece. [WSJ]
• Stanford Has Surgery; Receiver Defends $27 Million Fee – “Jailed fraud defendant R. Allen Stanford had surgery for an aneurysm in his leg Wednesday morning and was back in a Conroe-area prison before noon.” Recovery time for a stud such as Stan is not nearly as long for you mortals. Meanwhile, the receiver in the case is telling the SEC to BTFO. [Houston Chronicle]
• Stanford’s Bellagio debt, redux – Stan’s attorney suggests that if the Bellagio wants its money it should go after the aforementioned receiver, Ralph Janvey. Old school style of course, ‘Maybe the Bellagio should revert to the time-honored method of Vegas debt collection and send someone to make the receiver an offer he can’t refuse, or just break his legs,’ or may we suggest a hammer? [FT Alphaville]

• OTB Is in Financial Trouble, but It’s Ready to Roll – Sometimes, time-honored traditions such as OTB are allowed certain concessions. [NYT]
• Madoff Details, and Property, on Tap – “[Inspector General David] Kotz turned over the report to SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro late Monday, and it is likely to be released within a week after the SEC’s five commissioners review it.” Probably no details on girth, etc. [WSJ]
• Disney Deal Could Spark Imaginitive M&A Ideas “When merger momentum really gets going, companies splash out for takeovers that make little sense to anyone except the investment bankers involved.” [DealBook]
• Stanford Back in Jail After Medical Tests – An aneurysm can’t keep Stan out of jail. DON’T MESS WITH TEXAS. [DealBook]

• BofA Seeks to Repay a Portion of Bailout – “Repaying this would mean BofA would no longer be considered an ‘exceptional’ aid recipient — a designation that has put it under a microscope by Congress and regulators, with its pay packages subject to review by the federal ‘pay czar'”. Ken Lewis isn’t going to take it anymore. [WSJ]
• Madoff Liquidator May ‘Claw Back’ Charities’ Fake Profits – ‘Picard has an obligation to the bankruptcy estate to collect all the assets he can find and in theory he has to treat everyone the same way.’ Most thankless job ever. [Bloomberg]
• Warning Signs: I Started Looking And The Bubble Burst… – Deloitte. Start listening. [RTA]
• Icahn Pares Yahoo Stake With Sale of 12.7M Shares – Deal is done. Might as well work on GTFO. [NYT]
• Corporate failures forecast to rise – “Insolvency specialists are forecasting a second wave of corporate restructurings to break in September as bankers and investors face problem investments.” [FT]
• IRS to Mine Payment Data on Mortgages – “The Treasury inspector general said in a Monday report that tens of thousands of homeowners who paid more than $20,000 in mortgage interest in 2005 either didn’t file a tax return or reported income that appears insufficient to cover their mortgage interest and basic living expenses.” GASP. Someone living beyond their means? [WSJ]

• Frank Said to Back Broader Fed Audits – “In an interview Friday, Mr. Paul said Mr. Frank agreed to allow a vote on the bill and to work on language that would allow the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, to audit the Fed’s monetary-policy operations.” [WSJ]
• Fed makes $14bn profit on crisis loans – In case anyone needed another reason to audit the Fed. [FT]
• Big Firms Are Quick to Collect, Slow to Pay – “As credit markets remain tight and banks rein in lending, corporations are being forced to squeeze more cash from their day-to-day operations at a time when revenues are slowing and the economy remains weak. ” [WSJ]
• The Savings Rate Has Recovered…if You Ignore the Bottom 99% – Dubious government stats? The horror. [Naked Capitalism]
• Raft of Deals for Failed Banks Puts U.S. on Hook for Billions – “The agency’s total exposure is about six times the amount remaining in its fund that guarantees consumers’ deposits, exposing taxpayers to a big, new risk.” She Bair, rebuttal? [WSJ]

• Big Ticket Seller Tried Deal With Scalpers – Ticketmaster has obviously never tried to get Phish tickets on the day of the show after dropping boomies. You can’t reason with that scum. [WSJ]
• Frank: No Consensus In Sight On Financial Reform – As opposed to thoughts on Maxine Waters’s lunacy, which we all happily agree on. [NPR]
• SEC’s Schapiro Calls Derivatives Data ‘Critical’ for Probes – And by critical, Schape means, “If you don’t give me the data, I will end you.” [Bloomberg]
• Treasury Document Called AIG Investment ‘Highly Speculative’ – No honesty in government? Bah. [Bloomberg]
• ‘Blood Oath’ Sealed Stanford Deal, Court Is Told – What the Times isn’t saying is that the whole thing went down in a treehouse and they kept emergency antiseptic and bandages nearby just in case things got out of control. [NYT]