England goes bankrupt, revolt in Iceland

There is now a palpable fear that global investors may start to shun British debt as the budget deficit rockets to £118bn - 8 per cent of GDP - or charge a much higher price to cover default risk.

The cost of insuring against the bankruptcy of the British state has broken out - upwards - over the last month. Yes, credit default swaps (CDS) are dodgy instruments, but they are the best stress barometer that we have. http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/ambrose_evans-pritchard/blog/2008/11/24/is_britain_going_bankrupt

RIOTS IN ICELAND: CITIZENS REVOLT AGAINST FINANCIAL CRISIS, CORRUPT MINISTERS...

VIDEO...

UK TOP INCOME TAX RATES COULD HIT 61%...

FED PUMPS $800B MORE...

It pains me deeply to announce that, despite the massive government rescue, yesterday's collapse of Citigroup could ultimately lead to a shutdown of the global banking system.

For many years, I hoped this would never happen, and I thought we might be able to avoid it.

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article7487.html

Links from 11-20-1008 from Naked Capitalism

Sparrow numbers 'plummet by 68%' BBC

Researchers getting the lead out of electronics Network World

Don't Throw Me In That Briar Patch! Hilzoy

Is Obama really "Change we can believe in?" Ed Harrison

Record Options Trading Slows as Hedge Funds Fold, Prices Surge Bloomberg

The Dollar Trap Part II: Mutually Assured Financial Destruction Jesse's Cafe Americain

Why Can't We Admit That... Roger Ehrenberg

At WaMu, a Lack of Oversight Housing Wire

The Progress of the Financial Crisis in One Picture: Mortgages, Flight to Safety, Credit Lock Menzie Chinn, Econbrowser

Hurt by Losses, Pension Funds Criticize Rules New York Times. Funny how everyone gets to retrade their deal....except honeowners.

Panic of 1873 Redux? Stormy, Angry Bear

New Hope for Financial Economics: Interview with Bill Janeway Institutional Risk Analytics. If you are interested in the role of economics and finance theory in our current mess, this is a must read.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/

Chinese Renege on $1 Billion of Scrap Steel Deals, Group Says

Chinese Renege on $1 Billion of Scrap Steel Deals, Group Says

 

Chinese scrap-metal buyers have reneged on about $1 billion in contracts from U.S. merchants as the market for the steelmaking raw material collapses, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries said today.

 

Steelmakers, foundries and traders, ranging in size from "small to very large'' and some with partial state ownership, have cancelled contracts, refused delivery of shipments or demanded lower prices, said Robin Weiner, president of the Washington-based scrap merchants' trade group.

 

"Based on conversations I've had with members throughout the country, we're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars and could be over a billion dollars,'' Weiner said in a telephone interview. The number in past years has been "insignificant.'' Weiner is lobbying the U.S.

government to help stop defaults on contracts between the institute's members and clients in the second-largest market for U.S. scrap steel after Turkey. Scrap merchants worldwide face plummeting prices after steelmakers slashed output amid a worsening global economic recession.

The price of steel scrap No. 1 heavy melting, shipped from the U.S. East Coast, has slumped by 61 percent in the past two months and traded at $120 a metric ton on Nov. 13, according to Metal Bulletin. U.S. sales of scrap to 152 countries last year totalled $22 billion, making it the second-largest commodity export by value, according to the institute.

 

Contracts with steelmakers and brokers also have been broken in Europe, Canada, Vietnam and South Korea, Weiner said. Delinquencies in China have been most prevalent and extend beyond steel to other scrap markets like copper, fibres and plastics, she said. Once demand steadies, U.S.

buyers may seek stricter trade terms with their Chinese counterparts, including advance payments and letters of credit, said Bob Garino, the institute's director of commodities. Some Chinese firms have declined to receive goods unless prices are lowered, and others have been told that customs officials will object to shipments' quality unless they agree to charge less, Weiner said. (Bloomberg)

Mark Cuban charged with Insider trading, Jim Cramer recommends Russian Beverage Company, Trader shoots himself

http://finance.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=NASDAQ:CEDC Cramer recommends Russian Beverage company

http://www.reuters.com/article/usDollarRpt/idUSN1751276620081117 SAO PAULO, Nov 17 (Reuters) - A trader shot himself on Monday in the open outcry pit of Brazil's main financial exchange in an apparent suicide attempt, shocking a market already battered by the global credit crisis.

