As A Contrarian........

the following story is great.....Clearly a sign of a bubble when the most successful hedge fund manger is unable to collect more than $ 100 million inflows into his funds solely related to GOLD..;-)

Especially when the fundamentals against GOLD are now dramatically improving even outside the "rock solid" US on a daily basis.. Must be the reason why the "Sovereign Misery Index" is looking just fine.....;-)

Wenn der erfolgreichste Fondsmanager der letzten Jahre es nicht schafft mehr als 100 Mio $ für seinen GOLDFOND einzusammeln muß man klar zum Schluß kommen das sich GOLD in einer Blase befindet...;-)

Gilt umso mehr, da die Fundamentaldaten ( u.a. gesunde Banken & Staatsfinanzen.. )die gegen GOLD sprechen ja, wie gerade momentan recht anschaulich selbst in der gängigen Presse präsentiert, tagtäglich nicht nur in den gewohnt ""soliden" USA, sondern besonders für € Anleger besser werden....Ebenfalls wunderbar am "Sovereign Misery Index" zu erkennen....;-)

H/T Todd Harrison / Minyanville via Pragmatic Capitalist

Midas Touch Lost? Paulson Hits Hurdles in Gold Fund WSJ

It took John Paulson months to convince investors that housing would crumble.

Now it's taking him awhile to get them excited about gold, his latest passion

When Mr. Paulson's Paulson & Co. late last year announced it was starting a hedge fund to make a big gold bet, many on Wall Street expected investors to line up. Paulson & Co. scored about $20 billion in profits in 2007 and 2008 wagering against subprime mortgages and financial companies. It then bought financial shares last year to add more gains.

Some gold traders expected Mr. Paulson's new fund, launched Jan. 1, to raise billions of dollars and even help push gold higher when it started buying this year.

That hasn't happened. Despite months of investor meetings, Mr. Paulson has raised $90million or so for his new gold fund, according to people close to the matter. Even the $250 million that Mr. Paulson himself placed in the fund hasn't persuaded many investors to get on board.

Maybe he should do a roadshow among European investors....... ;-)

Empfehle zur Not mal ne Road Show durch Europa........ ;-)

Mr. Paulson has told investors that his gold strategy is a long-term one that will reap rewards over the next few years as the value of leading currencies drop

UPDATE:

A STERN REALITY CHECK FOR GOLD NAYSAYERS PC

Furthermore, the US dollar doesn’t have to decline for Gold to do well. Did you know that since the very end of 2004, the US$ is flat but Gold is up 143%? Since July 20, 2007, Gold is up 56% while the dollar is flat. Since early September 2008, Gold is up 35%, while the dollar is up 1%.

CLSA’s Christopher Wood FT Alphaville

A sovereign debt crisis in the West is coming sooner or later though it is probably not right now. This is why the recent correction in gold is an opportunity to buy more bullion and more gold mining shares.

As a German / European investor ( not speculator ) i´ve to repeat myself that it is always important to follow GOLD priced in €..... Unfortunately none of the so called German "business" papers / media takes care of this not insignificant fact.....See this Handelsblatt example in which several German "experts" discussing & charting the recent "correction" in GOLD denominated in $...

Auch auf die Gefahr hin das ich mich wiederhole gerade als Deutscher / Europäischer Investor ( nicht Spekulant ) ist einzig und allein der GOLDpreis in € relevant.... Mit etwas Glück findet man diesen auf den hinteren Seiten im Kleingedruckten der deutschen Fachpresse.....Verweise mal exemplarisch auf Taumelnder Euro zieht Goldpreis mit nach unten vom Handelblatt....

