links for 2010-04-25

The Busted Homes Behind a Big Bet: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance The government's civil-fraud allegation against Goldman Sachs Group Inc. centers on a deal the firm crafted so that hedge-fund king John Paulson could bet on a collapse in U.S. housing prices. It was a dizzyingly complex transaction, involving 90 bonds and a … Read more

The SNB Finally Tames Buyers of Francs – for Now

On April 1, 2010, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) apparently intervened to arrest the appreciation of its currency against the euro, and I wondered whether this action would be as futile as all the other interventions this year. So far, so good for the SNB, as the previously persistent buyers of Swiss francs have all … Read more

links for 2010-04-23

Investment Strategy: Banks May Not Be Lending, But They Are Buying Treasurys – CNBC With credit conditions still tight and Congress likely to clamp down on risk in the financial industry, banks are turning toward the safety of government debt, helping keep interest rates low but still not providing credit to consumers. (tags: treasuries banks)

More Money Went into Bonds Funds in 2009 Than in the Last Ten Years

The CNBC interview post below with Marilyn Cohen (from Envision Capital and author of “Bonds Now!: Making Money in the New Fixed Income Landscape“) is a good watch for anyone interested in fixed income. One key statistic that caught my attention was Cohen’s claim that more money went into bond funds last year than went … Read more

links for 2010-04-22

NYC tenants in defaulted properties demand fixes – Yahoo! Finance But in the chaos of the national housing collapse, in thousands of buildings like this one that have fallen into default and where tenants have watched the owners walk away, the answer to one simple question is not always clear: Who is responsible for fixing … Read more