Word: crediteers
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...unlike its much larger financial rivals, Cantor never made home loans. It trades mortgage bonds, but never held onto bundles of those bonds hoping to make a big profit. That means Cantor has not had to suffer the same credit crunch that its larger rivals have been struggling with for more than six months as many of those loans or bonds have gone bad. Many firms have had to pull back from some trading businesses, or go out of business all together...
...basically just that business had been good. But bank financial statements are never that simple: Citi's overall investment-banking earnings were boosted by a $2.5 billion derivatives valuation adjustment "mainly due to the widening of Citi's CDS spreads." In somewhat dumbed-down but still utterly flummoxing language: credit-default swap (CDS) spreads represent the cost of insuring against Citi's default. That cost went up in the quarter as investors fretted about Citi's solvency, so Citi was able to book $2.5 billion in gains. Got that? Without that boost, Citi's $1.6 billion in quarterly profit would...
...While mortgage losses show faint signs of moderating, banks still have a lot of credit-card ugliness to work through. At JPMorgan Chase, card services was by far the worst-performing division, with a loss of $547 million. When Whitney asked CEO Jamie Dimon if the business would return to profitability this year, his answer was a succinct "No." At Citi, "credit-card losses seem to be breaking their historical correlation with unemployment," CFO Kelly said. That is, credit-card losses normally rise with the unemployment rate. Now they're rising faster...
...more important in the fight against online piracy is offering users legitimate - but very cheap or even free - alternatives. In that respect, the industry deserves some credit. Competition for iTunes has toughened considerably in recent months. Spotify, which allows users to stream music for free in return for watching the odd ad online, has proved a hit since launching last October with the backing of the industry's big labels. Such services are "signs the music industry is waking up to the fact the best way to fight free isn't in the law courts, it isn't in parliament...
...sermon, Aziz took credit for the Taliban's successes in Swat, comparing himself to another prophet. "I sacrificed my son, my mother and my brother for Islam, following in the path of Abraham. What we have seen in Swat and the tribal areas is the result of the sacrifices at the Red Mosque," he told his rapt audience. "You too should be ready to make sacrifices. The day is not far away when Islam will be enforced in the whole of the country." The crowd erupted with a chant for Jihad...