What not to say at Work.
In todays world where holding on to a job is almost as difficult as finding one comes this interesting story from AOL. “Apparantly” there are some things you shouldn’t say in the office. Hhhhmmm is seems you can learn something new everyday. These days there are hundreds of people looking for the exact job that some of us are lucky enough to have. Therefore it is very important to say and do the right things not to mess it up.
Some people are men and women of few words — to work in an office with such people is a blessing. Most workers, however, are stuck in a workplace where they hear about everything from a co-worker’s baby-making plans to his estranged relationship with his father.
Talking about such topics might be OK to share over cocktails with your best friend — they are not OK for the workplace.
Because people spend more time at the office with co-workers than anywhere (or anyone) else, some workers have trouble drawing the line between business and friendship, says Susan Solovic, co-founder and CEO of SBTV.com, and author of three books, including “Reinvent Your Career: Attain the Success You Desire and Deserve.”
“It’s a social environment as well as a work environment. However, you must remember: While you can be friendly and develop a good rapport, business is business and friendship is friendship.”
These days, your job security is unstable enough as it is. The last thing you need is to make an off-the-cuff remark that gets you fired (or shunned from the likes of your co-workers). To help keep your career on track, here are 10 things you should never say or discuss in the workplace:
Good Luck and Good Forex Trading
JP Morgan Chase cutting Jobs
As the mergers start to take effect we are now seeing more and more layoffs. I heard from some friends that Bank of America were laying off people today and it is reported on AOL Finance that JP Morgan Chase is going to layoff 12,000 jobs due to the merger of Washington Mutual. Although President Obama has been slightly more upbeat the CEO’s are taking a more cautious approach.
CLICK HERE to read the full story from AOL Finance.
Good Luck and Good Forex Trading.
Is a Bottom Near?
Maybe we are starting to get to the point where all the bad news is built in. I think President Obama took a page out of Ronald Reagan’s book last night by talking up the country quite a bit. President Reagan like President Obama walked into considerable messes both domestically and foreign policy wise. Reagan came out of it looking quite good can Obama do the same? He certainly speaks well and said all the right things last night (“I hear you” in relation to the giving money to the Banks) but more important seems to be doing them.
The markets, to me, seem to be putting in a bottom (or at least trying). As the old saying goes, the devil is in the details. So far we have gotten very little details which is something the market is desperate to get.
As for the Bank Stress Tests, they are to be completed by the end of next month.
“While the vast majority of U.S. banking organizations have capital in excess of the amounts required to be considered well capitalized, the uncertain economic environment has eroded confidence in the amount and quality of capital held by some,” the Treasury said, announcing guidelines for new bank reviews.
Banks will have a choice of raising private capital or accepting taxpayer funds from the Treasury. Any new government money will come in the form of convertible preferred securities, which would acquire voting rights if converted into common stock.
“U.S. government ownership is not an objective” of the program, the Treasury said. In cases of significant federal investment, “our goal will be to keep the period of government ownership as temporary as possible.”
This could also be adding to the positive close here as the markets have not been to happy about nationalization of the banks.
I am a receiver in Emerging Market rates and short dollars against EM across the board.
Good Luck and Good Forex Trading.
The Way Forward
A friend of mine sent me this write up this morning. It was forwarded to me through an e-mail so I am not sure who wrote it. Simple said it is a straight forward way of looking at this bailout. I am not sure of all the numbers but I think it points out the fear in the market and very little rational thinking. From what I saw on CNBC the government is going to be taking a larger ownership in Citigroup (reports of 25-40%). This could turn out to be a very good purchase.
What is needed is not government money, but government coordination. Government has the capacity to take actions in a large, coordinated way that private individuals cannot. Importantly, these actions need not involve enormous deficits or costs to taxpayers.