SEC charges DALLAS MAVERICKS owner Mark Cuban with insider trading...

COMPLAINT...

FRESH BAILOUT WILL HAVE TO WAIT...

GM asks German government for credit guarantee...


New, old Congress cross paths in lame duck session...


Financial Crisis Tab Already In The Trillions...

HU: Costa Rica benefits from switching ties to China...

Venezuela, Iran team up on university plan...

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Citigroup-to-shed-another-apf-13600818.html NEW YORK (AP) -- Citigroup Inc. is shedding approximately 53,000 more employees in the coming quarters as the banking giant struggles to steady itself after suffering massive losses from deteriorating debt.

The Canary is Dead: Something is wrong in venture capital.

http://www.slideshare.net/guest1c3ad/thefunded-canarie-presentation/v1 Click to see presentation

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/business/17views_ready.html Maybe it was the tombstone that did it. Even as Wall Street burned, Silicon Valley seemed strangely sanguine. Then a PowerPoint presentation from Sequoia Capital prophesying Armageddon — featuring an "R.I.P. Good Times" headstone — made the rounds. A month later, venture capital firms are slashing investments and counseling portfolio companies to cut jobs. Sequoia's warning may reflect the technology industry's woes, but it's more notable for what it says about venture capital.

Like Wall Street banks, hedge funds and private equity, the venture capital industry got too fat. Firms currently manage $260 billion, according to the National Venture Capital Association, 14 percent more than during the bubble, and the industry now raises more money than it creates. A shakeout was inevitable. It's just odd that it took Sequoia's PowerPoint to get it under way.

Wal Mart affected by USD volatility

Chief Financial Officer Tom Schoewe said the "rapid changes" in exchange rates in the past few weeks are expected to hurt fourth-quarter results by about 6 cents per share.

"In U.S. dollar terms, strong operating performance in international may be overshadowed by these currency fluctuations," he said in a statement.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/WalMarts-3Q-profit-rises-10-apf-13555854.html

Munitions companies rally as Obama spurs gun frenzy

VIENNA, Va., Nov 10, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- The Allied Defense Group, Inc. (ADG:

allied defense group inc com ADG 6.28, -0.48, -7.1%) , a diversified international defense and security firm which: develops and produces conventional medium caliber ammunition marketed to defense departments worldwide; and designs, produces and markets sophisticated electronic security systems principally for North American markets, announces its third quarter 2008 financial results. http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/The-Allied-Defense-Group-Announces/story.aspx?guid=%7BC9A90C3E-E68F-4FEB-8571-48AFD53F0EFB%7D

 

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/11/11/obama.gun.sales/ The owner of a gun shop in the Washington suburb of Manassas, Virginia, Conatser said sales have doubled or tripled since this time last year.

On Saturday, he said, he did as much business as he would normally do in a week.

"I have been in business for 12 years, and I was here for Y2K, September 11, Katrina," Conatser said, as a steady stream of customers browsed what remained of his stock. "And all of those were big events, and we did notice a spike in business, but nothing on the order of what we are seeing right now."

Consumer bubble collapsing

http://www.prudentbear.com/index.php?view=article&id=10098%3AThe+Great+Consumer+Crash+of+2009&tmpl=component&print=1&page=&option=com_content
"It is easy to ignore the storm if you look at the opposite horizon.  When the storm reaches your location there can be no more ignorance."

http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/618-Congress-What-Bernanke-and-Hank-Arent-Telling-You.html Congress: Think.

Ben and Hank have both told you that the critical issue for the economy is for "lending to resume", stating that it has dramatically contracted.

Financial Crisis worsens

Buffett's Berkshire Profits Down 77%

FDIC Seizes More Failed Big Banks

GM Running On Empty - Broke In 2009?

