1.Why did GIC cash out billions of assets in 2Q
and 3Q in 2007?What signals did they see,while other could not see
or ignore the signals?
2.I think the sharp fall of Countrywide
Financial stock from Feb was one of the
signal.The stock dropped a lot one day in March.
Besides,the accounts of the co.,like other subprime,co,full of
assumptions,eg in
Countrywide Financial Corporation
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
(Dollar amounts in thousands)
Changes in MSR value due to realization of expected cash flows fro
mortgage servicing rights
Assumptions 2.4 billions in 2007.!!
Countrywide stock prices
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot.asp?symbol=CFC
The co.is really no1.Nobody stand up AND ask why its stock
dropped a lot from Feb.Only GIC??
http://about.countrywide.com/About/About.aspx
Leadership: Countrywide is
America's #1 home loan lender.* In fact, we're a leader in nearly
every aspect of real estate finance. We offer our customers a level
of expertise, product selection, and service that's unmatched in
the industry.
Diversity: Countrywide is America's #1 Lender
to Minorities.** We are commited to the Hispanic, Asian, and
African American markets and we continue to build a diverse
workforce and management team.
Performance: Countrywide has been one of the
best performing financial services companies in the past 25 years
and is ranked #91 in the Fortune 500.END
3.http://www.bankingandfinance.com.sg/ttd_bizenterprise/Singlenews.aspx?DirID=35&rec_code=129853
28 January 08 The Business Times
by Anna Teo
in Davos, Switzerland Timely
divestments enabled GIC to buy into UBS, Citi
BACK in the third quarter of
2007, when global financial markets were still b uoyant and the
investor mood fairly exuberant, the Government of Singapore Inves
tment Corporation (GIC) pulled back: it sold some of its equity
holdings. As a r esult, when the opportunities to invest in UBS and
Citigroup arose, it had the cash in hand to do so - some US$16
billion.
Speaking to Singapore
reporters in Davos o n Saturday, after a few days of discussions on
sovereign wealth funds at the Wor ld Economic Forum, GIC deputy
chairman and executive director Tony Tan said one question tha t
came up during interviews he had with foreign journalists here was
- where did GIC get the resources for its recent huge
investments?
Explaining how an d why GIC
had the means, he said: 'We have been very worried about the
financial markets for m any months. We thought that the level of
leverage in the US market was excessive , risk was not being priced
correctly, asset prices were going up at a rate whic h was not
sustainable. These worries have been growing over the
years.
'And in the second quarter
last year, looking at all of these developments, we took a fundam
ental review of the GIC portfolio. Until then, GIC had been fully
invested in th e markets - they had served us very well, giving us
very good returns, but we felt that unde r these circumstances, we
should move towards a more conservative portfolio and convert part
of our equity holdings into cash, which is something we have not do
ne for many years.'
GIC did just that in Q3 2007,
'in order to raise cash, because we were very worried about the
outlook for the economies and the financial markets '.
At that point, the markets
were still doing well - 'there had been mod est falls, but they
were still strong', Dr Tan noted. Of course, 'everything fell
apart' by Q4. And by then, GIC had raised a 'considerable amount of
liquid resources', he said.
'So when the invitation from
UBS and Citigroup came to invest in t heir equity, we had the
resources which were available without having to take emergency
measu res to raise cash. A lot of money, but it's well within the
risk limits which we had prescribed for the finance
sector.'
As it turned out, GIC's
reading of the market direction proved right, Dr Tan
said.
'What surprised us was the
fact that when the markets actually turned, they did so at such a
speed and the contagion effect was so broad that they affected even
the best known and well regarded ba nks like UBS, Citigroup and
Morgan Stanley.'
But he reiterated that the
recent 'conflue nce of events' that hit banks in the US and Europe,
and which led to GIC's UBS a nd Citigroup ventures - the US
sub-prime crisis, recession fears, credit tighten ing - were highly
unusual circumstances.
'We will not do this on a
regular basis,' D r Tan said. While GIC is 'always on the lookout
for opportunities', he hopes 'th ere won't be another confluence of
events which will give us this opportunity ag ain', he added. 'I
think if there is another such confluence of events which will make
su ch opportunities available, then the world is in real
trouble.'
4.Pl share with us the 2 Federal 100% mortgage
co how to helped US people to buy houses!
5.Countrywide as at Dec 2007
Delinquency as a percentage of:
unpaid principal balance ---7.2%
Foreclosures Pending as a percentage of:
unpaid principal balance--1.44%
is it typical for US?