BofA slash and burn; OBT portfolio update

Bank of America to Slash Asia Staff in First Quarter

Bank of America Merrill Lynch aims to cut about 20% of its Asia-Pacific managing directors by the end of the first quarter, a person familiar with the situation said Tuesday.

It's been awhile since I updated the OBT (Obama Bernanke Turbo) portfolio. I created the portfolio with five equal shares in the government bailout financial firms—AIG, Citigroup, Bank of America, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—and it is now down 61.3%, led by 87% losses in Fannie and Freddie. BAC is down 63% since inception; AIG down 33% and Citigroup down 35%. Inception date is August 26, 2009.

Fannie and Freddie not out of the woods

Fannie and Freddie debt fuels anxiety

Spooked by US political wrangling, major investors including the National Pension Service of Korea and the Kuwait Investment Authority have sold out of their holdings of the debt of the US Treasury-backed housing agencies since the 2008 global financial crisis. Officials from central banks, including the Bank of Japan, say they will be far more cautious in future.

Even though Asian and Middle Eastern investors are buying less Fannie and Freddie debt, the price of the bonds does not reflect their fears of the risk. Fannie and Freddie debt trades at a very narrow spread to Treasuries. But analysts said market prices have been skewed because of Fed involvement. During the first round of quantitative easing in 2009, for example, the Fed bought more than $175bn of GSE debt in the secondary market. Former Fannie Mae officials and other people familiar with the situation said the sellers of that debt were mostly Asian central banks.

Guess which country still owns lots of GSEs—China.

OTB Portfolio Update 6/16/2010

It's been a long time since I did an update on the Obama-Timmy-Bernanke portfolio. It was equally invested in 5 stocks: AIG, Citigroup, Bank of America, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. The portfolio was initiated on August 26, 2009 and it had an initial value of $1000.

Fannie and Freddie are down more than 40% today because they're being delisted from the NYSE.

Freddie (FRE) is now down more than 65% since portfolio inception, with Fannie (FNM) down more than 70%. The only winner is AIG, currently up 1.76%. The portfolio is down nearly 12% this morning thanks to the losses in Fannie and Freddie, and it is down 32% since inception.

OTB Portfolio Update 2009/09/07

AIG sank 10% today, leading the decline in the OTB Portfolio.
Portfolio value is now $943.21, current top holding is Citigroup at $202.16, Fannie Mae is at the bottom, at $176.22.

OTB Portfolio Update

The 26% gain in AIG, 9% Citigroup and 10% lift in Freddie Mac delivered a 10.17% gain to the portfolio. Fannie Mae and Bank of America were muted today.

Current value: $1101.72

OTB Portfolio Launches!

I've created a new portfolio. I call it the OTB portfolio, for Obama/Tim Geithner/Ben Bernanke.

It holds five stocks that represent the OTB Economy: Citigroup, Bank of America, AIG, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. GM might count, but these guys love financials and credit is the backbone of the American economy, judging by their comments and actions.

I've made the portfolio value $1,000, so any widow or orphan should be able to scrape together enough food stamps to buy into Hope.

Of course I'm way behind the curve. Had I launched the portfolio on July 31, it would already be up 40% to $1399.12. Nevertheless, today is as good as any and Bernanke was just reappointed because he saved the world from Depression! Lots more gains must be on the way...it's not like this was an optimism driven rally and Bernanke's reappointment represents a top or anything.