The TLFs INSIDER TRADER!

[manarak]

I wonder what the price for Lufthansa / British Airways etc. puts will be monday.

The ash cloud just needs to stay around a month and these companies are toast.

[pacman]

And what are the prospects for Goldman Sachs now that the Obama administration has openly accused them of criminal deception & are planning to take them through the courts?

Their price dropped 15% on the news. This will be well received by the people & has sent shock waves through the banking community.

I think this is the best story to have come out of the GFC crisis yet & I sincerely hope they jail the bastards. No one should be allowed to profit from a rigged market.

[PigDogg]

No jail, it's a civil suit.

Just Goldman doing god's work as usual creating CDOs so Paulson's (no relation to Hank) hedge fund could short it.

[pacman]

If they find the directors have rigged the system to cash in while others have been wiped out, they may face charges of treason (or whatever the US equivalent is) & could be in far worse trouble than they realise.

I do not put it past Obama to go down this road - it would be enormously popular & would send out the strongest possible message.

Before the US economy recovers there will be some dramatic action taken against those who profited by exploiting their positions. Watch this space.

[pacman]

The action to charge Goldman Sachs with fraud will be the trial of the decade.

The Goverment has already won in the court of public opinion & should prevail legally. (Imagine the defense bill?)

This will force the regulators to take further action & they will then investigate every questionable action taken by the banks.

I think many bankers will be looking at early retirement & migration to anywhere that doesn't allow extradition to the US.

[azza33]

ummm not sure its the smoking gun or not Pac.

From my limited reading of the issue - its a technical disclosure matter in the propectus. And only one of the last couple on issue. It's not an across the board attack at CDOs rather specific to a select few issues. I think they are trying to argue that the risk was never fully disclosed... im not sure either way about that.

You can imagine the 'trial' - they will put in place the most convoluted defense in history - no one will truly understand and then a not guilty veridct will be announced.

As for the shorting of those funds... nothing wrong with that at all!!
They were smart enough to realise the true risk on those CDO and won a bet.

If anyone ever bothered reading a prospectus i'd be truly suprised as if they had, i'd suggest no-one would have bought CDOs in the first place.

The multilayer credit risk that underpins this type of product is fooked in my opinion.
Why anyone would want any part of the action is incredulous to me.

Shorting is the only logical position you would want on this product.

Just a shame we all didnt get on the gravy train here.

[PigDogg]

(azza33 @ Apr. 17 2010,21:53) Just a shame we all didnt get on the gravy train here.

Knowing what we know know we could short companies like Countrywide Financial or buy PUT options but I'm not sure if retail investors could directly short CDOs.

I'd be curious to know how if anyone knows.

btw-I had some SKF but it didn't perform exactly as one might expect.

[azza33]

Im curious as well PD. Ill admit it's far from my knowledge base.
Definitely here in oz there are no exchange traded facilities available.

It really would appear to be an over the counter type product
and unless your position is worthwhile - small players are not likely to be given a chance to play.


Just a curiousity though - GS used CDS issued by AIG. They claim the money given to them by AIG through the govt. bailout of AIG was not important given they also took a position on AIG falling over. Certainly not ilegal, but it tells you how much faith they really had in this house of cards when they are taking multiple hedging positions on the one transaction.

[azza33]

oh and i shorted the some banks here in OZ in November 2007 after liquidating my entire share portfolio.
Shame i never rode those shorts for 1 year cos i'd be retired by now

[Bumpa STIKKA]

LIDCO... check it out in about one hour...

[deepthroat]

Apple continues on a tear. It was up something like 7-10% last week alone.

I'm thinking about Citigroup now. It's been hit hard despite it's profits and it might be a good time to buy.

NYSE symbol: C
Last price: $4.86

[PigDogg]

Anyone know if the English,French, and German markets are closed on May 3rd?

If so, there may be some stale prcing opportunities with American mutual funds that don't "fair price" that have European holdings.

[katoeylover]

UK Market closed on may 3rd and May 31st too

[Tomcat]

Should be interesting to see what the markets will make of the hung parliment thats coming in the UK.

Lets face it .. this is the stark reality and its going to happen..probably bad news for me as more indecision means more instability in the currency markets. Some shares will take a hiding thats for sure in the coming jittery days ahead .

[PigDogg]

(deepthroat @ Apr. 25 2010,22:49) I'm thinking about Citigroup now. It's been hit hard despite it's profits and it might be a good time to buy.

NYSE symbol: C
Last price: $4.86

Treasury Department will soon be selling lots of Citigroup resulting in extreme downward price pressure.