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’Michael Lewis and Meredith Whitney in muniland
Following his not-so Grand Tour of Europe, the esteemed vagabond financial scribe Michael Lewis has returned home to report on California for Vanity Fair:
In our opinion, it’s not as perceptive as his articles on Greece or Ireland but it’s still worth an Instapaper click.
29 weeks later: muni bonds after the apocalypse
Nobody tell Meredith Whitney but municipal bond funds finally ended their 29 week run of outflows:
And nobody tell muni bond cork poppers this may be just the flip side to the equities pull back.
Recovering from muni defaults
There’s been plenty of hurly-burly lately over forecasts of default rates in the municipal bond market.
But what of recovery amounts, should muni bonds default?
Via Cate Long’s Muniland blog, a paper by RockFleet financial services (RF) argues that forecasts of “hundreds of billions”
Get specific on muni bonds, say Roubini analysts
Municipal bonds, doctor doom will see you now.
The WSJ reports Wednesday that Roubini Global Economics analysts David Nowakowski and Prajakta Bhide estimate there will be about $100bn of muni bond “defaults”
The metamorphosis of the muni market
Wednesday’s House hearing into state and municipal debt had a touch of the “Scottish play” about proceedings.
When Meredith Whitney was finally mentioned, Chairman Patrick McHenry quipped that the rules had been broken.
Meredith Whitney and the muni fifth dimension
Bloomberg has tracked down Meredith Whitney, bought her scrambled eggs, and demanded an explanation.
In an article out on Tuesday, Whitney is asked about her prediction that “You could see 50 sizable defaults,
A two-tiered municipal bond market?
Never mind two-tiered government bond markets in Europe — what about two-tiering in US municipal debt?
That’s the implication from the WSJ on Monday morning and from CBS’ 60 Minutes report on state finances on Sunday evening.
The Volcker rule, our bet it goes through… (MWAG)
…and it will not be pretty for banks or consumers.
So says Meredith, ‘superstar banking analyst’, Whitney of the Meredith Whitney Advisory Group LLC (MWAG).
As usual we are having trouble getting hold of the full note/email,
This year’s Halloween favourites
This Saturday is Halloween. If you’re in finance and fancy making an ironic statement — or just want to deflect from being part of ye most hated of trade guilds — then perhaps you might consider some of the following outfits we at FT Alphaville have cherry-picked as favourites for this year’s festivities.
Mystery Meredith Whitney Goldman downgrade – update
Okay – if you want to know what Meredith said about Goldman Sachs on Tuesday, you no longer have to try to mind-meld with the bankslayer.
Here’s why she downgraded the mighty Goldman:
And as a special bonus,
Mystery Meredith Whitney Goldman downgrade
This is how analyst Meredith Whitney treats the media — the industry that helped turn her into the renowned bankslayer she is today:
While clients get the full Goldman note, journalists are left to psychically read Whitney’s thoughts.
Battle of the financial pundits
We at FT Alphaville are not getting involved in this one, though we think our readers might want to wade in.
The very vocal Janet Tavakoli, of Tavakoli Structured Finance, has been in an ongoing spat with Black Swan man Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
Meredith Whitney is our leader
David Rosenberg’s latest morning note has some interesting observations on the behaviour of investors and the cult of personality that seems to have arisen around former-bank slayer Meredith Whitney:
We thought that the ability of one person to move the market went out three decades ago with Henry Kaufmann over at Salomon Bros.,
Meredith on Goldman – (re-)re-redacted (updated)
Finally… (H/T GP)
Earlier on Monday the media were fed an expurgated version of Meredith Whitney’s “buy” recommendation on Goldman Sachs — issued ahead of the investment bank’s Q2s on Tuesday. All we got was news that MWAG saw the stock as attractive in a bear market,
MWAG ♥ GS
Trouble is, we don’t know why.
And nor does Bloomberg, judging from the below story. Mind you the preview for tomorrow’s results from the giant vampire squid Goldman is still rather useful:
July 13 (Bloomberg) — Meredith Whitney,
Meredith Cassandra Whitney
On the issue of credit card debt and the deteriorating health of the US consumer, the FT reports on Thursday:
Record credit card losses are pushing big US banks to come to the rescue of off-balance sheet vehicles they use to transform hundreds of billions of dollars in consumer loans into securities sold to investors. The support provided by Citigroup,
Whitney: “I call this the great government momentum trade”
Meredith Whitney appeared on CNBC Monday afternoon with some insightful comments on the recent rally in banks.
Via Clusterstock:
They were overdone all the way into this rally. What happened was the government — I call this the great government momentum trade — the government enabled the banks to have better than expected,
Bank of America divides analyst opinions
Richard Bove (of Rochdale Research, formerly of Ladeburg Thalmann), in the Wall Street Journal on Monday:
In restarting his coverage of Bank of America Corp. (BAC), he called the economy’s bottom.
Meredith Whitney speaks on bank profitability
Does she even recognise the concept?
Bank-slayer Meredith Whitney has been speaking with Steve Forbes on the subject of the financial industry. Most of it is a recap but she does give her (fresh) opinion on the mysterious early 2009 profitability of US investment banks like Citigroup,
Meredith Whitney is hiring
Someone in finance is hiring, and it’s not just anyone…
It’s bank-slayer Meredith Whitney at her new non-Oppenheimer gig. From the NYMag:
Whitney says that [her] company’s focus will be on the same type of research she was doing at Oppenheimer.
Me, myself and Meredith Whitney
Only last week superstar analyst Meredith Whitney – bankslayer, the anti-pandit, etc. – announced she would be leaving her present employer, Oppenheimer, and setting out on her own.
Welcome, then, Meredith Whitney Advisory Group.
Oppenheimer’s Whitney resigns
Meredith Whitney, the analyst whose prescient bearish warnings on Citigroup and other banks have earned her a strong following, has left Oppenheimer & Co to set up her own research and advisory firm, reports the FT.
Yes Meredith, we know you’re worried about credit cards
Exhibit A – Meredith Whitney tells the FT she’s worried about the credit card industry, says aversion to risk will deprive consumers of more than $2,000bn (Nov 10).
Exhibit B – Whitney’s team at Oppenheimer release a note title “Consolidated lending market poses risk to overall consumer liquidity”;
Whitney on Citi: a “speculative investment”
Meredith Whitney cut her teeth on Citi. For nearly a year now the analyst has had a strong bearish ‘sell’ slapped on the banking monolith. A rating which, when initiated, made Whitney’s name go household.
Further reading
Elsewhere this morning,
- Investment banks may be abusing the money they are borrowing from the Federal Reserve’s discount window in order to issue dividends, said a top House Democrat.
- “The rating agencies are at the vortex of the storm…
Sell humans, sell banks says Whitney
Beware humans. Oppenheimer & Co analyst Meredith Whitney told the Times after JPMorgan upped its offer for Bear Stearns:
Jamie Dimon was clearly very upset with how distraught Bear employees were. His decision to raise the offer was definitely a human move and as a leader you can’t be human.
Whitney: “Another 50% downside for financials”
Might the undoing of Bear Stearns be a cathartic event, causing Meredith Whitney to rein back on her famously bearish views?
Evidently not.
The Oppenheimer analyst has issued a fresh “underperform”
Meredith not afraid to wrestle with Citi
You have the temerity to flag up the fact that the world’s biggest bank isn’t in tip top shape, and what do you get? Death threats, apparently.
Meredith Whitney, the CIBC analyst who prompted a slump in Citi shares last week by first suggesting the bank might have to cut its dividend,