Banks Ease Credit For Selves, Not You

Main St Sucked Into GMAC Junk Bonds

Financial Meltdown Worse To Come

Dire State Of Economy Shown In BoE Shock Mov

UK Bank Chiefs Called Over Rate Cut Failure

UK Banks ORDERED To Pass On Rate Cut

Across Economy, News Just Gets Worse

How To Survive Coming US Dollar Collapse

JP Morgan Market Manipulation Handiwork

First Full-Year Slump Since 1940s Says IMF

IMF Urges Radical Action In Global recession

The End of Economic Prosperity

Leaders in Europe fear the financial crisis will tip the continent into serious recession. And cause a currency meltdown in the East. Across former Soviet bloc nations. Testing currency pegs "on the fringes of Europe's monetary union in a traumatic upheaval" reminiscent of the 1992 Exchange Rate Mechanism collapse. Bank of New York strategist Neil Mellor called it "the biggest currency crisis the world has ever seen."     http://marketoracle.co.uk/Article7089.html

a depression much worse than the Great Depression, a depression that would likely be remembered in history as "The Second Great Depression" or The Greater Depression , as Doug Casey has called it so aptly. Here is why I believe that this is the case....    http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article7099.html

Trojan virus steals banking info

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7701227.stm Trojan virus steals banking info

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/31/AR2008103103727_pf.html The clients put money in Swiss bank accounts, where it was supposed to stay secret. But now those depositors fear the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and the Justice Department will gain access to their bank records, Robbins said.

Please explain why the Government Fund is frozen. Aren't U.S. Treasuries trading?

U.S. Treasuries are liquid, but the Government Fund invests primarily in securities backed by

the U.S. Government, such as Fannie Maes, Freddie Macs, and Ginnie Maes. These securities

are not likely to default, they are just illiquid. http://www.reservefund.com/pdfs/Important%20Notice_Primary_Govt_FINAL_2008_1002.pdf

Trader error causes crazy swings in EUR/HUF - dealer

http://www.portfolio.hu/en/cikkek.tdp?cCheck=1&k=3&i=16174
While international news were mixed after the closing of Hungarian money markets, the forint is apparently mostly affected by a 50-bp Fed rate cut and similar moves by Far Eastern central banks (Hong Kong, Taiwan, China). After market opening on Thursday, the HUF was relatively steady versus the euro and eased some to around 255 from 253 in the morning session. After that the HUF started to act like a donkey on drugs, kicking and running in all directions.


The larges swings observed around 11:14 local time were the consequence of a trader error. A major foreign investment bank put in a bid on EUR/HUF at around 264 instead of 254 and this has caused the abrupt flip-out, a Budapest-based currency dealer told Portfolio.hu.

The easing of the Hungarian currency may also be linked to rumours about an imminent rate cut in Poland that pushed PLN to 3.58 from 3.45 against the euro since market opening (3.5% PLN depreciation intraday), which dragged the forint along, he added.

The forint hit its all-time low versus the single European currency at 286 last Thursday and firmed by more than 13% since then.

Japan announces stimulus package

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/10/30/business/30japan.php
HONG KONG: Japan announced a new stimulus package on Thursday that includes $51 billion to help households and businesses, the boldest of several measures that officials took to try to stanch the fallout from the global credit crisis, and prompting shares throughout the region to surge.

Hong Kong and Taiwan cut interest rates, after a cut of half a percentage point by interest rates by the Federal Reserve a day earlier.

And South Korea established a $30 billion currency swap line with the Federal Reserve, a measure expected to ease pressure on local banks needing to refinance foreign debt. President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea also said his government would bring forward budget spending and consider beefing up construction spending.

"A harsh storm seen only once in 100 years is raging," Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso told a news conference as he introduced the second stimulus package in about two months. "Under such circumstances, I am certain that what is most important is to remove uncertainties from the lives of people."

RETAIL OFF-EXCHANGE FOREX EXAMINATION

Overview of Series 34 Exam Questions

Series 34 – Retail Off-Exchange Forex Examination

The Series 34 exam is broken up into five main parts: definitions and terminology, forex trading calculations, risks associated with forex trading, forex market concepts and theories, and forex regulatory requirements.  Within these five main parts the exam is expected to cover many of the sub-parts listed below.  Please note that the following items are general and are not representative of actual test questions and do not necessarily represent the relative weighting of each of the categories.

