Tuesday, October 7, 2008

CDS Auction Dates - Correction

I noted below that October 23 is the date when Lehman CDS will be auctioned. Multiple other sources (FT and Financial Week) are saying the Lehman CDS auction will take place on October 10 and "could be worth 350 billion," according to Financial Week. WM CDS auction will take place October 23. I am still trying to confirm these dates but the outcome of these auctions should be closely monitored.

Reuters is also reporting that "sellers of protection on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be repaid more than some had feared, based on initial prices in an auction to determine the value of the companies' credit default swaps on Monday. Initial indications are that swaps on Fannie's and Freddie's senior and subordinated debt will recover at least 92 percent of the amount of insurance sold, and potentially several percentage points higher, based on results published by the auction's administrators, Creditex and Markit. Some protection sellers had feared the contracts would recover much less, due to the low trading prices of some of the debt being used to settle the contracts. JPMorgan analysts last week said some of the swaps may recover as little as 85 cents on the dollar."

Also, S&P futures have moved higher on news that the Fed will create a special fund to backstop commercial paper. Will this backstop help thaw the freeze in the credit markets?? Stay tuned.

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