THE BANK PLAN TO CREATE A BANK PLAN….
From http://www.financialstability.gov/ (the website apparently doesn’t have the bandwidth to handle the heavy traffic, but don’t worry you’re not missing much – none of the links on the page work anyhow. The fact that the website doesn’t function and looks like a 10 year old created it on Windows 95 is perfectly ironic):
WASHINGTON, Feb 10 (Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury Department’s bank rescue plan includes the following, according to a source with knowledge of the plan:
* Restricts contacts with lobbyists to curb political influence in investment decisions.
* Restrict dividends, stock repurchases, acquisitions to ensure banks use money for lending.
* Launches new website, www.financialstability.gov, to detail how taxpayer money is used.
* Has U.S. banking regulators imposing uniform bank standards and "stress tests" for largest U.S. banks.
* The rescue plan was expected to be announced at 1100 ET (1600 GMT) by Treasury Secretary Timoth Geithner.
CNBC is reporting the U.S. Treasury is not sure how they will implement the plan exactly, but they’re testing different approaches. This sounds like more of the Hank Paulson plan. I’ll follow-up when more details come out.
UPDATE (11:30 AM): Geithner just wrapped up his speech. The market is tanking on the news as we presumed it would. They have no plan. Literally. The plan is to create a bank plan. I am not even sure what to say about this. Disaster is a word that comes to mind. Nationalization/reorganization is inevitable for these banks. It’s only a matter of time before the government realizes that the cancer must be systematically removed from the system.
You nailed it TPC! The market is selling the news.
The week is early. The market has seen buying every time we've breached the 8,000 level. Don't be shocked if we see the same thing here.