The fundamentals support our view as the financial crisis is entering the most bullish phase for Gold. The sovereign debt crisis, which really began in Iceland, will plague Europe this year and eventually spread to the UK and US by early 2011. Nations have no other choice but to monetize their growing obligations while trying to stimulate their economies with deficit spending and near 0% interest rates. It is a perfect storm for Gold

Chart Net Speculative Gold Long Positions When Gold Was Above $ 1.200

Yesterday / Gestern 222,282 net long gold contracts

To be honest i´m a little surprised that the long positions have only declined 50.000.....Hot money will lead to lots of volatility & great buying opportunities ( wouldn´t rule out something south of $ 1.000 ).... But according to Peter Boockvar this still elevated number means that "net longs in gold and silver both fell to its lowest level since Aug ‘09"

Muß gestehen das ich überrascht bin das die Longpositionen vom Hoch trotz der auf $ Basis heftiger Korrektur nur um 50.000 geschrumpft sind....Dürfte also gewohnt volatil bleiben und hoffentlich die ein oder andere Einstiegsgelegenheit ermöglichen.... Peter Boockvar weist darauf hin das die immer noch hohe Anzahl die Netto long position auf dem niedrigsten Stand seit August 2009 zurückgefallen sind.....

In Geithner We Trust.......

Oh boy......


Thanks to Drew Friedman

WSJ

"Absolutely not," Mr. Geithner said in an interview with ABC News's "This Week" when asked about the prospect of the U.S. losing its top rating. "That will never happen to this country."

Judging Geithners past "fabulous" forecasting track record i assume the downgrade is not far away....;-) Even the strongly US influenced rating agencies like Moddy´s & S&P cannot ignore the reality shown at the US National Debt Clock Real Time indefinitely.....Nobody expect them to tell the truth but at least they have to "adjust" ( as usual very very slowly ) to maintain the few percentage points of credibility left.... ;-)

Wenn man die "fantastische" Trefferquote von Geithners Prognosen berücksichtigt dürfte das Downgrade demnächst Realität werden bzw der Realität angepaßt werden.... ;-) Ein Blick auf die Us National Debt Clock Real Time dürfte es selbst den stark unter US Einfluß stehenden Ratingagenturen Moddy´s und S&P schwer machen sich zumindest den Realitäten anzunähern.... Immerhin gilt es die letzten paar verbliebenen Prozentpunkte an Glaubwürdigkeit zu verteidigen.....

UPDATE:
Famous Last Words: U.S. Will ‘Never’ Lose Aaa Debt Rating Mish
The best defense is a good offense, absolutely The Mess That Greenspan Made
USAAA forever FT / LEX


H/T Clusterstock

Got GOLD ?

Chinese Banking Financial Strength Rating Is Just Beating Iceland & Kyrgyzstan.....

I must admit that even as a long time sceptic ( see here , here & here for some recent extreme examples of "creative accounting" & "froth") i´m surprised that the ratings are that ugly....... At least the rating are rewarded with the highest price to book ratio......

Ich muß gestehen das selbst ich als alteingesessener Skeptiker ( siehe hier, hier & hier für die letzten Auswüche an "kreativer Bankenbilanzierung" & "leichten Übertreibungen" ) doch überrascht bin das die Ratings so desaströs ausfallen.....Paßt hervorragend in die Zeit das genau diese Institute weltweit die mit Abstand höchsten Bewertungen erzielen......

Fitch Scratches an Itch WSJ

That's one interpretation of Fitch Ratings' decision to downgrade China Merchants Bank and China Citic Bank. Fitch is worried about the strain that a lending splurge last year is putting on their capital positions, even though CMB, for one, is in the process of raising $3.2 billion via a rights issue.

In truth the downgrades are more of a catch-up exercise for Fitch, placing CMB and Citic on the same footing as most Chinese banks. Eleven of the 16 Chinese banks to which it gives an individual rating are now ranked "D'; the others are rated below that.

And Fitch has for some time come across as bearish on the sector. Its analysts have raised concerns about practices like the repackaging of loans into wealth management products, and the way Chinese banks classify loans.

But it's not alone in showing what might seem a surprising caution about the Chinese banks' prospects. Moody's average rating for their financial strength is D-. On that scale, onlysix countries are worse off, including Iceland and Kyrgyzstan.

The concern all the agencies share is whether recent improvements in the way Chinese banks are run have been enough to match the huge increase in risk on their balance sheets as a result of last year's lending boom. None are expecting immediate answers: dire warnings of a large rise in non-performing loans at Chinese banks are based on the assumption that the music will stop, and their vulnerabilities will be revealed all at once.

