In the United States the Democrat and Republican parties are still at loggerheads in Congress over "Obamacare", and as a result many "non-essential" services have been shut down, and getting on for a million US government workers have been told to stay at home. Here's a video report from Al Jazeera on the current state of the nation in the land of the free:
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We reported at the beginning of November on the abrupt downfall of Jon Corzine. If you recall Mr. Corzine is an ex "Democratic" governor and senator, and now ex CEO of MF Global Inc. as well as an ex CEO of Goldman Sachs. He has just presided over the seventh largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, one of the regulators supposedly keeping an eye on dodgy dealings on Wall Street on behalf of U.S. taxpayers, has released a long statement about the affair. Amongst other things CFTC Commisioner Scott D. O’Malia has this to say:
More on The CFTC Finally Realize That MF Global "Has Shaken Public Confidence"!
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The global financial crisis took yet another turn for the worse on Monday. According to Yahoo! Finance:
MF Global's meltdown in less than a week made it the biggest U.S. casualty of Europe's debt crisis, and the seventh-largest bankruptcy by assets in U.S. history.
The chief executive of MF Global Holdings Ltd. is Jon Corzine. According to The Economist recently, Mr. Corzine is:
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First there was Betfair. Then came Tradefair. Today there is LMAX Trader, which has just been launched amid a flurry of publicity, it's mission "to transform retail contracts for difference (CFD) and FX trading". In the press release LMAX chief executive Robin Osmond is quoted as saying:
More on LMAX Trader Launched to "Transform Retail FX Trading"
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The publicity battle over financial reform in the United States gets ever hotter. A variety of glossy magazines are currently sinking their teeth into Goldman Sachs following the news that the investment bank is under attack by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic. Although its articles are sprinkled with the word "alleged", Time seems to have already judged Goldman Sachs and the rest of Wall Street guilty as charged. In one article this weekend Time highlights the irony that Gary Gensler, a former Goldman Sachs partner and now chairman of the CFTC, is currently gunning for his previous paymasters. According to Time:
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Last Friday the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged the investment bank Goldman Sachs and their London based Vice President Fabrice Tourre with fraud:
The SEC alleges that Goldman Sachs structured and marketed a synthetic collateralized debt obligation (CDO) that hinged on the performance of subprime residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS). Goldman Sachs failed to disclose to investors vital information about the CDO, in particular the role that a major hedge fund played in the portfolio selection process and the fact that the hedge fund had taken a short position against the CDO.
More on “Morally Bankrupt” Goldman Sachs Investigated by SEC and FSA
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The Commodity Futures Trading Commission recently released its latest report on financial data for Futures Commission Merchants. This contains the numbers as of May 31st 2009, "from reports filed by June 30th 2009". This report is particularly interesting because on May 16th the NFA's minimum net capital requirement for Forex Dealer Members increased from $10,000,000 to $20,000,000. The CFTC helpfully allow you to download monthly data going back to 2002 too. It's interesting to discover which brokers have fallen by the wayside over recent months as successive increases in regulatory capital requirements have weeded out the weaker players.
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