oldlures1

MBIA and BofA: Thoughts on Litigation

Thanks for your comments. It's good see a pro-MBIA veiwpoint. I'm long MBIA, and have been a fan of the co since before Ackman's shinanigans.

MBIA Sues Countrywide: Part of the Solution to Clean Up the Lies

Has anyone seen the latest release regarding mark-to-market accounting? Here's the link: www.sec.gov/news/press...

If this gets legs, I think it could "right" a "wrong" and be a big benefit to the bond insurer's balance sheets and capitalization structures.

Mark-to-market has required them to write down assets to near zero without any regard for future income streams (premiums) generated by existing contracts. Those premium streams have been relatively unaffected by today's market turmoil, so the PV of those income streams should be relatively unaffected as well, yes? Unfortunately, no. They've had to book large write-downs (and obtain LOTS of additional capital as a result) to adhere to existing m-to-m standards...and adhere to the seemingly subjective demands of the rating agencies. Hopefully, this will right a wrong with regard to mark-to-market, and the bond insurers will find themselves not just "over-capitalized" but EXTREMELY over-capitalized. The spotlight will then turn to the rating agencies to see how they react - will they maintain their current positions? Last week, Moody's indicated it would be conducting follow-up reviews of the monolines over the coming weeks and implied that further downgrades were likely. We'll see.

Everything Financial Rolls Over: Is a Bounce Likely?

I've never been much of a chart-follower, but it's food-for-thought. Thanks for providing.

The Current Market Atmosphere: Easy Money Hard to Come by

I'm with Sophisse. Can't speak for everyone, but I think it'd do me a world of good to disconnect for a while; seperate from the "noise", and clear my head. Too much info - my circuits are about to short.