In reality, the process could take some time: true recognition of nonperforming loans will likely be delayed by tactics such as rollovers or extra lending to pay off loans gone bad, the sort of practices Fitch has often highlighted.

Fitch

D: A bank that has weaknesses of internal and/or external origin.

There are concerns regarding its profitability and balance sheet integrity, franchise, management, operating environment or prospects. Banks in emerging markets are necessarily faced with a greater number of potential deficiencies of external origin.

To be sarcastic i would argue that this definition is probably true for most banks worldwide.. ;-) No wonder the regulators are a bit nervous.... It wouldn´t surprise me if we will see some monster ( i don´t mean a few billions here & there ) captital increases in the not so distant future....... Probably in large part funded via several goverment controlled entities.... I repeat myself but if you want to get the best insight on China the blog from Michael Pettis is a must read!

Böse formuliert würde ich behaupten das die Definition von Fitch auf die meisten Banken weltweit zutrifft... ;-) Kein Wunder das die Offiziellen doch leicht nervös werden..... Ich denke es stehen uns in China demnächst einige Monsterkapitalerhöhungen ins Haus.... Rede da nicht von einstelligen Mrdbeträgen...... Würde mich wundern wenn das zum großen Teil aus privaten Mitteln finanziert wird...Wer einen erstklassigen und vor allem zeitnahen Blick auf das Geschehen in China haben möchte für den sollte China Financial Markets von Michael Pettis Pflichtlektüre sein....

Update:

Nonperforming Loans in China Rise to "Trillions of Renminbi Mish

China's financial system / Red mist Economist

Perhaps the only Western equivalents of a Chinese bank are the two American housing agencies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—vast institutions with political mandates to expand credit, and protection from the consequences of their role in fostering bad debt.

China’s metropoli bubble fear FT Alphaville

We believe that we now have a bubble in many cities, particularly the big ones

With All The "Surprising" Sovereign Debt Worries Popping Up .....

It´s probably not a bad time for another posting on GOLD.... Especially when more & more people are realizing that not only bank balance sheets have something in common with Charles Ponzi, Madoff or Enron .... For investors outside the US it is not insignificant to highlight that it is not the $ price per ounce that matters.......In Germany it is almost impossible to find the € price per ounce in the media....Even in the so called "business" papers & channels...... The history of my earlier GOLD related postings gives a hint why i think that at least a "few" percentage of every portfolio should include GOLD ....

Nachdem ja momentan die Welt "plötzlich" gemerkt hat das neben den Bankenbilanzen praktisch alle relevanten Staatshaushalte zumindest in nicht unwesentlichen Teilen etwas mit Charles Ponzi, Madoff & Enron zu tun haben, ist es mal wieder Zeit für ein Posting in Sachen GOLD..... Zudem kann es nicht schaden wenn man nochmal gesondert darauf hinweist das für alle nicht US Investoren der $ Preis je Unze irrelevant ist ist...... Leider ist es z.B. in Deutschland fast unmöglich den € Preis je Unze in den gängigen Medien zu erhaschen.... Gilt im übrigen auch für die sog. "Fachpresse" ...... ;-) Ein Blick in meine "gesammelten Werke" zum Thema Gold dürfte erklären warum ich es nicht verkehrt finde, wenn zumindest ein "kleiner" Prozentsatz des Portfolios aus Gold besteht.....

H/T Todd Harrison / Minyanville via Pragmatic Capitalist

Jesse

Is gold a bubble?

As someone who has been a close observer of bubbles for the past ten years the data does not recommend that conclusion. And what makes me even more curious about this point of view is that the very people who for the most part denied the existence of the obvious bubbles in tech, housing, risk, banking and credit, even to the point of absurdity, who could not or would not see a bubble if it perched on the end of their nose, who are card carrying members of the international monied fraternity, are the most vocal in calling gold a bubble with emotional arguments lacking any fundamental data.

