MAJOR PAPERS:

• The active ingredient in Baxter International Inc's (NYSE: BAX) generic version of the anticlotting drug heparin, under investigation for four deaths and hundreds of bad reactions, was made in China, the Wall Street Journal reported.
• Structured investment vehicles that provide short term debt to fund the purchases of municipal bonds and student loans are under increasing pressure, according to the Wall Street Journal's "Heard on the Street". Citigroup Incorporated (NYSE: C), JP Morgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) and Merrill Lynch & Co Inc (NYSE: MER) are among the banks that could be affected.

• The New York Times reported that Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE: HPQ) has settled with The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT) and McGraw Hill Companies Incorporated's (NYSE: MHP) BusinessWeek journalists related to a spying scandal that stemmed from obtaining telephone records. The involved parties did not disclose the amount of the settlement.

• Mike Zafirovski, CEO of Nortel Networks Corporation (NYSE: NT), said the company would examine possible opportunities to be taken over "when they arise." Mr. Zafirovski did not comment on rumors of a Motorola Inc (NYSE: MOT) merger, Reuters reported.

Newspaper wrap-up: Investigated ingredient in Baxter's generic heparin drug made in China originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 14 Feb 2008 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Wall Street has to wonder why so many structured investment vehicles are being downgraded now? Are they really worth so much less than they were a month or two months ago? Since many of their assets do not trade due to a lack of market liquidity, there may never be an answer.

According to The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), "Debt-rating agency Moody's Investors Service, signaling a new turn for the worse for some bank-affiliated funds, said it downgraded or put on review debt totaling $119 billion that was issued by structured investment vehicles that have been paralyzed by lack of investor appetite." The value of many of the SIV assets linked to mortgages dropped by 22% between October 19 and November 21.

Citigroup (NYSE: C) has a continuing problem here. The financial paper adds, "the drop in the market values and the inability to finance the SIV debt is expected to put new pressure on banks such as Citigroup to support the billions of dollars in debt that SIVs face having to pay in coming months."

All of this raises the question of whether the $7.5 billion stake that Citi sold to an investment arm of the Abu Dhabi government will be enough to support the bank's need to improve its balance sheet, or whether it will have to raise additional funds. It begs the question of who would want the job of being Citi CEO, or whether chairman Robert Rubin will have to step into the spot in an attempt to get back some market confidence for the bank.

One thing is virtually certain. Some of the SIVs are near failure. HSBC (NYSE: HBC) took $45 billion in SIVs onto its balance sheet. The bank would not have done this unless an extreme measure was required. The same decision may have to be made at Citi. At $33, down from a 52-week high of $57, many investors think the bank's stock has bottomed.

That would be a mistake.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

SIVs get more downgrades originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 01 Dec 2007 12:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The New York Times reports that the market rally last week was due to investor's confidence that the Bush administration is stepping in to bail out the economy. I don't buy this explanation and think that the market moves because of what big investors are doing -- information that does not get into the media. Moreover, based on its track record, I would conclude that the Bush Put -- as I'd call the Times' notion -- is likely to be just as effective as the Mission Accomplished banner he used as a prop in May 2003.

To explain this, here's some recent history. In May 2003 George Bush landed a jet on an aircraft carrier and strutted like a peacock in front of a banner blaring "Mission Accomplished." That was over four years ago and that banner still looks like it's premature. By contrast, during the reign of Fed Chair Alan Greenspan, the market formed the concept of the Greenspan Put -- the execution of Fed policies that limited investor's downside risk -- because he successfully bailed out investors for their excesses.

This week my guess is that the market rallied in response to two moves: Fed Chair Bernanke's comments on flexibility -- hinting at further rate cuts on December 11th -- and Treasury Secretary Paulson's announcement of negotiations with banks to keep some mortgage rates from resetting upwards on some of the 1.5 million nonprime mortgages valued at $331 billion that will reset by the end of 2008. Since Bush seems to be coordinating the responses to the latest economic turmoil, I am elevating the market rescue efforts to the Oval Office -- hence the Bush Put.

Continue reading Is the Bush Put's mission accomplished?

Is the Bush Put's mission accomplished? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 01 Dec 2007 09:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

With the price of Thanksgiving dinner up 11% this year over last, the Fed won't help consumers because it's confident that inflation -- as measured by Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) will range between 1% and 2%. Meanwhile, Washington is happy to create lucrative business deals for Wall Street -- in the form of arrangements to manage and keep records of its Structured Investment Vehicle (SIV) bailout.

What is the Fed smoking? I don't know any personal consumption expenditures that are growing at 1% to 2%. The price of oil has quadrupled since January 2001 to $99.29 a barrel, gasoline prices are up 40% since last year, airfares have more than doubled -- a flight from Boston to Florida that cost $300 last year is now $700 -- and the dollar has lost 61% of its value since January 2001. I guess the Fed has decided to define PCE in a way that conveniently confirms its pro-inflation interest rate policy.

Meanwhile, the Treasury Department has backed a Super-SIV plan to bail out banks, such as Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) which created the $320 billion SIVs industry and invested the proceeds of SIV-issued commercial paper in now-worthless mortgage backed securities (MBSs).

Continue reading Wall Street turkeys get pardon as Fed lets consumers pay for rampant inflation

Wall Street turkeys get pardon as Fed lets consumers pay for rampant inflation originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 21 Nov 2007 10:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading 'Super-SIV' may not be so super

'Super-SIV' may not be so super originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 14 Nov 2007 15:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Banks are looking for your help. They want you to help bail them out of the mess they created - short-term notes (commercial paper) in funds called structured investment vehicles (SIVs). As expected, Citigroup (NYSE: C), J.P Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) announced their intention to set up a $100 billion dollar "Super SIV" that will buy the current SIVs with the hopes of freeing up some cash so commercial paper can start flowing again. Estimates are that $400 billion is tied up in SIVs and the inability of banks to refinance this short term debt has stalled the credit markets since July.

The U.S. Treasury Department helped to put this fix together, but is not backing it financially. The biggest problem with these SIVs is that they are held off the books and those banks left holding the bag could be in big trouble. Citigroup, whose been leading the charge to set up this "Super SIV," also holds the biggest share of the SIV pie.

Treasury Security Henry Paulson's playing dumb. He told reporters yesterday [subscription required] after an event at the University of Texas at Austin, "The regulators didn't have a clear enough visibility with what was going on in terms of these off-balance-sheet SIVs," according to a report today in the Wall Street Journal. Wow. Wasn't he ever involved in the sale of these things when he was Chairman and Chief Executive at Goldman Sachs? Could he have given the regulators some clues when he got to treasury, if he really believed that? He did signal changes in regulation may be coming to prevent this type of disaster in the future.

Continue reading Banks looking for brave investors to bail them out

Banks looking for brave investors to bail them out originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 16 Oct 2007 11:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.