Thursday, January 24, 2008

I think Goldman is Heavily Short this Market

Here is an interesting article that says that Goldman thinks a bailout of the bond insurers won't be much of a benefit.

"New York state insurance regulators are pushing Wall Street banks to
provide as much as $15 billion to strengthen credit-weary financial guarantors,"
James Fotheringham, Monica Gabel and Daniel Zimmerman, equity analysts at
Goldman, wrote in a note to clients on Thursday.


"The discussions are preliminary and, like their predecessors
(recall: 'SuperSIV' and The Hope Now Alliance), unlikely to produce meaningful
results," they added.

Well, one meaningful result is that companies and municipalities will be able to issue debt and 2.4 trillion might be at risk of downgrades. It might also save Wamu and Countrywide, and a few other banks from going bankrupt. Perhaps it would allow this market to avoid a massive drop as well. I think this kind of naked self-interest proves that Goldman might be heavily short this market and any significant rally might be bad for their bottom line.

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