AMEN ;-)

UPDATE:

Implications For Gold In The Aftermath Of The Greek Crisis BoA via ZH

Emerging market central banks (EM CB) are ever more aware that gold is really one of the few viable alternatives to the USD. Top holders of currency reserves like China, Russia or India will likely need to increase their exposure to gold over the coming months and years as the value of fiat currency reserve holdings like the USD or the EUR comes into question. The obvious problem with diversification is that there is simply not enough gold to go around. So a deterioration of Greece’s creditworthiness, even if negative for the EUR, should be supportive of gold prices in the long run, in our view.

click on image for a sharper view / auf Grafik für schärfere Version klicken

Somewhat "irritating" that suddenly even Wall Street banks are not bashing GOLD on a daily basis..... Bank of America is getting exited that some EM central banks will diversify their holdings ....I wonder if they view a diversfication of private holdings into GOLD a "Black Swan" event....After watching BofA drawing all the right conclusions they "ignore" that the same diversification effect would be true for every non central bank investor....The percentage of GOLD related investments vs Assets Under Management makes even the Chinese exposure look like "excessive"..... ;-) For more related links visit the comments

Irgendwie "ungewohnt" das plötzlich selbst Wall Street Banken nicht mehr tagtäglich Goldbashing betreiben....Bank of America führt als Argument an das die Zentralbanken in den EM Ihr Goldbestände aufstocken werden. Ich für meinen Teil denke das neben den Zentralbanken vor allem die Privaten als Käufer auftreten werden.......Selbst in dieser Matrix wird diese Möglichkeit bestenfalls ansatzweise gestreift ( obwohl die richtigen Schlußfolgeriungen getroffen werden ).. Wenn man sich das Verhältnis von Gold zu den verwalteten Vermögen ansieht erscheint selbst der Goldanteil China´s als eine starke Übergewichtung..... ;-) Mehr zum Thema gibt es in den Kommentaren....

BBVA Credit Quality Reality Check.....Spain & Portugal NPA Almost Double To 5.1 Percent

Grim is no overstatement......... Keep in mind that BBVA is probably one of the stronger players ( asset management, south america exposure ) when it comes to the Spanish banking system.....No wonder the "complacency" hit a high just two weeks ago...;-)

Übel ist sicher keine Übertreibung.... Verweise vorsorglich mal darauf hin das BBVA ( Asset Management & Südamerika Diversifikation ) als einer der stärkeren Spieler im spanischen Bankenmarkt gilt....Kein Wunder das weltweit die "Sorglosigkeit" noch vor 2 Wochen neue Hochs erreciht hat.... ;-)

BBVA Q4 Report / PDF

Doubtful risks stood at €15,602m, showing a 24.8% increase over the level reported at 30-Sep-2009.

The NPA ratio rose to 4.3%. This was higher than the third-quarter figure due to the aforementioned increase in doubtful assets. In Spain & Portugal the ratio was 5.1%

cleaner / schärfere Version

The Group’s coverage ratio of 57% at 31-Dec-2009 is considered adequate because if the value of the collateral associated to these risks is included (€16,842m), coverage would increase to 165%......

>Let´s hope their collateral comment has priced in the coming implosion of the Spanish housing market ( so far the market has only fallen slightly UPDATE: This BRILLIANT INTERACTIVE CHART gives an excellent hint that we have almost seen nothing yet )..... Otherwise the coverage ratio would be not quite "prudent"......Keep the following stat in mind....

> Bleibt zu hoffen das hier die jahrelange "Implosion" speziell des spanischen Immobilienmarktes eingepreist ist ( bisher ist der Verfall "moderat" gewesen UPDATE: Dieser brilliante INTERAkTIVE CHART zeigt eindrucksvoll das in Spanien in Sachen Korrektur noch "Nachholbedarf" hat ) ...... Ansonsten wären die vorgenommenen Rückstellungen vorsichtig ausgedrückt nicht gerade "weitsichtig".... Dazu sollte man sich nachfolgende Zahl ins Gedächnis rufen.....

Spain Bubble Watch

For a decade, the Spanish housing sector enjoyed uninterrupted growth, as low interest rates encouraged borrowing. Average house prices have nearly quadrupled during the past 10 years. About 750,000 homes were built in Spain in 2006 -- more than in France, Germany and the U.K. combined.

