CIT Friday...

Well - there is no shortage of action on the CIT thing today and the markets have turned all bloody and halloweenish. In addition to the Goldman deal, here is a deal between Icahn and CIT. Everyone but the U.S. Government is throwing a hand into the restructuring of CIT.

I'm headed into town tonight and no doubt will run into a few drunken bankers.

I'll have more to say over the weekend.

Linky-links - More Goldman and CIT

Ah. My mind is a big blank as I ponder Halloween. Halloween. I spent yesterday hanging little homemade flying bats all over the kitchen. Today I am spinning a spiders web and making some ugly cakes. One pumpkin is sporting a wink, the other is about to be thrown in the garden as something is oozing from the bottom.

I know. You want to know about CIT. The other Halloween story. Ok. As they are busy counting votes from last night, there is no answer. Bloomberg thinks the CDS market is signaling a pre-pack bankruptcy. Read that here. I expect some kind of trickle of more definitive news on that topic will appear over the weekend, making for a bit of a halloween hangover on Monday marketwise...

Oh - and by the way - this just in - on Goldman and CIT . The one billion dollar payoff has been modified. Tell me more.

I feel like Martha Stewart this morning with this heady mix of domesticity and finance info. An old friend of mine was the infamous whistle blower on dear Martha. He then went on to work for an art dealer at a gallery I used to be represented by. He was promptly fired for his honesty. Here is a story about the gallery here.

Do not cross go, do not collect 200 dollars.

"Now is the appropriate time to focus on a transition of leadership..." ( businesswire)

No kidding. Run. Nothing personal, but golly, I'd opt for a rest from it right about now as well.

Yes. I am back with my CIT obsession. Read more here.

CIT and Goldman Sachs

Missmc is still on the Halloween theme. The deadline for the CIT debt exchange is October 29th. If it fails, bankruptcy would be filed in the days following. How fitting. The FT is also obsessing over the CIT thing and two articles appeared over the weekend which discuss the relationship Goldman Sachs has with all this. No doubt, the Goldman conspiracy theorists are chattering again. The FT held back, but, did slide in the adjective "perverse"...in a really polite way.

These articles are apt to cause confusion as there are two issues and two FT articles. Firstly, as stated here, Goldman provided rescue financing last summer with an agreement that they would be paid 1billion if the company goes bankrupt or defaults. The second FT article concerns itself with a second source of profit for Goldman should CIT file bankruptcy. They are indeed a large holder of credit default swaps on CIT. The amount, and who is standing on the other side of these holdings is unspecified. You may read about it on the FT website here.

Put your helmet on.

Are we back where we were last autumn?  With a cliff-hanger of a bankruptcy looming for CIT today in the U.S., I know, you are sitting there, thinking, well...the markets are not going to have a flashback. They are experienced, and resilient.  Let's hope.  According to this article in the Independent, it would be the fifth largest bankruptcy in American history, should it happen.  It has been in the news on and off for a while, and, I have put up some insulation between the story and I.  A bit of a hole was punctured in this protective snug when the Independent mentioned that it would affect thousands of Duncan Donut franchise owners.  

Donuts?  They can go.  But it would clearly be disastrous across the board nonetheless.  Hence the insulation.  Put your helmet on.

To end on a better note, the metaphorical structure of the donut is worth a ponder.