The S&P 381 and Other Oddities

Here’s some funky stuff for the day:

The Bespoke Boys point out that 23.8% of the S&P500 381 "no longer fulfill the $5 billion market cap requirement for inclusion in the index." Ouch . . .

  How’s My Bank?

Bank of America Says Losses Shift to Commercial Loans   

Update on the Seeking Alpha situation

For sale: One investment management division (trading op for free)

Oxley hits back at ideologues

The GSE Honeymoon Is Over

Goldman Sachs Recession Odds: 95%   

CMOs Up Digital, Cut Traditional    

Intrade Presidential Futures market is a deadheat

Suing Uncle Sam After Fannie and Freddie? Probably Not

Berkshire, in Blow to Banks, Reins In Its Deposit Insurer 

• Good news! We haven’t been sucked into a giant black hole due to the Large Hadron Collider

• A book of things that look like Breasts: One Track Mind

 

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

What's been said:

Discussions found on the web:
  1. CNBC Sucks commented on Sep 10

    Too much stuff going on here…against which one do I comment? The breast thing is obvious, so I can say something about Margaret Brennan’s CNBC 34D+, I mean CNBC HD+, interview with Diane von Furstenberg. But that’s not like me so I will say that the S&P 381 just about says it all. That’s just the start, too.

    But the Biggest Picture (there’s another name for you, Barry) is the boxing match on Intrade going on today between Obama and McCain. McCain is up almost 3 points above Obama after months of being way under. These next 7+ weeks will say a lot about what happens to investments for a long, long time.

  2. Kirk commented on Sep 10

    Barry,

    Whataya know! DEADHEAT!

  3. clipb commented on Sep 10

    sorry barry, but the lhc is just starting to warm up. the 1/1,000,000,000,000 chance of a world destroying black hole probably won’t happen for a couple of weeks. is that good for the bears?

  4. Vermont Trader commented on Sep 10

    Tap TSLF, buy FNM notes. Earn massive carry to help restore your bank or prop shop back to health. Backed and paid for by you and I.

    “Fannie Mae (FNM) sold a record $7 billion of two-year notes Wednesday.

    The debt was sold at 70 basis points over comparable Treasurys, to yield 2.896%. “Spreads were very attractive for investors,” said Jim Vogel, an analyst at FTN Financial.”

  5. Eric Blood Axe commented on Sep 10

    We aren’t safe yet, they only ran stuff one way round, the big picture comes when they run stuff in opposite directions.

  6. ramstone commented on Sep 10

    I like how the breasts link is right under the link about the Hardon collider.

  7. Bruce in Tennessee commented on Sep 10

    Speaking of no longer fulfilling a market cap…what about SIRI? I thought we were reassured by a market seer who comes on a cable program in the afternoon, that once the merger with XM was over that this would be a wonderful stock…don’t tell me he got it wrong…?

    Oh, well….

    Wait, before I post this…this is an object lesson for all of us…we can all make money in a bull market, but bear markets do make all of us look stupid, even if we aren’t helping…

    Bruce in Tennessee

  8. VennData commented on Sep 10

    I’d like to see some more info once Frannie’s broken up into N separate companies.

    I’m sure the little Fannies won’t re-congeal like the phone companies (who’ve done such a great job on cell coverage, broadband roll out, easy access to your current minutes used, clear billing etc…)

  9. John Navin commented on Sep 10

    Well, Barry, we may have gone through a black hole and not realized it. There’s just no way of telling.

  10. Donkei commented on Sep 10

    It’s hardly worth doing the math, but is GM’s market cap even $5 billion anymore? Shouldn’t the DOW have a requirement that the company has some near-term prospect of actually earning money?

    Since they’ll default on it anyway, maybe GM can just roll its share of the $50 billion of Uncle Ben’s sugar the car makers are after straight onto its income statement as earnings. I mean, it is earnings if you borrow money with no intention of paying it back, no?

    They could juice their market cap by doling their “earnings” out as dividends. So maybe they can stay in the DOW club. Maybe. But probably only because there aren’t any good replacements.

  11. Donkei commented on Sep 10

    Incidentally, couldn’t help it but had to see–at today’s close GM is worth about $6.5 billion. Barely makes the S&P.

    Now, about those “earnings”…

  12. mo commented on Sep 10

    The BF loved the One Track Mind link.

    sigh

    :-)

  13. MarkTX commented on Sep 10

    Well, Barry, we may have gone through a black hole and not realized it. There’s just no way of telling.

    Posted by: John Navin | Sep 10, 2008 5:17:17 PM

    Actually maybe there is….

    Black Hole effect????

    92.5 million shares of FNM
    56.0 million shares of FRE

    all consumed on the last tick of the day.

  14. Fred S, commented on Sep 10

    The Oxley article is most telling. The boobs have taken over!

  15. Winston Munn commented on Sep 10

    Why, pray tell me, is there any risk premium at all for GSE debt now that they are “as good as treasuries”?

  16. constantnormal commented on Sep 11

    There is still a risk premium for GSE debt because rules are meant to be changed. What we should be seeing (and probably are) is the risk premium from GSE debt bleeding over into Treasuries.

    Watch for mutual funds companies to begin advertising a new sweep “feature”, leaving your spare cash as cash, and not moving it into money market funds, which as they note, have no guarantees whatsoever. The cash has a “guaranteed” zero-percent yield. Kind of the mutual fund equivalent of burying your money in mayonnaise jars in the back yard.

Posted Under