Please check back with us soon for a Series 34 Study guide and Series 34 Flashcards.

Definitions and Terminology
•    American terms, European terms
•    Base currency, quote currency, terms currency, secondary currency
•    Bid/ask spread
•    Collateral, security deposit, margin
•    Counterparty, dealer: Futures Commission Merchant,  Retail Foreign Exchange Dealer, other regulated entities listed in the Commodity Exchange Act
•    Cross rates
•    Currency crosses
•    Currency pairs
•    Direct quotes, indirect quotes
•    Exchange rate
•    Exotic options: barrier, double barrier, knock in, knock  out, compound options
•    Forward points
•    Forward rate, bid forward rate
•    Interest rate differential
•    Interest rate parity
•    Mark-ups, mark-downs
•    PIPs
•    Rollovers
•    Spot rate, spot price
•    Tom-next and spot-next
•    Trade date and settlement date
•    Swaps

Forex Trading Calculations
•    Cross rate transactions
•    Effects of leverage calculations
•    Netting of positions
•    Open trade variation
•    Profi t & loss calculations
•    Pip values, price after pips
•    Option and exotic option profit & loss calculations
•    Return on collateral, security deposit, margin
•    Transaction costs

Risks Associated with Forex Trading
•    Country or sovereign risk
•    Credit risk
•    Exchange rate risk
•    Interest rate risk
•    Liquidity risk
•    Market risk
•    Operational risk
•    Settlement risk, Herstaat risk

Forex Market – Concepts, Theories, Economic Factors and Indicators, Participants
•    Balance of payments
•    Balance of trade
•    Bank for International Settlements (BIS)
•    Capital account and current account
•    Central bank activities, intervention, sterilized intervention, interference
•    Clearing House Interbank Payment  System (CHIPS)
•    Discount rate
•    Economic indicators: employment, consumer spending, income, industrial  and inflation indicators
•    Elasticity of exchange rates
•    Exchange rate intervention
•    Exchange rate volatility
•    Federal Reserve Board, Fedwire
•    Fiscal policy
•    Fisher effect
•    Foreign investment indicators
•    Gross national product, gross  domestic product
•    Inflation
•    Interbank funds transfer and  settlement systems
•    International Fisher effect
•    International Monetary Fund
•    Portfolio balance
•    Role of central banks
•    Theory of elasticities
•    Theory of purchasing power parity
•    World Trade Organization

Forex Regulatory Requirements
•    CFTC jurisdiction and jurisdictional limitations
•    Conflicts of interest
•    Disclosures to customers
•    Jurisdictional & regulatory framework
•    Know your customer
•    NFA Interpretive Notice Regarding Forex  Transactions
•    NFA Interpretive Notice      Compliance Rule 2-36(e): Supervision of the Use of Electronic Trading Systems
•    NFA Notice to Members: Supervision of Forex Promotional Materials
•    NFA membership and associate membership requirements
•    Promotional material & solicitation
•    Registration requirements
•    Reports to customers, confirmations, monthly  summaries
•    Security deposit rules
•    Security of customer funds, no segregation

http://www.nfa.futures.org/registration/SO-Series34.pdf

Dubai Mumbai or Goodbye

http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2008/05/08/its-dubai-mumbai-or-good-bye/ Investment banks following the money trail are shifting some top earners to Dubai to help tap the booming oil-rich Persian Gulf economies and the estimated $1.5 trillion held by sovereign wealth funds there.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c47190fe-a452-11dd-8104-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1 Thailand on Monday said it planned to barter rice for oil with Iran in the clearest example to date of how the triple financial, fuel and food crisis is reshaping global trade as countries struggle with high commodity prices and a lack of credit.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Slice_of_forex_reserves_for_liquidity-hit_banks/articleshow/3644203.cms


Last week, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor said that the monetary policy authority would take conventional and unconventional measures to ensure financial as well as price stability and growth.

The committee, appointed by the finance minister to assess the liquidity situation, has said that a portion of India's forex reserves, aggregating $273 billion, could be used to invest in securities such as bonds issued by foreign offices of Indian banks, said a person familiar with the issue.