Over the past few days we’ve seen some pretty scary stuff. The prevailing emotion in the markets seems to be uncertainty and fear. Stocks have gone down, the dollar has followed. We’ve also seen oil tick up with gold shooting like a rocket. Who could have seen any of this coming?
Halifax Bank of Scotland (LON:HBOS) is in trouble. In case you haven’t been paying attention to Britain’s markets, the US has exported its real estate collapse and credit crisis to the Britain. And now the country’s largest mortgage lender is groping for anything to prop itself up.
So far HBOS has posted nearly GBP£4 billion (about $7.95 billion) in writedowns from the Britain’s failing real estate market. And in lieu of selling chunks of itself to foreign banks to bring capital back into the company, HBOS’s shareholders just voted today to issue 1.5 billion new shares in a rights sale next month.
Shares in Britain’s largest mortgage lender HBOS (HBOS) have been making the news for all the wrong reasons.
US hedge fund Harbinger Capital shorted HBOS stocks, revealing under new disclosure rules that it held a 3.3% short position, worth about 345 million pounds.
Lansdowne Partners and Meditor Capital Management also revealed short positions of less than 1% in the bank, according to a report by Thomson Reuters.
Why housebuilders are demanding state hand-outs… More hilarity in the housing industry this weekend. Builders are now demanding state help. As housing sales have collapsed, the construction industry faces mass redundancies, while house builders themselves have seen their share prices dive.
Gold declined throughout the Far East and Europe in early Thursday morning trading. The decline rate accelerated about two hours before the Comex open in New York. Once the NY boys showed up, the price dropped another $8 to a low of $856.50 in just a few minutes.
Banks haven’t exactly been covering themselves in glory recently. The sector has gone from one pratfall to another ever since Northern Rock first warned it was in trouble last summer.
When is a Black Swan not a Black Swan? When the “perfect storm of highly improbable events” happens all the time.
Right. I have some news. But it’s special news, which calls for a special kind of mood — Cautious Optimism.
In England, it’s local elections. In London, it’s decision time for choosing a Mayor too… Ken, Boris or Brian..?
The good thing about not following the herd, is that in the long run, it delivers you opportunities that no one else can take advantage of. Warren Buffett, largely seen as one of the world’s top investors, spent most of the credit boom sitting on his hands.