It has been an interesting few weeks. While Federal Reserve officials have been hyping up the possibility of raising interest rates in June or July, Friday’s incredibly poor jobs report seems likely to delay any hike until September at the earliest. For many short-term oriented traders, bank stocks have become a trading tool to speculate...Read More

This week the Federal Reserve will make a decision on interest rate policy where is it expected to raise by 25 bps.  This would be the first raise in nearly a decade, which is stifling to begin with.  There has been a great deal of volatility of late, which is not uncommon before a rate...Read More

One of my favorite fund managers, Steven Romick of FPA wrote a compelling letter about the Federal Reserve, and the risks of current policies.  I agree with everything that he says in terms of Ben Bernanke and the huge risks that he is taking.  The only thing that I don’t believe Romick adequately covered was...Read More

This WSJ article seems to not really understand bank business models or the current environment.  Right now banks are overloaded with huge litigation and regulatory costs which are effecting profitability.  In addition net interest margins are artificially low due to actions from the Federal Reserve.  As these issues reside, bank profits should grow.  In addition...Read More

As if there wasn’t enough evidence of how ridiculous the regulatory environment has gotten, the below WSJ article describes how the Federal Reserve won’t share their formulas for the stress tests.  This process is so complicated and there is so much information that it is virtually impossible for any one formula to be right, but...Read More

This was an excellent interview with Richard Perry of Perry Capital where he comments on how recapitalizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could contribute to an economic recovery.  He rightly points out how there has been no effort to recoup taxpayer money on these entities while the Treasury’s other investments have actually worked out quite...Read More

Further evidence that the economy is weakening can be seen as Berkshire Hathaway’s (BRK/A) rental furniture unit saw a slowing of demand from business clients in the second quarter.  Businesses are reluctant to invest in growth because of a lack of confidence in the overall economy.  While the Federal Reserve has been extremely loose, the...Read More

David Einhorn points out some of the serious negatives to the Federal Reserve’s low interest rate policy, particularly highlighting the negative impact that it has on savers.  While I agree with Einhorn’s sentiments, I truly believe that the reason the Fed has had to be so loose with monetary policy is because it has had...Read More

It seems that the Federal Reserve is criticizing the banks models for the stress test.  Some of the concerns revolve around the assumption that the 20% drop in housing would be uniform across the country, and that the banks requested the ability to pay dividends.  I really don’t understand that Fed’s comfort in dealing in...Read More

The Federal Reserve continues to unwind the various Maiden Lane portfolios at a really nice profit for taxpayers.  Once the Federal Reserve sells the remaining portion of Maiden Lane III AIG should be pretty much done owing any more money.  According to Bloomberg the central bank is owed almost $9 billion on its loan to...Read More