For example, throwing government money at financial institutions that are insolvent simply gives taxpayers a loss that should be borne by the bondholders of that financial institution. I can’t stress emphatically enough that the largest bank failure in U.S. history – Washington Mutual – was arranged last year with absolutely NO cost to the government, and no loss to the bank’s customers. What happened there was exactly what I’ve been advocating since the Bear Stearns crisis: the government took Wa-Mu into receivership, wiped out the stockholders and most of the bondholders, sold the bank’s assets along with the customer liabilities to J.P. Morgan for $1.9 billion, and handed those proceeds over as partial recovery for the senior bondholders..
Take a look at Citibank’s balance sheet as of the third quarter of 2008. The company had about $2 trillion in assets, versus about $132 billion in shareholder equity, for a gross leverage ratio of about 16-to-1. That’s not a comfortable figure, because it indicates that a decline of about 6% in those assets would wipe out Citibank’s equity and make the bank technically insolvent. Unfortunately, we saw credit default spreads screaming higher last week, while the bank’s stock dropped below $2 a share, so evidently the market is deeply concerned about the possible immediacy of that outcome.
But keep looking at the liability side of Citibank’s balance sheet. There is over $360 billion in long-term debt to the company’s bondholders, and another $200 billion in shorter term borrowings. None of that is customer money. That puts the total capital available to absorb losses at $132 + $360 + $200 = $692 billion, which is about 35% of the $2 trillion in assets carried by Citibank. That’s a huge cushion for customers, who are unlikely to lose even if Citibank becomes insolvent. Should that occur, the proper response of government will not be to defend Citi’s bondholders at taxpayer expense, but rather, to take Citi into receivership, wipe out the shareholders and most of the bondholders, and sell the assets along with the liabilities to customers to another institution.
Alternatively, the government could hold those assets in receivership, reappoint management in the interim, and eventually IPO the company - now stripped of debt obligations - as a new entity called, say, Citigroup. The proceeds of the issuance would be retained as statutory capital, and a small amount might be paid as a residual to the existing bondholders. That sort temporary “receivership” is the only sense in which the government response could be called “nationalization.”
Simply put, institutions that are insolvent and would only avoid continued insolvency by large and continued infusions of taxpayer funds should be allowed to “fail” through the process of government receivership. It is wrong to squander the taxes of ordinary citizens and put a burden of indebtedness on our children in order to protect the bondholders of careless and poorly-managed financial institutions.
Good Luck and Good Forex Trading
Stocks struggle once again
Stocks melted at the close to send the S&P index to its lowest close since 1997. This continued sell off is based on the belief that the recession will be longer and deeper then anyone previously thought. Stocks overall lost almost 3.5%, these numbers are starting to not cause any reaction as we have become so accustomed to them. To me this is investors “purging” their accounts of the majority of their stock holdings. No matter what the Government is saying it seems the market believes that financial institutions are destined to be nationalized. With Citibank and AIG discussing conversion of preferred stock into common stock with the government that is basically one step closer to nationalization of the entities. Can Bank of America be far behind?
So what happens from here? That is the million dollar question . I still believe everything revolves around jobs. Get people working and they can spend money and pay their bills. The plan to restructure mortgages just puts off the inevitable (foreclosure) and makes investors worried more about the future then the present.
Mexico. The Peso weakened and bonds dropped as interest rate cuts in the country are expected to be less in the future. This after the 25bp cut on Friday. The weak currency is exactly what the central bank was trying to prevent and as it weakens and the CB intervenes you can expect increased volatility in the weeks and months to come. This, definitely is not what the country needs.
Argentina. The Peso weaken to the loswes level since 2002 as dollar inflows slowed and the government continues to try to settle the farmers stike. This country is still a desaster but the high yield and “controlled” nature of the currency (some might say manipulated) provide opportunity for “stratigic” shorts.
Brazil. Brazil is on Holiday until mid day on Wednesday in celebration of Carnival. Based on everything else hitting the markets expect for the Real to open considerable weaker.
Good Luck and Good Forex Trading
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