Congressional Memo Re Investigation of Collapse of MF Global

Congressional Memo Re Investigation of Collapse of MF Global - Google Docs

Jon S. Corzine gave "direct instructions" to move $200 million from an MF Global Holdings Ltd. account containing customer funds three days before the securities firm collapsed, according to an employee email reviewed by congressional investigators.  The Oct. 28 email was disclosed in a five-page memo released Friday afternoon by a House Financial Services subcommittee. The panel is investigating what caused an estimated $1.6 billion shortfall in customer funds at MF Global, which collapsed into bankruptcy Oct. 31.

Corzine OK'd MF Fund Transfer

Corzine OK'd MF Fund Transfer, Probe Finds - WSJ.com

Jon S. Corzine gave "direct instructions" to move $200 million from an MF Global Holdings Ltd. account containing customer funds three days before the securities firm collapsed, according to an employee email reviewed by congressional investigators.  The Oct. 28 email was disclosed in a five-page memo released Friday afternoon by a House Financial Services subcommittee. The panel is investigating what caused an estimated $1.6 billion shortfall in customer funds at MF Global, which collapsed into bankruptcy Oct. 31.

Traders Tired Of Fighting The Fed

RATE FUTURES REPORT: Traders Fatigued At Fighting The Fed - WSJ.com
 
CHICAGO (Dow Jones)--Traders of U.S. interest rate futures grew increasingly weary this week of establishing positions running counter to the Federal Reserve's intention of holding short-term yields near record low levels for at least another two years.  Speculation intensified that rates would move up at a quicker pace after the Fed issued a slightly more upbeat view of economic conditions at its March 13 policy meeting.  However, the central bank's rate outlook hadn't changed. The Fed expects the short-term federal-funds rate will remain "exceptionally" low at least through late 2014. Also, this week, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said policy makers should not be too quick to remove stimulative measures that are aiding the economy.  Bernanke's comments "reminded people that it doesn't pay to take the other side of the trade with the central bank," said Chuck Retzky, director of futures sales at Mizuho Securities USA.

Shunned by US, Turkey Looks for Alternative Oil

Shunned by US, Turkey Looks for Alternative Oil

Turkey is in talks with Saudi Arabia and Libya to buy oil in a bid to diversify supplies, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yıldız has said, stressing that Ankara would continue to seek exemption from U.S. sanctions on Iran.  “Turkey’s absence from the U.S.’s waiver list regarding the Iran issue doesn’t mean it will not be included,” Yıldız told reporters yesterday. “Those talks are carried out on the level of companies,” he added.  Stressing that Turkey’s security of supply was an important issue; the minister said they would not halt purchasing crude oil from Iran unless other suppliers were lined up.

Silver, Crude Oil Advance; Sugar Declines

Silver, Crude Oil Advance; Sugar Declines: Commodities at Close - Bloomberg

The Standard & Poor’s GSCI gauge of 24 commodities gained 1.1 percent to 703.33 at 4:41 p.m. in New York. Silver, wheat and crude oil led the advance.  The UBS Bloomberg CMCI index of 26 raw materials rose for the first time in four days by 0.7 percent to 1,620.665 at 5:19 p.m.

U.S. Says Iran Crude Buyers Must Pledge Cuts to Avoid Sanctions

U.S. Says Iran Crude Buyers Must Pledge Cuts to Avoid Sanctions - Bloomberg

The Obama administration wants China, India and 10 other nations to present specific plans of how they will curtail Iranian (OPCRIRAN) oil imports, saying past cuts aren’t enough to win them an exclusion from new U.S. sanctions.  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton this week granted Japan and European Union countries six-month, renewable exemptions from the measures that take effect June 28, crediting them with “significantly reducing” imports from the Persian Gulf nation.

Texas Tops Finds From Brazil to Bakken as Best Energy Prospect

Texas Tops Finds From Brazil to Bakken as Best Prospect: Energy - Bloomberg

Energy companies in search of oil riches rivaling the biggest finds from Brazil to Angola are flocking to Texas shale, where new wells have triggered a 230- fold increase in crude output in three years.
More than 115 years after a gusher 55 miles (88 kilometers) south of Dallas ushered in Texas’ first oil boom, U.S. producers such as ConocoPhillips and Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) are counting on the Eagle Ford Shale to boost crude output amid a glut-driven slump in natural-gas prices.

There is a Great Disturbance in the Force Two Regional Fed Regional Presidents Oppose Buying More Bonds

Fed Purchases of More Bonds Opposed by Two Regional Presidents - Bloomberg

Two Federal Reserve district bank presidents said the strengthening U.S. economy is reducing the need for additional monetary easing.  “As the U.S. economy continues to rebound and repair,” additional steps “may create an overcommitment to ultra-easy monetary policy,” St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said in a speech yesterday in Hong Kong. Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said in Washington that “we should hold the balance sheet where it is for the time being and watch how the economy evolves.”

