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Tim Geithner on the Financial Crisis: A Mock Interview

I popped uptown this afternoon, to the Council on Foreign Relations, to hear NY Fed president Tim Geithner give a big speech on the current financial crisis. Geithner is the central banker closest to the markets, but he’s been pretty quiet through this crisis until now, so a lot of people were very interested in what he had to say.
In the end, he gave a shorter version of the speech on the NY Fed’s website; he also had a brief Q&A session at the end. I’ll try and pull out some of the more interesting bits of what he said in Mark Thoma’s mock-interview style. Anything in italics was spoken, and not part of the prepared speech.
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6 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 21:16

iPhone Getting Push Email

Obvious from the live updates at Apple SDK event today that Apple is making major push into RIMM’s face. Cited market share data showing it is already at nearly half of RIMM’s share of market since year-ago launch, and it is launching RIMM-style push email, etc. RIMM stock is off 0.83.8%.
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6 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 21:10

The 52-Week Low Club (MS)(LEH)(WB)(FNM))(MER)(C)(JPM)

Thornburg Mortgage (NYSE: TMA) Fear of Chapter 11. Falls to $1.26 from 52-wek high of $28.40. CIT Group (NYSE: CIT) Lehman Brothers cuts price target. Drops to $15 from 52-week high of $61.47. iStar Financial (NYSE: SFI) Price target cut by Citigroup. Falls to $12.71 from 52-week high of $49.84. JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) Worries about more write-offs. Sells down to $37.15 from 52-week high of $53.25. Citigroup (NYSE: C) Concerns about need to raise more capital. Down to $21.11 from 52-week high of $55.55. Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) Another candidate for big write-downs. Down to $45.73 from 52-week high…
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6 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 21:03

Marc Faber is All Gloom and Doom, No Boom

Marc Faber is always good fun to read and listen to, but he is kind of misnamed. The author of the Gloom, Boom, and Doom Report is mostly gloom and doom, very little boom, at least not recently. Anywhere, heeeeeeere’s Marc on why the U.S. dollar is going to zero.
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6 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 21:02

BBC Has First Native iPhone App in the Wild?

With the Apple iPhone SDK press briefing coming up in in 15 minutes, does BBC have the first native iPhone app in the wild? Visiting BBC’s site via an iPhone today produces the following (screenshot). With the content not playable on an iPhone, it kinda makes you think there’s a BBC player coming today, doesn’t it? …
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6 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 20:51

Midday Tidbits — India ETFs

In the past few weeks, PowerShares and WisdomTree have each launched an exchange-traded fund that tracks local Indian companies. WisdomTree’s ETF launched on FEb. 22, while PowerShares execs rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange today after its ETF — the PowerShares India ETF Portfolio — debuted yesterday. The ETF closed at $25.56 yesterday, up from an opening bid price of $25.34. That ETF replicates the Indus India Index, which includes 50 Indian stocks from two major Indian exchanges and takes into account both market capitalizations and regulatory caps on foreign ownership of local shares. The ETF is designed to provide “benchmark-like” exposure to the Indian market, said Bruce Bond, CEO of PowerShares Capital Management. Tech giant Infosys is in the lineup, as is Tata Motors, the local maker of a $2,500 automobile.–A…
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6 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 20:51

Energy Scenarios

(March 6, 2008 12:30 PM, by Arnold Kling) I spell out my conjectures. ScenarioMost Economical TimeframeRemarksCarbon Competition2008-2020Cheapest energy sources, except for political barriersConservation2008-2015Smarter electric grid, better car batteriesNu-cu-lar2013-2030It……
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6 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 20:30

Who Sent Carlyle The Default Notice?