> Combine the number with unemployment rate hitting almost 20 percent and the picture isn´getting better.....

> Wenn man diese Zahl mit einer Arbeitslosenquote nahe 20% kombiniert dürfte klar sein was sich hier die nächsten Jahre abspielen wird......

UPDATE FT Alphaville

....meanwhile, it seems the group was forced to increase provisions after following through on actual foreclosures and acquisitions. In other words, it wasn’t until the bank acquired the assets that it realised the collateral had been misvalued on its books by €200m. The heart of the problem being the misvaluation of the collateral backing the loans.

>With this kind of accounting it is no wonder BBVA has manage to post a profit......But in comparison to Wells Fargo BBVA isn´t loocking so bad......Banks & balance sheet qualities....... Here we go again.... Nice to see that they are still talking about their "strong" capital ratios & the "nice" dividend ( 30% payout ratio )......

>Bei solch "konservativer" Bilanzierung ist es kein Wunder das BBVA es geschafft hat einen Gewinn auszuweisen....Wells Fargo mußte ganz andere "Verrenkungen" unternehmen ... Nur gut das wir in Sachen Bankenbilanzqualität so große Fortschritte gemacht haben..... Beruhigend zu hören das noch immer von der starken Kapitalausstattung und netten Dividende ( 30& Gewinnausschüttung ) geschwärmt wird....

In Spain & Portugal it ( coverage ratio ) was 48%.

>With over 90 percent of mortgages tied to variable rates they can only pray that the ECB will stay on hold for another decade....

>Da in Spanien über 90% der Hypotheken variabel verzinst sind dürfte dort Stoßgebete in Richtung EZB gehen das die Zinsen noch jahrelang auf dem Tief verharren werden....

>Does anybody remember this "fine tuning" news from Jan. 2009.......

>Erinnert sich noch irgendjemand an die "Fine Tuning" Operation der Banco de Espana vom Januar 2009....

How Not To Restore Confidence....."United Arab Emirates & Spain Edition"

Spanish website Cotizalia reports that Spain’s banks and cajas are negotiating on a one-to-one basis with the Bank of Spain to “fine-tune” their 2008 accounts in order to avoid taking catastrophic write-downs on lans.

According to the article, the central bank has agreed to allow the banks to increase the “calendar of amortisation” of these troubled assets, which are said to be mostly loans to property developers.

>Add the following trade ( couldn´t resist.... ) from the Spanish central bank to the mix and i´ll bet that hand in hand with the banking implosion the so far praised Banco de Espana will face some serious headwinds......

>Bei Begutachtung der o.g. Daten und des nachfolgenden Trades ( konnte nicht widerstehen...) wird eher früher als später vom Glanz der bisher so gelobten spanischen Zentralbank nicht viel übrig bleiben.....

Banco de España has already been delving into the covered bond market with money from gold-sale proceeds FT Alphaville May 2009

Barclays Capital on Wednesday morning cites Spain’s Expansion newspaper on a report that Banco de España has already been delving into the covered bond market with money from gold-sale proceeds .

We note that the latest available data, as reported to the IMF for March, show that Spanish gold holdings at end-March were 9.054mn oz, unchanged since end-July 2007. That said, it should also be noted that Spain slashed its gold holdings during 2005-2008: from 16.826mn oz at end-2004 to 9.054mn in July 2007.

PS: Iberia’s weighting is almost 20% of European GDP & Greece only 3%....

PS: Spanien & Portugal stehen mal eben schlappe 20% des European GDP.... Griechenland für 3%.....

"Rise ( & Fall ) Of The Machines" ...

With volatility finally creeping back into the markets i think the "Rise Of The Machines" aka the QUANT story is deserving extra attention....Especially with market stats shown in Does Anyone Detect A Hint Of Complacency? from 2 weeks ago..... Make sure you also read the UPDATE....

