本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛* OCTOBER 27, 2008

Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in September quietly approached Citigroup Inc. about the possibility of merging the two firms' operations, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The call, placed by Goldman Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein to counterpart Vikram Pandit at Citigroup, was made not long after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection on Sept. 15, a move that sent the shares of rival brokers like Goldman and Morgan Stanley down sharply.

However, the brief call, reported Sunday by the Financial Times Web site, didn't result in further talks and not long after Mr. Blankfein's call the U.S. Treasury decided to pump more than $100 billion in fresh capital into the two companies and several other banks, a move the government hoped would ease investor fears about the state of the U.S. banking system.

Still, Goldman has long prided itself in its independence, and the fact that its CEO would even make such a call underscores the severity of the U.S. banking crisis. Lehman and a number of U.S. banks, crushed by billions of dollars in soured mortgage bets, have failed this year, prompting the federal government to step in to rescue some -- costing taxpayers billions of dollars.

Both Citi and Goldman declined to comment.

As the credit crisis drags on, Goldman and other firms are reducing the amount of leverage they use in their operations and Goldman recently converted into a bank-holding company.

Citi and Goldman are both cutting jobs and Citi recently got beaten in its quest for Wachovia Corp. by Wells Fargo & Co.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net

本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛* OCTOBER 27, 2008, 1:52 P.M. ET

By MAYA JACKSON RANDALL


WASHINGTON -- New-home sales increased by 2.7% last month as inventories declined and builders slashed prices to their lowest level in four years, a government report said Monday.

Sales of single-family homes increased by 2.7% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 464,000 from August's revised rate of 452,000, the Commerce Department said Monday. July sales rose 3.6% to 517,000; earlier, Commerce estimated July rose 4% to 520,000. Economists had forecast a September sales rate of 455,000.

Year over year, new-home sales were 33.1% lower than the level in September 2007. Mortgage credit has tightened. High inventory of unsold homes are hurting the housing market -- and the rest of the economy. The surplus is driving prices down.

Falling prices, in turn, are keeping would-be buyers from signing on the dotted line as they wait for a better deal. Builders are breaking new ground at a declining rate, discouraged by excess supply and declining sales. The housing slump has detracted from economic growth as measured by gross domestic product for two-and-a-half years.

The median price of a new home decreased by 9.1% to $218,400 in September from $240,300 in September 2007. The average price tumbled 5.7% from $292,200 in September 2007 to $275,500 last month. In August, the median price was $220,400 and the average was $264,100.

The median sales price was the lowest since the $211,600 level reached in September 2004.

Inventories fell 7.3% to an estimated 394,000 homes for sale at the end of September from August's 425,000.

Regionally last month, new-home sales were up 22.7% in the West, down 21.4% in the Northeast, down 5.8% in the Midwest and up 0.7% in the South.

Write to Maya Jackson Randall at Maya.Jackson-Randall@dowjones.com更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net

本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛Oct 27th 2008 | TOKYO
From Economist.com

UNTIL recently Japanese banks had largely avoided the agonies of the credit crunch that had caused such difficulties in much of the rest of the world. Now the misery has well and truly come to Tokyo. The culprit is not toxic derivatives and swaps, but ordinary shares held by banks in Japanese companies. These cross-shareholdings, a peculiar feature of Japanese capitalism, are having pernicious effects. As share prices fall, banks are force to revalue their assets, which in turn reduces their capital ratios. The result is a need to raise capital quickly.

In the past four trading days, the Nikkei 225-share index has tumbled by 23%. On Monday October 27th the index plunged by 6.4% to 7,162.90, the lowest level in 26 years. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), Japan’s biggest bank, plans to raise as much as ¥990 billion ($10.6 billion) by issuing new common shares of perhaps ¥600 billion and preferred securities of ¥390 billion. Mizuho Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group are said to be planning their own capital increases.

The government is scrambling to help out. It is poised to announce a set of new measures, including spending perhaps ¥10 trillion to buy shares in companies that the banks hold (in an off-market transaction, so their values do not fall further). This was a tactic used by the Banks’ Shareholdings Purchase Corporation to respond to a banking crisis in 2002. The government may also request that pension funds and life insurance firms buy equities to support the market, though whether they would respond remains to be seen.

Some institutions and bankers, including the chairman of Shinsei—once known as Long Term Credit Bank, which was nationalised a decade ago—have urged regulators to suspend accounting rules that force the banks to value assets at present market value. The use of “mark-to-market” standards may force firms to write-down the value of their assets painfully, even though the trough may be temporary. As it stands, banks must subtract around 60% of their paper losses from their core capital. The government has signalled that it may be willing to ease the rules.

On Monday the Financial Services Agency also put in place a ban on “naked” short-selling, from November 4th until March 31st. Regulators in other countries have been grappling with the problem too, in an effort to stop those who, without actually taking ownership of a firm’s shares, bet on a fall in that firm’s share price. In addition, short-sellers who take a stake of more than 0.25% of the outstanding shares must disclose their position to the market.

Share prices are tumbling fast largely because foreign hedge funds have been forced—by the need to meet margin calls and redemptions—to liquidate positions. Investors are also worried that a big global recession will hurt Japan’s exporters, just as a domestic slowdown hurts other firms. Exporters are battered, too, by the steep rise in the value of the yen. It has soared by 11% against the dollar and around 21% against the euro in October, as the yen carry trade unwinds and amid a general flight to safety.

The G7 industrialised countries issued a short emergency statement on Monday, at the urging of Japan’s finance minister, Shoichi Nakagawa, expressing strong concern about the recent volatility of the yen. Mr Nakagawa said that Japan would “take necessary action promptly while closely watching the yen’s movement”, an indication (though not an entirely convincing one) that it might intervene in the foreign-exchange market.

It marks a rapid reversal of fortunes for Japanese banks. Just a month ago, fresh from MUFG’s offer of ¥950 billion for a 21% stake in Morgan Stanley, and Nomura’s purchase of operations of the bankrupt Lehman Brothers in Asia, Europe and the Middle East, Japanese bankers felt they were once again dominant on the international financial stage. They were rich with capital and willing to spend, at a time when other institutions were desperate. Now they are victims not of contagion, but of collateral damage.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net