If you ever have a reason to go to Cici's pizza, find a reason not to go.....We went for a school function tonight.......Horrible horrible food......Clam, do yourself a favor, don't let the kids talk you into it...

quote:

Originally posted by Amy:
And, as for objectifying men, honestly, my opinion of looks is heavily influenced by personality...probably why I'm not a Tom Brady fan.

Wow. I feel like a criminal. JK!

In real life, I'm a huge fan of sweet, funny men. I even went ahead and married one. But, I think he's pretty cute, too!

Is the fed going to drop interest rates again in 2 weeks? I am hearing things...

I heard the sky was falling!!

This is a lot of fog.

quote:

Originally posted by BlueEchoes:
Is the fed going to drop interest rates again in 2 weeks? I am hearing things...

What? A lot of people are talking rates in the IT/Photo world?

quote:

Originally posted by BlueEchoes:
Is the fed going to drop interest rates again in 2 weeks? I am hearing things...

Any time they drop rates this quickly, I always feel as though they know something bad is a comin' down the road.

quote:

Originally posted by Clamato:

quote:

Originally posted by BlueEchoes:
Is the fed going to drop interest rates again in 2 weeks? I am hearing things...

Any time they drop rates this quickly, I always feel as though they know something bad is a comin' down the road.

I was out to lunch with a investment guy who I respect very much before last week's 50 basis point drop. He was hoping for no move, expecting a 25 basis point move and said that if the move is 50, things are really really bad and some company, one which we would never suspect, is about to go down....and down hard.

FWIW.

Clam, what is the bond market doing? Is it a good time to go out and issue bonds?

Merrill???

quote:

Originally posted by IMJ:
Clam, what is the bond market doing? Is it a good time to go out and issue bonds?

Talk to Ruydah. And vote YES regardless...

quote:

Originally posted by Clamato:
Merrill???

He didn't give me a name...and I don't think he knew. He was just commenting. Then, 40 minutes later, the Fed dropped the key rate by 50.

I suspected Merrill too.

I wonder if Ruydah knows Mrs. IMJ......She talks about a couple of bankers that live on the north side of GE that she has to deal with for work?

I guess if I vote Yes, I will get it right at least 50% of the time.....

quote:

I was out to lunch with a investment guy who I respect very much before last week's 50 basis point drop. He was hoping for no move, expecting a 25 basis point move and said that if the move is 50, things are really really bad and some company, one which we would never suspect, is about to go down....and down hard.

There were two rate cuts last month. The .75 pointer on 1/22 and prior to the FOMC meeting was unexpected, but the .50 pointer on 1/30, I think was predicted by most. A day or two after the .75 cut, a trader at Societe Generale committed a 7.1 billion dollar fraud.

"Fraud"...or scapegoat? I think it was SocGen's way of not saying they had $7.1MMM in sub-prime debt loss.

Agreed. They deserved to lose the $7.1 bill if they gave the guy the tools to work the system in the first place.

Bernanke F'd up. Europe tanked on no news when SocGen puked, pummeling the market. The rate cut followed and did not precede SocGen.

That cut was almost certainly a mistake - Bernanke was apparently unaware of the position being liquidated and was spooked. (Whoever blew the trader out at SocGen was an idiot and clearly did not understand the position or what was necessary to neutralize the risk.)

Oh, and fraud charges against Kerviel have been dropped ... (It is not likely damn near impossible that he actually carried a position capable of losses this size, these were after all exchange traded instruments.)

back to your regularly scheduled hi-jacking

Indeed, the fraud charges have been dropped. Thanks for pointing that out. Based on what I read, Kerviel admitted to breaking rules and forging documents to evade internal controls. He insists that his supervisors turned a blind eye and that lawlessness was part of SocGen's culture. I am not sure how these admissions fit in with a subprime cover-up, I guess it's possible. Looks like he's remains under investigation for falsification, computer abuse and breach of trust.

quote:

Originally posted by bitterboy:
I am not sure how these admissions fit in with a subprime cover-up, I guess it's possible.

Someone simply folds the subprime into his book, no different then when police departments clear old murders by pinning them on the most recent serial killer.

If they did try that though it will blow up in their face, there will be a postmortem and no one will buy that a Dax trader was holding the majority of SocGen's US cash mortgage positions ...