BWS Capital Partners, LLC

Tough partner meeting…came out unscratched though…I think…at least, I can’t see any for now

Bottomless pit. Fannie and Freddie needs to be overhauled or squashed all together.

Bernanke is killing the recovery by pulling out? hardly, what recovery? it’s a mere adjustmnt of econ imbalnce n deleveraging.a good thing!

Prudential in the play

The board of American International Group approved the sale of the company’s crown jewel, American International Assurance, to Prudential of the U.K. for about $35.5 billion. The sale, along with a separate deal, could generate about $50 billion, half of which will go to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Prudential’s acquisition of AIA was welcomed by U.S. government officials because it will generate more cash to repay taxpayers.

Acquitted

British lawyer David Mills, who once advised Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi about offshore finance, avoided a 4 1/2-year prison sentence because the statute of limitations had run out. An appeals court said nothing about a lower court’s decision to convict Mills of taking a $600,000 bribe to hide evidence in two trials involving Berlusconi. Mills still has to pay $340,000 for giving false testimony, judges said.

Kept talking about it

EU officials worked through the weekend on details of a plan to support Greece’s effort to refinance its public debt. The aid likely will include the purchase of Greek bonds by lenders owned by EU members, including Germany’s KfW Bankengruppe and France’s Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations. “This is not a Greek crisis anymore,” said George Pagoulatos, an economics professor at Athens University. “Europe realizes that something bigger needs to be done before things get out of control.”

Greece is moving forward with cuts

The Greek government is getting ready to embrace another round of tax increases and spending cuts, hoping to assure the EU and the bond market that it is serious about getting its budget deficit under control. The move comes as Greece prepares to go to the bond market with an offering. French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said eurozone governments will help Greece roll over its debt. “I have no doubt that Greece will be able to refinance itself, using means which we are currently exploring, and for which we have a number of proposals,” she said.

Steely spine

U.S. President Barack Obama’s televised health care summit did not usher in an era of bipartisan cooperation, but it did accomplish something important, according to The Economist. The event made clear that Obama, “after months of sitting on the sidelines, now has steel in his spine,” The Economist notes. “If Republicans do not come up with a reasonable set of compromise measures over the next few weeks to add to his plan, he says that he intends to forge ahead anyway.”

India for stability

India’s budget includes the establishment of a body to focus on maintaining financial stability. The Financial Stability and Development Council will address concerns among regulators and monitor prudential supervision of the economy. Inter-regulatory issues are expected to increase because the functions of financial regulators are vague, according to The Hindu.

Expansion in Asia

India and South Korea posted their strongest growth in factory output in more than a year last month, while China followed close behind, according to surveys of purchasing managers. Experts warned against concluding that China’s recovery is losing momentum, noting that Lunar New Year might have impacted the data. India’s purchasing managers’ index rose to its highest reading since June 2008, and South Korea’s index posted its strongest performance since December 2007.

Expansion in Airline industry

Passenger traffic on U.S. airlines has been falling for almost two years, and the industry has seen its revenue fall for 14 months in a row. However, industry data are pointing to a turnaround. Forecasts show increasing passenger demand later this year. Passenger revenue in January was up 1.4% compared with the same month last year, according to the Air Transport Association. The volume of air cargo increased 17% in December compared with the same month in 2008, the trade group said.

Big profit

Greece’s sovereign-debt crisis is proving to be highly profitable for several major hedge funds, sources said. “There are a group of funds, perhaps three or four, that have played this as a huge sovereign basis trade, and made a lot,” said a strategist at one of London’s biggest hedge funds. Sources said Paulson & Co., a $32 billion hedge fund, is one of the companies benefiting from Greece’s problems.

Bottomless pit

Fannie Mae reported a $16.3 billion fourth-quarter loss, its 10th straight quarterly loss, and will seek $15.3 billion from the U.S. Treasury Department. “Our financial results for 2009 reflected the continued adverse impact of the weak economy and housing market, which has resulted in record mortgage delinquencies and contributed to our recording significant credit-related expenses and net losses during each quarter of the year,” Fannie Mae said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Paella Pressure Cooker

It is only a matter of time before the sovereign-debt market turns its attention from Greece to Spain, economists said. With an economy four times the size of Greece’s, Spain is struggling with a budget deficit, an unemployment rate of more than 4 million and an austerity plan that has been greeted with skepticism. Luis Garicano, professor of economics and strategy at the London School of Economics, said Spain’s plan for reducing its deficit to 3% of gross domestic product by 2013 is “all air.”

Tell that to the US

Japan’s government debt has been piling up for decades, with little attention from policymakers or the bond market, according to The Wall Street Journal. That appears to be changing. The government has given itself a June deadline to come up with a plan to get its budget and borrowing under control.

Duhhh

The U.S. Treasury Department revised its statistics on the ownership of Treasury securities and concluded that China is still the No. 1 investor in U.S. government debt. Last month, the Treasury said China’s reduction in holdings had put Japan in the top position. According to the latest data, China owned $894.8 billion in Treasuries at the end of December, considerably more than the previous estimate of $755 billion.

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