Short DAX at 7740

March 6 (Bloomberg) -- Merrill Lynch & Co., the securities firm acquired by Bank of America Corp., said it uncovered an “irregularity” during a review of its trading operations.

The bank informed regulators immediately of the discrepancy in “certain trading positions”, Merrill Lynch said in a statement from London today. The bank said it’s working with the authorities to investigate further.

Merrill Lynch may have lost hundreds of millions of dollars on currency trading and credit derivatives last year, the New York Times reported earlier today. The losses did not “spill into plain view” until after Bank of America investors had approved the takeover in December and Merrill Lynch disbursed $3.6 billion in bonuses to bankers, the newspaper said.

“Senior managers of the business are focused on the issue and believe the risks surrounding possible losses are under control,” Merrill said in the statement.

Three weeks ago, risk officers discovered that a London currency trader who had recorded a trading profit of $120 million for the fourth quarter may instead have lost a large amount, the New York Times said, citing an unidentified Bank of America executive.
 
The beneficiaries of the government's bailout of American International Group Inc. include at least two dozen U.S. and foreign financial institutions that have been paid roughly $50 billion since the Federal Reserve first extended aid to the insurance giant.

Among those institutions are Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Germany's Deutsche Bank AG, each of which received roughly $6 billion in payments between mid-September and December 2008, according to a confidential document and people familiar with the matter.

Other banks that received large payouts from AIG late last year include Merrill Lynch, now part of Bank of America Corp., and French bank Société Générale SA.

More than a dozen firms with smaller exposures to AIG also received payouts, including Morgan Stanley, Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC and HSBC Holdings PLC, according to the confidential document.

The names of all of AIG's derivative counterparties and the money they have received from taxpayers still isn't known, but The Wall Street Journal has identified some of them and is publishing others here for the first time.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123638394500958141.html
 
Good, old FDAX. As reliable as a Swiss train ! Of course, we would have to take out 3600.00. Buying ATM puts, dynamic hedge in place. FDAX long, ready to buy more. :D
 
Quote from ASusilovic:

Good, old FDAX. As reliable as a Swiss train ! Of course, we would have to take out 3600.00. Buying ATM puts, dynamic hedge in place. FDAX long, ready to buy more. :D
More...

Taking some FDAX off the table at 3684.00. Trailing stop for rest in place. If bulls very nasty, could close gap above 703.50. :D
 
Quote from ASusilovic:

Taking some FDAX off the table at 3684.00. Trailing stop for rest in place. If bulls very nasty, could close gap above 703.50. :D
More...

another nice trade. don't know how you do it. i have had so many unrealized gains turn to losses in the DAX that i can't seem to bring myself to hold thru the big moves- even when my target is well beyond where i end up selling (those are the ones that usually turn on me!).

anyway, i bought a bit b4 you did and managed 47 points- that was VERY patient of me. kicked myself for not holding (story of my trading life), but, given all the bad beats i've had in the DAX of late, i just couldn't let a 47 point gain slip away.
 
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