As leveraged assets go down in value, the leverage multiples go up. Adding to that multiple is the falling dollar and the fact that these assets are in reality debt deposits, not cash deposits, that were passed on in different forms to be leveraged over and over.
Are mergers -- like Barr (BRL) and Teva Pharmaceuticals (TEVA), Anheuser-Busch (BUD) and InBev and Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) and Alpha Natrual Resources (ANR) -- a good sign for the markets? You guessed it. Toddo sounds off.
Now watch this! Besides the clock (hey, it's Friday), Toddo's peeping energy and crude, which may have still have room on the downside.
In the Buzz & Banter segment, Toddo talks about the next phase of the credit crisis. The homebuilders were the first to stumble, followed by financials, then financials in drag like General Electric (GE), General Motors (GM), Ford (F), Technology could be next, as the recent action in Microsoft (MSFT) may suggest. Retail, with its reliance on the consumer, is a flag. And don't rule out energy and commodities, as a function of slowing global growth.
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