OldLimey

Preview from Europe: Inactive Obama Leads Indices Lower

"We have two interest rate decisions from Europe today. Markets expect the Bank of England to cut rates by another 50 basis points at noon GMT, to a new record low of 1%. In contrast, at 12.45 GMT, the dangerously inflexible ECB is universally expected to cowardly hold fire and hide in their blinkered bunker until next month in the face of imminent deflation."

And indeed, that's what has happened. The headless chickens at the BoE panicked into another pointless rate cut (against the advice of the building societies) to please Bubbles Brown and his motley crew of incompetents. Meanwhile, the much-maligned ECB again took the prudent path of waiting to see the impact of previous easing rather than closing their eyes and rushing headlong into more.

As for Friday, the odds must favour atrocious employment numbers being 'balanced' (in Wall Street's mind) by new spin on the Bad Bank/Badder Bank initiative. Will the markets ever tire of being manipulated? Probably not.

Does GS Recapitalization Indicate It's Time to Invest?

Three thoughts:

1. WB got a phenomenal deal, underwritten - in all probability - by the US taxpayer. Certainly worth a punt from his perspective.
2. Don't the terms of this deal say something pretty negative about the shape GS is really in?
3. Back in the mists of time, sovereign wealth funds poured capital into Merrill and UBS. Was that a good time to buy?