Killer stat of the day
Posted by robin in Financial Articles Market Commentary Monday March 23, 2009 1:54 pm
Killer stat of the day from David Smith in The Sunday Times…
“Half a century ago a liquidity ratio of 30% was the norm for UK banks. More recently 5% was considered acceptable.”
The comment was attributed to Peter Cooke, a former head of banking supervision at the Bank of England.
And talking of banks, the editor of the FT’s financial blog expresses a fear that Barclays might “unravel” after the story, initially denied, that it is looking to sell Barclays Global Investors for £5bn - a business considered “a jewel in the bank’s crown”.
Selling the family silver, to mangle ones metaphors, smacks of desperation. If a sale fails to materialise will Barclays join the sad collection of bust British banks bailed out by the already overburdened taxpayer? If so, I’m with those who mutter darkly of civil unrest in the wings.
- On a separate note, that prescient beacon of bearishness at SocGen, strategist Albert Edwards who forecast the FTSE 100 would fall into 3,000 when it was over 6,000 and was preaching doom long before it became fashionable, says of the recent stock market rally:
“Is this rally the real thing? Have we really reached bottom? It would be wrong to say I do not agonise that I might not be missing a turn. I’m riddled with self-doubt.”
Humility… admirable. It appears in some of the savviest investors too. They can readily admit their mistakes and limitations. Buffett is a prime example. He advises investing within your circle of competence and even he doesn’t gets it right every time, as he recently acknowledged on the purchase of ConocoPhillips at the height of the oil price spike.
Though somehow it’s hard to picture him riddled with self-doubt…
Deflated banks…
Posted by robin in Financial Articles Market Commentary Wednesday October 29, 2008 2:42 pm
Revealing before and after bank valuations courtesy of JP Morgan:
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