As per Einhorn’s quarterly letter, his fund are down 6.2%, 5.6% and 6.1% for the year.

“Financial assistance is not in the cards,” one euro zone official said, adding the euro zone was not even considering extending a precautionary credit line to Rome.”

Full article

Now at 7.06%, down from 7.6%. It appears there is some intervention underway.

CORRECTION: yields are at 7.24%. Pardon my retardation.

No. Ticker % Change Sector
1 MKTG -20.71 FINANCIAL
2 ING -11.96 FINANCIAL
3 HMPR -10.18 FINANCIAL
4 AEG -8.82 FINANCIAL
5 DB -8.78 FINANCIAL
6 BCS -8.55 FINANCIAL
7 DGIT -8.53 FINANCIAL
8 RDN -8.53 FINANCIAL
9 OCN -8.25 FINANCIAL
10 HBC -8.04 FINANCIAL
11 CS -8.03 FINANCIAL
12 PNSN -7.76 FINANCIAL
13 LMLP -7.56 FINANCIAL
14 STD -7.25 FINANCIAL
15 ENOC -7.08 FINANCIAL
16 BBVA -6.99 FINANCIAL
17 UBS -6.90 FINANCIAL
18 LIME -6.87 FINANCIAL
19 PUK -6.80 FINANCIAL
20 NBG -6.44 FINANCIAL
21 LYG -6.35 FINANCIAL
22 MS -6.29 FINANCIAL
23 ETFC -6.27 FINANCIAL
24 NCT -6.14 FINANCIAL
25 Z -6.09 FINANCIAL
26 JEF -6.03 FINANCIAL
27 CRD-B -5.72 FINANCIAL
28 RF -5.71 FINANCIAL
29 DRL -5.51 FINANCIAL
30 IRE -5.50 FINANCIAL
31 GRNB -5.47 FINANCIAL
32 LNC -5.47 FINANCIAL
33 KB -5.43 FINANCIAL
34 TAOM -5.28 FINANCIAL
35 JNS -5.26 FINANCIAL
36 PFG -5.25 FINANCIAL
37 MTG -5.21 FINANCIAL
38 PRU -5.19 FINANCIAL
39 PL -5.13 FINANCIAL
40 STI -5.10 FINANCIAL
41 UVE -5.07 FINANCIAL
42 LABL -5.07 FINANCIAL
43 SHG -5.05 FINANCIAL
44 TPGI -5.04 FINANCIAL
45 MET -5.02 FINANCIAL
46 AAT -5.00 FINANCIAL
47 LAZ -4.92 FINANCIAL
48 COWN -4.91 FINANCIAL
49 IBN -4.91 FINANCIAL
50 OZM -4.90 FINANCIAL

Credibility is also at stake….

Volcker blames financial lobbyists 

Costly new capital rules along with a overall slowdown may have HSBC ditching the U.K.

Full article

You thought Greece was bad for French banks;currently BNP and Credit Agricole have $416 billion in Italian exposure.

Full article

10 yr yields blew out this morning, now at 7.5%. Italian markets are down 4%+.

Banks are booking losses

”Gold rising in euro terms says to me that the market doesn’t expect good news from Europe,” he says. “All is not well.”

Full article

Minus the cash against the debt on the books and see what you get. In a low yield world corporations can issue a ton of debt.

Full article

They are scheduled to have a bond auction on Thursday.

Delinquencies rose from 5.88% to 6.44% 

Charting the yield

Full article and chart porn

Of course Greece and Italy are going to be the crash test dummies for now.

Full article

“Citigroup Inc. (C), JPMorgan Chase & Co., BNP Paribas SA, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, and HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) may face top capital surcharges of 2.5 percentage points, according to a provisional list prepared by global regulators and obtained by Bloomberg News.

The list was drawn up as part of plans by the Group of 20 nations to force banks whose failure could damage the global economy to boost their reserves by 1 to 2.5 percentage points above minimum levels agreed on by international regulators. Bank of America Corp. (BAC),Barclays Plc (BARC) and Germany’s biggest bank Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) may face surcharges of 2 percentage points, according to the list.

“You’re saying by virtue of being a bigger bank, you’re going to have to pay for that,” Joseph R. Mason, a finance professor at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, said in a telephone interview. “You’re creating an incentive for big banks to hide even more risk to get the surcharge reduced.”

Full article

“Rejecting criticism by China that the Obama administration’s goals for this week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit are too ambitious, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said the U.S. will “push the envelope” to promote trade in renewable energy technology.

Kirk is seeking an agreement with 20 other APEC nations to lower tariffs on environmental goods and services, a move supported by companies such as General Electric Co. (GE) and Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) The U.S. has pushed for free trade in those products as part of the stalled Doha Round of World Trade Organization talks.

“I understand China may be uncomfortable with it,” Kirk said yesterday in an interview in Washington. “We’re always going to try to push the envelope and encourage our partners to be more assertive, more forward-thinking. We don’t serve the interests of American entrepreneurs and innovators if we go in and always see the floor as the highest level of ambition.”

Full article

They would like to make things safer by creating a floating net asset value and capital buffers.

Full article