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solarbirdHere, this is evil enough that it's funny, in an evil way: Bank of America has started charging parking payments as cash advances, with a $10 fee and higher APR. This guy in DC paid $2 for parking and $10 in fees and and and. Mish says to watch out very carefully, because their rationale is that it's a "cash-like" transaction, and that this could apply to all sorts of things. He also blames the 2005 bankruptcy act, says the banks are begging for severe re-regulation, and that while he's opposed, they shouldn't come crying to him - they're asking for it.
Oh, an watch out for Citigroup pulling similar shit - they're having to write off yet another US$8.9B, bringing the total written off this past year to around US$43B, with more to come. Goldman Sachs dropped their recommenation on the stock from "sell" to "sell right now, motherfuckers, and short it if you can," which I have never seen before in my life for a large corporation. Awesome.
Meanwhile, despite three states threatening to decertify Countrywide as a lender within those states, Bank of America is still insisting they're going ahead with the Countrywide buyout, tho' they'll lay off 7,500 workers to do it and can't duck the legal liabilities.
Oil bounced off US$140.39/barrel today, with OPEC saying "it's not us, it's the US dollar." Said dollar has been taking it in the teeth since the Fed didn't raise rates yesterday, but it's not that big a swing, and we're still a couple of percent (which is a lot, in currency terms) above the lows earlier this year. Part of the recent swoon may be Asian countries selling dollars to stave off inflation. Commercial lending is getting very, very scary as spreads soar (up is bad on those charts, note the big spikes of the last couple of days), and the interbank-overnight-lending spread (the TED) is well over 100 basis points again and heading upwards. (Normal used to be about 25. Note previous rounds of credit crisis in that graph.)
But CIBC Canada is projecting US$7/gallon in a year and a half, and says the US has wasted huge amounts of money on freeway infrastructure - and that 10,000,000 cars will be off the road in the very near future as the roughly 19% of Americans with direct access to transit will swarm to it. This is presumably related to the fact that the Saudi pledge to add 200,000 barrels/month production doesn't matter much against a projected 4M barrel annual decline this year alone.
Oh, and the CBO is estimating that the foreclosure bill currently in the Senate will cost around US$1.7B. That's much less than the US$5B in taxpayer-funded writeoffs BoA will be using - with all those surprise $10 parking fees - to buy Countrywide.
Oh, an watch out for Citigroup pulling similar shit - they're having to write off yet another US$8.9B, bringing the total written off this past year to around US$43B, with more to come. Goldman Sachs dropped their recommenation on the stock from "sell" to "sell right now, motherfuckers, and short it if you can," which I have never seen before in my life for a large corporation. Awesome.
Meanwhile, despite three states threatening to decertify Countrywide as a lender within those states, Bank of America is still insisting they're going ahead with the Countrywide buyout, tho' they'll lay off 7,500 workers to do it and can't duck the legal liabilities.
Oil bounced off US$140.39/barrel today, with OPEC saying "it's not us, it's the US dollar." Said dollar has been taking it in the teeth since the Fed didn't raise rates yesterday, but it's not that big a swing, and we're still a couple of percent (which is a lot, in currency terms) above the lows earlier this year. Part of the recent swoon may be Asian countries selling dollars to stave off inflation. Commercial lending is getting very, very scary as spreads soar (up is bad on those charts, note the big spikes of the last couple of days), and the interbank-overnight-lending spread (the TED) is well over 100 basis points again and heading upwards. (Normal used to be about 25. Note previous rounds of credit crisis in that graph.)
But CIBC Canada is projecting US$7/gallon in a year and a half, and says the US has wasted huge amounts of money on freeway infrastructure - and that 10,000,000 cars will be off the road in the very near future as the roughly 19% of Americans with direct access to transit will swarm to it. This is presumably related to the fact that the Saudi pledge to add 200,000 barrels/month production doesn't matter much against a projected 4M barrel annual decline this year alone.
Oh, and the CBO is estimating that the foreclosure bill currently in the Senate will cost around US$1.7B. That's much less than the US$5B in taxpayer-funded writeoffs BoA will be using - with all those surprise $10 parking fees - to buy Countrywide.
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no subject
Date: 2008-06-26 11:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-27 05:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-27 12:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-27 12:12 am (UTC)Puffy clouds w/out Strontium 90. Puff clouds w/out Strontium 90.
- Paul
no subject
Date: 2008-06-27 02:22 am (UTC)*looks at his Countrywide mortgage and cries*
no subject
Date: 2008-06-27 05:08 am (UTC)Mind you, you don't have to worry just because your mortgage is with them. The terms are the terms. They might be fucked, but that doesn't mean your mortgage screws you just because they go under - it'd just be sold off as part of the bankruptcy proceedings to another lender, or to a mortgage warehouser, or possibly to ... well, really, who knows. But it's not going to get called, particularly not as long as you have any equity and are making payments.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-27 05:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-27 03:18 pm (UTC)