By now everyone knows that Carlyle Capital Corp, a publicly listed investment company managed by a unit of private-equity firm the Carlyle Group, admitted today it had received a notice of default from one of its banks after failing to make margin calls on its $21.7 billion real estate securities portfolio. It also expects to receive at least one more default notice after falling short of margin requirements with four lenders.
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6 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 20:22

It’s Good to Be a Former Vice President

Not bad financial returns for seven years of being a former vice-president: Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore left the White House seven years ago with less than $2 million in assets, including a Virginia home and the family farm in Tennessee. Now he’s making enough to put $35 million in hedge funds and other private partnerships. Gore invested the money with Capricorn Investment Group LLC, a Palo Alto, California, firm that selects the private funds for clients and invests in makers of environmentally friendly products, according to a Feb. 1 securities filing. …
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6 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 20:21

Apple’s iPhone Strategy For Business, A Long Journey in the Making (AAPL, RIMM, MSFT, PALM, T)

Apple has determined that the best way to reach and ultimately exceed its goal of selling 10 million iPhones this year is by adding more features and opening up the code and making the system more interoperable with other systems. Today it has made efforts to become more business-friendly than it is currently. This is one of the issues that has constantly been brought up by fans and critics alike. Steve Jobs has gone as far as supporting the Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Exchange program to push email to the iPhone in order to allow iPhone to be more business email…
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6 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 20:20

The Trillion Dollar Meltdown

New Book by Charles Morris
The Trillion Dollar Meltdown: Easy Money, High Rollers, and the Great Credit Crash
We are living in the most reckless financial environment in recent history. Arcane credit derivative bets are now well into the tens of trillions. According to Charles R. Morris, the astronomical leverage at investment banks and their hedge fund and private equity clients virtually guarantees massive disruption in global markets. The crash, when it comes, will have no firebreaks. A quarter century of free-market zealotry that extolled asset stripping, abusive lending, and hedge fund secrecy will come crashing down with it.
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6 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 20:05

Inflation Expectations Grow More Complex

Rise in market-based measures may not be a concern after all….
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6 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 20:00

Ambac’s Backstop: Would You Rely On These People?

Ambac and government officials, clearly dismayed at the skepticism over the $1.5 billion rescue financing plan announced yesterday, have been spreading the word that the banks underwriting the deal have agreed to “backstop” the deal if market demand for the shares and equity units falls short. Private equity investors have also agreed to buy what t…
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6 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 19:52

Kapow: Web Scraping Goes Legit?

Extracting data from the web was a major theme at my Money:Tech 2008 conference in New York — the web is the largest and most interesting database of financial information out there — so itwas interesting to see that web scraping company (they say "mashup") Kapow today announced a $11.5-million Series C financing. …
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6 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 19:51

Those Who Live in Glass Houses (MSFT) Shouldn’t Throw Stones (at GOOG)

There has been more chest-thumping over the past month among big tech companies that it is beginning to feel like a gorilla convention. Microsoft beating its chest over Yahoo. Yahoo thumping right back and acting all tough to News Corp. and Time Warner. Microsoft again going gorilla with Bill Gates s…
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6 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 19:43

Those Who Live in Glass Houses (MSFT) Shouldn’t Throw Stones (at GOOG)

6 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 19:43

Analysts Wake Up, Downgrade Thornburg

On some level, it’s difficult to make a snap call on companies when the market environment is changing as rapidly as it is — what looks like a merely problematic investment one day turns into a nightmare the next day.
But that still doesn’t explain the slow-footed reaction of analysts when it comes to Thornburg Mortgage this week. T…
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6 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 19:37

FHA Announces New Loan Limits, as Foreclosures Rise

More foreclosure records were broken in the fourth quarter of 2007, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported, while the Federal Housing Administration released the new loan limits for counties throughout the U.S.
Under the economic stimulus act signed by President Bush last month the ceiling on the size of loans the FHA can insure was raised to $729,750 in the highest-cost areas from a previous cap of $362,790. Yesterday, the D…
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6 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 18:59

Peer effects and the econoblogosphere

Felix Salmon at Market Movers is on a roll in his coverage of “blogonomics” and has become a go-to source on the subject. Recent posts have included a look at a new way bloggers could solicit tips …
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6 March, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 18:46

Fannie Mae CDS

Going wide…I would make a margin call.