Murk everywhere. There isn’t even an agreement what “leveraged loans” are. No, banks are not off the hook. That was wrong too. They hold 57% of these instruments, the Bank of England found.
Tencent is a giant. Its stock, after plunging 50% in 2018, was a big winner earlier this year. Now the uptrend is broken. Revenue is primarily from mobile video game microtransactions, and warning signs are emerging.
In 2013, I called Goldman Sachs a “snake-oil salesman” for underwriting a $1 billion J.C. Penney stock offering. Investors got wiped out. Now the longer-dated bonds, including a 100-year bond, have collapsed.