Economy stonks v27: banks, the kings of vega

[HOLA]

Just about doubled my position in SCHW at $54.70, then added a bit more at $54.30. Average cost per-share is now $54.00. Shares are back up to $55.7 right now.

Also added more URI at $378.66.

While all this has been going my tech has actually gone on a nice little run. GOOGL back over $100 with AMZN close. MSFT at the highest level it's been since last August and I'm finally back in the black with it.

Edit...more URI at $374.40. Good deals out there.

 

[rob mafia]

sold $25p on frc near the low

and $CS restrictions. lolz

 

[rob mafia]

sold $25p on frc near the low

oops. shouldn't have gotten cute and tried to steal theta/vega, could have made another flip and been in and out.

 

[HOLA]

WESTLAKE, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The Charles Schwab Corporation (SCHW) today announced it has seen strong inflows from clients over the last week. Over the past five trading days (3/10/23-3/16/23), clients have continued to bring assets to Schwab, with approximately $16.5 billion in core net new assets for the week, demonstrating the trust clients place in Schwab.

Charles Schwab remains a safe port in a storm, driven by its conservative balance sheet, strong liquidity position, and diversified base of over 34 million account holders who invest with Charles Schwab every day. We are confident in our approach and in our ability to help clients through all kinds of economic environments.

 

[aerius]

Let the games begin.
https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/ubs-talks-acquire-credit-suisse-ft-2023-03-17/
March 17 (Reuters) - Banking giant UBS (UBSG.S) is in discussions to take over all or parts of Credit Suisse (CSGN.S), with the boards of Switzerland's two biggest lenders set to meet separately over the weekend, the Financial Times reported on Friday.

The Swiss National Bank and regulator FINMA are organising the talks in an attempt to build confidence in the country's banking sector, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

On Friday evening, Swiss regulators informed their counterparts in the United States and United Kingdom that the merger of the two banks was their "Plan A" to salvage the confidence in Credit Suisse, the report added.

I'm sitting this one out for now, FOMC meeting is next week too so things could get fun real fast. Probably going to be a pause on the rate hikes since the 3 month T-bill yield has collapsed this week with all the SVB related shenanigans.

 

[Rob Battisti]

@rob mafia

 

[44nutman]

Let the games begin.
https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/ubs-talks-acquire-credit-suisse-ft-2023-03-17/
March 17 (Reuters) - Banking giant UBS (UBSG.S) is in discussions to take over all or parts of Credit Suisse (CSGN.S), with the boards of Switzerland's two biggest lenders set to meet separately over the weekend, the Financial Times reported on Friday.

The Swiss National Bank and regulator FINMA are organising the talks in an attempt to build confidence in the country's banking sector, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

On Friday evening, Swiss regulators informed their counterparts in the United States and United Kingdom that the merger of the two banks was their "Plan A" to salvage the confidence in Credit Suisse, the report added.

I'm sitting this one out for now, FOMC meeting is next week too so things could get fun real fast. Probably going to be a pause on the rate hikes since the 3 month T-bill yield has collapsed this week with all the SVB related shenanigans.

I am spending the weekend looking for solid banks that are sale and pay out a dividend.

 

[Reffson]

 

[rob mafia]

@rob mafia

can't tell if that was a tip of the hat or an attempt to brag, but i know we both had good weeks.

 

[Rob Battisti]

can't tell if that was a tip of the hat or an attempt to brag, but i know we both had good weeks.

Together we rise!

 

[rob mafia]

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/19/ubs...s-look-to-shore-up-global-banking-system.html

lolz

 

[aerius]

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/19/ubs...s-look-to-shore-up-global-banking-system.html

lolz

This coming week is gonna be fun.

 

[rob mafia]

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/19/ubs...s-look-to-shore-up-global-banking-system.html

$3.2B is way under their market cap.

 

[Rob Battisti]

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/19/ubs...s-look-to-shore-up-global-banking-system.html

$3.2B is way under their market cap.

That really is wild to me that they got it for 3.2.

These next 2 weeks will be spicy.

QE to infinity.

The FED keeping 2 TRILLI in the wings.

 

[aerius]

Fed just cranked up their dollar swap lines to try and backstop the mess.
https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/monetary20230319a.htm
March 19, 2023

Coordinated central bank action to enhance the provision of U.S. dollar liquidity
For release at 5:00 p.m. EDT

The Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve, and the Swiss National Bank are today announcing a coordinated action to enhance the provision of liquidity via the standing U.S. dollar liquidity swap line arrangements.

To improve the swap lines' effectiveness in providing U.S. dollar funding, the central banks currently offering U.S. dollar operations have agreed to increase the frequency of 7-day maturity operations from weekly to daily. These daily operations will commence on Monday, March 20, 2023, and will continue at least through the end of April.

The network of swap lines among these central banks is a set of available standing facilities and serve as an important liquidity backstop to ease strains in global funding markets, thereby helping to mitigate the effects of such strains on the supply of credit to households and businesses.

I'm gonna wait & see what happens in the FX and credit markets overnight before trying to make a play on this.

 

[Rob Battisti]

I think we will see NO rate increase

 

[BIKES!]

SIVB premarket looking promising…

 

[HOLA]

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has been in contact with senior officials in the Biden administration in recent days regarding the regional banking crisis.

There have been several conversations between Biden officials and Buffett in the past week, according to a Bloomberg report on Saturday, which cited people familiar. The discussions concern the billionaire potentially investing in the U.S. regional banking sector, though Buffett has also given some of his views about the current tumult in the sector.

The conversations come as Buffett has been a savior to the banking sector in the past. The chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.B) invested $5 billion in Bank of America (BAC) in 2011 as he tried to bolster the bank due to its losses tied to subprime mortgages. In 2008, Buffett came to the aid of Goldman Sachs (GS), investing $5 billion in the bank in the depths of the financial crisis.

...

Interesting. Buffett made some killer deals during the Great Recession and aftermath. Not just those banking stocks. Also with GE, Wrigley, Swiss Re and Dow Chemical.

With Swiss Re, for example, he turned CHF (Swiss Franc) 3 billion (like $2.7 billion at the time iirc) into CHF 4.42 billion in 2 years, through interest payments on 12% preferred + redemption premiums. That's like 26% annualized, which is nice, but the Swiss Franc significantly appreciated over the time-period, so it ended up being about 37%.

Part of the 2011 deal with BAC was warrants to buy 700 million shares for $7.14. At $28-$29 that's worth, even with BAC's recent decline, about $20 billion today. BAC was trading near $50 early 2022. He's also making hundreds of millions in dividends annually from BAC.

 

[idrankyoubeer's maid]

 

[HOLA]

I am spending the weekend looking for solid banks that are sale and pay out a dividend.

Have you reached a decision?