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No, I disagree completely... The sequence of events that followed Leh came as a surprise to them. Had they known what sort of beast they were unleashing, they would have never allowed it to happen. What you have to remember is that the carnage that decimated the hedge fund space is a minor...

Where have you been? You have heard of Lehman Brothers, right?

The patient is currently in stable condition in the intensive care unit of the Frankfurt General Hospital, being treated for severe and persistent dehydration. The patient is expected to make full recovery, but only after having all four limbs amputated.

Well, if you're a bank that can get a AAA rating on its ABS AND you're willing to take a minimum 12% haircut on it, pls go right ahead (there are some other restrictions). I am not sure what sort of upside you can realize from such speculation, so I wouldn't really go as far as calling the...

The idea behind the ECB program is to proactively deal with any liquidity concerns people might have about EUR banks, especially over year-end (so I agree with you, scriabin, although there's an expectation that some of this money will find its way into the interbank mkt. Not unsecured, mind...

Hmmm, not sure what you're saying... Isn't TARP, basically, unsecured? As to the money base, I don't think the broader aggregates should be affected, which is what the ECB cares about (rate of growth of M3).

ECB doesn't lend unsecured, so you'd better own or borrow some collateral to give them. Makes the whole proposition a bit less of a no-brainer, for all the obvious reasons.

Read Burghardt... Best advice anyone ever gave me.

In the UK, as the OP mentioned, house prices do form a part of RPI (under the Depreciation component and it's not that bad of a measure, actually), but not CPI. Given the scrutiny RPI receives, the number of wage deals (esp public sector) still tied to RPI and the fact that the inflation-linked...

You put it exactly right... Using your metaphor, the problem with LIBOR is not the construction itself, but rather the unwillingness of the original builders to maintain it properly, even though it clearly needs work.

Yes, but, with all due respect, you're not being very constructive here... LIBOR (or whatever its counterpart) has to fix every day, regardless of whether the mkt is functioning normally or abnormally. As I mentioned in my other post, certain glaring problems with LIBOR have come to light as...

Yes, it does. That's, in fact, one of the reasons for NYFR in the first place. The theory behind LIBOR is for it to measure a fair funding cost for a median bank. This cost (plus an appropriate spread) is then charged the eventual end-borrower (e.g. a corporate or an individual seeking a...

I am not disagreeing with you. I just think you're barking up the wrong tree, so to speak... If a company speculated in the world of complex financial derivatives and got burned (recent example in the UK being Mitchells & Butlers), so what? This has happened before and will happen again...

Well, to be honest, I actually don't think LIBOR is too inaccurate at the moment. Reason for that resides with one of the good developments that did come out of the LIBOR debacle last year, namely, NYFR. NYFR is a fixing published by Wrightson ICAP that provides a much better snapshot of the...

All I have to say in response to all these people (who do, by the way, have a point) is 'so what?' Yes, LIBOR has its flaws. However, in the recent episode, the mkt has been spectacularly unable to come up with any meaningful alternative. So, for all its issues, LIBOR is with us to stay...

I feel compelled to respond to the OP, as I think there's something being missed in this discussion. Firstly, isn't this an old and tired debate that's been going on for a long(ish) time now? I could re-iterate the theoretical arguments put forth by the proponents of fractional reserve...

Frankly, I don't care about derivatives on companies' financial statements. Whatever exposure is being concealed this way (if any) is dwarfed by the under-reporting of various risks embedded in their pension obligations (longevity, duration, etc).

The answer to your question, as far as I am aware, is no. Convert arb is not for individual retail investors, as they lack the scale needed to participate in the mkt. Your best options are to either go with converts funds offered by the likes of Fidelity and Vanguard or to find some way to...

There are a few specialist convertibles funds offered by the likes of Vanguard (check out VCVSX).

It doesn't affect the mkt in any predictable way, unless it causes an increase in the Federal budget deficit (i.e. they have to issue bonds to fund a Cali bailout).