Tim Travis'  Instablog

Below is the interview with TTCM CEO on Bloomberg discussing Wells Fargo (WFC) and the other big banks. Enjoy!

http://www.ttcapitalonline.com/media/

Disclosure: I am long WFC.

In a perfect example of the incompetent blasting the incompetent Moody's is criticizing S&P, Fitch, DBRS Ltd. and Kroll for their ratings in a CMBS transaction. Moody's and S&P have absolutely horrendous ratings records stemming from the Financial Crisis, where for greed of fees they consistently rated securities AAA that ended up being pure junk. At every opportunity these companies throw gasoline on fires for sovereign debt etc., when it is actually too late to have helped investors buying the debt. I don't view any of these ratings agencies as being better than the other as the whole industry needs to have their incentives changed in a dramatic way. Ratings should be paid for by the buyers and in my opinion few sophisticated buyers would see the value in paying for their ratings. It might make more sense if the bond ratings agencies put 50% of their fees into the transactions as a show of faith in their ratings.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-10/moody-s-blasts-commercial-mortgage-bond-offering-it-didn-t-rate.html

I don't have a lot of compassion for people that gambled on the Facebook (FB) IPO on the belief that the stock just had to go up. That is not a winning investment strategy or emblematic of an investment at all. I will say though that I though Facebook's management did everything they could to ensure a horrendous result for people that bought the IPO. The reason I say this is due to the dramatic increase in shares issued, and then this revelation as to the company's conduct with the SEC is certainly less than desirable.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-10/facebook-fought-sec-to-keep-mobile-risks-hidden-before-ipo-crash.html

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.