Hedge Funds May Try CO2 Market

Hedge Funds Seeking 15% Returns May Try CO2 Market, DIW Says - Bloomberg

Hedge funds seeking annual returns on investments of 15 percent may enter the European Union carbon market after prices plunged 59 percent in the past year, according to DIW Berlin.  The plunging price may be enough to attract some new investors to the market, even as supply threatens to overwhelm demand over the next few years, said Karsten Neuhoff, an energy and climate policy specialist at the provider of economic research in the German capital. “It could be an attractive market for hedge funds,” he said yesterday by phone.  Carbon permits for December fell 3.4 percent to 7.18 euros ($9.46) a metric ton on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London at 12:55 p.m. local time. They fell to a record 6.38 euros a ton on Jan. 4.

FBI Files Reveal How Madoff Fooled His Own Employees

Madoff FBI Files Reveal How He Fooled His Own Employees - Bloomberg

After several drinks at a Greek restaurant on Manhattan’s Third Avenue in the summer of 2006, two computer programmers at Bernard Madoff’s investment firm asked their supervisor whether the boss’s business was a scam.  Chief Financial Officer Frank DiPascali laughed off the question, telling George Perez and Jerome O’Hara that Madoff was honest. DiPascali would later tell the FBI he wondered why they took so long to ask.

Lee, Rosenberg Debate Outlook for U.S. Stocks

Lee, Rosenberg Debate Outlook for U.S. Stocks - The Washington Post



 Mar. 23, 2012 - March 23 (Bloomberg) -- Thomas Lee, chief U.S. equity strategist at JPMorgan Chase & Co., and David Rosenberg, chief economist and strategist at Gluskin Sheff & Associates Inc., talk about the outlook for U.S. stocks and their investment strategies. They speak with Trish Regan and Adam Johnson on Bloomberg Television's "Street Smart." (Bloomberg)

Gluskin Sheff’s Rosenberg Recommends Commodities

Audio Download: Gluskin Sheff’s Rosenberg Recommends Commodities 

David Rosenberg, chief economist and strategist at Gluskin Sheff & Associates Inc., talks about the outlook for U.S. stocks, commodities, and their investment strategies.

U.S. Tax Breaks Valued at More Than $1 Trillion

U.S. Tax Breaks Valued at More Than $1 Trillion, WSJ Reports - Bloomberg

The value of U.S. tax breaks exceeds $1 trillion, which may give both parties potential areas to cut costs and alleviate the cost of changing the tax code, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a study.
The Congressional Research Service report found the biggest tax break is likely to be valued at $164 billion annually in 2014 and is on employer-provided health insurance, while employer-provided pensions are the second-biggest exclusion at about $163 billion, the newspaper said.

Energy Brokers Get Shelter From EU’s Shift to Exchanges

Energy Brokers Get Shelter From EU’s Shift to Exchanges - Bloomberg



Commodity brokers, facing a loss of business from a shift of derivatives trading onto exchanges, are seeking a reprieve under European proposals letting them maintain control of less transparent niche markets.  Energy derivatives that don’t trade continuously, such as swaps and options in Dated Brent crude and carbon permits, should be treated differently than other asset classes such as equities, Alex McDonald, chief executive of the London Energy Brokers’ Association, said in an interview last month. Rules being considered by European lawmakers will help determine which contracts are traded through Organized Trading Facilities, or OTFs, where brokers wouldn’t need to disclose bids and offers.

Will Coffee Rebound to $2/lb.?

Arabica Coffee Will Rebound on Tighter Supplies, Illy Says - Bloomberg

 Arabica-coffee futures may rebound to as high as $2 a pound by year-end as global stockpiles tighten, world demand remains firm and climate change keeps production trailing demand, according to Illycaffe SpA.  “World inventories are still very low at producing and importing countries,” Andrea Illy, chief executive officer of the Trieste, Italy-based specialty coffee company, said in an interview during the National Coffee Association’s annual conference in Charleston, South Carolina.

Ethanol is good for corn and livestock producers

Ethanol industry good for corn, livestock producers

In the past 10 years, the ethanol industry has changed the dynamics of both the livestock and corn industries across the nation.  "A lot has changed in the past 10 years. We have gone from 1 billion bushels of corn being used for ethanol in 2002, to 9 billion bushels of corn being used for ethanol in 2011," said Iowa's Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey, during a panel discussion on the synergies of livestock and ethanol at the Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit held in Des Moines in January.