Why would anyone buy this crap? No, not the clothes in J.C. Penney’s stores – which practically no one is buying – but the shares it just sold. It desperately needed to raise capital because it’s bleeding cash and won’t be around much longer without lots of new cash to bleed. So it did. At a horrendous expense, overnight, to existing stockholders.
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First Cracks (And Losses) In The Insane LBO Craze
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on First Cracks (And Losses) In The Insane LBO Craze
It could be an aberration. Or it could be the first visible crack in the insane leveraged buyout craze that has spread across the country: JPMorgan, Bank of America, and Goldman Sachs could get hit with a loss of up to $156 million on the $780 million in junk debt they pledged to sell to fund the buyout of teen-fashion retailer rue21. With consequences for investors.
Wal-Mart Shoppers Clobbered By Fed Policies, Warren Buffett And His Ilk Thank The Fed
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Wal-Mart Shoppers Clobbered By Fed Policies, Warren Buffett And His Ilk Thank The Fed
How much have Americans received of the nearly $3 trillion the Fed printed since the financial crisis? The recipients included JPMorgan, now negotiating to settle its various mortgage scams for $11 billion; it made $53.2 billion in profits over the last three years. American consumers weren’t so lucky. And Wal-Mart shoppers have been hit the hardest.
Investors Of Japan’s Most Hated Corporation, TEPCO, To Be Bailed Out Forever
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Investors Of Japan’s Most Hated Corporation, TEPCO, To Be Bailed Out Forever
TEPCO, owner of the Fukushima nuke, whose lackadaisical handling of the fiasco is a fiasco itself, was bailed out by taxpayers after the disaster. It got another bailout as the government decided to deal itself with the radioactive groundwater leaking into the ocean. TEPCO should be bankrupt. But to add insult to injury, the government said, let’s not hurt investors!
Any “Government Is Evil To A Certain Extent” – Russian Deputy Prime Minister Shuvalov About The Troubled Economy
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Any “Government Is Evil To A Certain Extent” – Russian Deputy Prime Minister Shuvalov About The Troubled Economy
Global investors, whose money Russia needs to develop its economy, are staying away in droves. They have lots of reasons to just say no – political risks, judicial nightmares, legal bogs, corruption, an economy spiraling into a slowdown…. “There are questions about the future stability of the Russian economy,” said First Deputy PM Shuvalov. But he has a plan.
Whose Capital Will Get Destroyed? Wall Street Tries To Cash Out Of Newfangled “Asset Class”
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Whose Capital Will Get Destroyed? Wall Street Tries To Cash Out Of Newfangled “Asset Class”
Oaktree Capital and Carrington Mortgage are trying to dump a portfolio of 500 single-family homes they’d bought out of foreclosure. They’re trying to get the heck out of the once hot buy-to-rent trade. Blackstone, which gobbled up 32,000 of these homes, is trying to get its money out. They all are. That trade is turning sour. Trouble in the housing market!
iPhone 5nSa
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on iPhone 5nSa
Mostly Cloudy With Occasional Drones In The Afternoon
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Mostly Cloudy With Occasional Drones In The Afternoon
Marseille has a problem: “account settlements” – a guy machine-gunned at close range for a drug deal gone awry. So the city is getting drones to keep an eye on hot neighborhoods. It’s not the only city. One more element in how privacy is traded in for corporate profits, governmental controls, spookily personalized ads, and harebrained hype about security.
Fear, Loathing, and Collective Amnesia in Crisis-Ridden Spain
by Don Quijones • • Comments Off on Fear, Loathing, and Collective Amnesia in Crisis-Ridden Spain
By Don Quijones: If Spain and Catalonia were playing real, rather than figurative, Russian Roulette, the revolver would be loaded with two or three bullets. Now an extra one was slipped into a chamber: prize-winning economist Juan Valerde announced that Madrid may have to “bomb Barcelona” in order to put a halt to the region’s rising separatist aspirations.
“When Will China Be More Expensive Than The US?”
by Oilprice.com • • Comments Off on “When Will China Be More Expensive Than The US?”
With wages increasing and strikes engulfing the country, the cheap labor force that fueled China’s economic boom by underselling competitors is coming to an end. The game is to move factories into the interior. But costs of land, water, energy, and shipping are also rising. So, offshoring to cheaper countries. But….