Ich denke das dank der etwas gestiegenen Volatilität das Thema ROBOTRADING aka QUANTS einen ganz genauen Blick wert sein sollte....Das gilt umsomehr als das noch vor 2 Wochen ein kollektiver Realitätsverlust ( siehe Does Anyone Detect A Hint Of Complacency? )die Marktteilnehmer erfasst hatte.... Verweise ausdrücklich auf das UPDATE......



The Minds Behind the Meltdown WSJ

How a swashbuckling breed of mathematicians and computer scientists nearly destroyed Wall Street

Instead of looking at individual companies and their performance, management and competitors, they use math formulas to make bets on which stocks were going up or down.

By the early 2000s, such tech-savvy investors had come to dominate Wall Street, helped by theoretical breakthroughs in the application of mathematics to financial markets, advances that had earned their discoverers several shelves of Nobel Prizes.

PDT, one of the most secretive quant funds around, was now a global powerhouse, with offices in London and Tokyo and about $6 billion in assets (the amount could change daily depending on how much money Morgan funneled its way). It was a well-oiled machine that did little but print money, day after day.

That week, however, PDT wouldn't print money—it would destroy it like an industrial shredder.

The market moves PDT and other quant funds started to see early that week defied logic. The fine-tuned models, the bell curves and random walks, the calibrated correlations—all the math and science that had propelled the quants to the pinnacle of Wall Street—couldn't capture what was happening.

At the time, few quants realized what was happening, but over the next few days a theory would emerge: The U.S. housing market was unraveling, leading to big losses in the mortgage portfolios of banks and hedge funds

The result was a catastrophic domino effect. The rapid selling scrambled the models that quants used to buy and sell stocks, forcing them to unload their own holdings.

Authorities, meanwhile, had little idea about the massive losses taking place across Wall Street.

That Tuesday afternoon, the Federal Reserve said it had decided to leave short-term interest rates alone at 5.25%.Investors on Main Street had little idea that a historic blowup was occurring on Wall Street.

Oddly, the Bizarro World of quant trading largely masked the losses to the outside world at first. Since the stocks they'd shorted were rising rapidly, leading to the appearance of gains on the broader market, that balanced out the diving stocks the quants had expected to rise. Monday, the Dow industrials actually gained 287 points. It gained 36 more points Tuesday, and another 154 points Wednesday.

The huge gains in those shorted stocks created an optical illusion: the market seemed to be rising, even as its pillars were crumbling beneath it.

A source of the extreme damage Wednesday and the following day was the absence of some high-frequency statistical arbitrage traders, firms that use high-powered computers to trade rapidly in and out of stocks and can act as liquidity providers for the market.

As investors tried to unload their positions, the high-frequency funds weren't there to buy them—they were selling, too. The result was a black hole of no liquidity whatsoever. Prices collapsed

UPDATE:

Rise of the news-reading machines FT Alphaville

The arms race in trading technology is set to intensify this week as Thomson Reuters, the news and market data company, on Monday unveils a service for “high-frequency” traders allowing them to make split-second trading decisions based on news articles “before the information moves the market” . . .

So-called “machine readable news” services, such as the new Thomson Reuters product, have grown up in parallel with the emergence of high-frequency and algorithmic trading, which depend on lightning-fast delivery of data and news to traders specialising in such computer-driven trading strategies.

Machine readable news systems use computers to “scrub” thousands of breaking news stories, prioritising their relevance for traders – often based on simple key words – and delivering them in a special feed. This provides traders with “signals” that are used to drive their strategies

Chicago Federal Reserve Joins Zero Hedge In Warning Over Threats From High Frequency Trading ZH

A handful of high-frequency trading firms accounted for an estimated 70 percent of overall trading volume on U.S. equities markets in 2009. One firm with such a computerized system traded over 2 billion shares in a single day in October 2008, amounting to over 10 percent of U.S. equities trading volume for the day.

AN INTERVIEW WITH ED THORPE – THE GODFATHER OF QUANTS Pragmatic Capitalist

Thorpe was the first true quant and an enormously successful gambler and hedge fund manager. He covers everything from beating casinos at their own game to the financial crisis, the role quants played in the downturn and even his own desire to be cryogenically frozen. He even provides his personal outlook and his worries that the return of “business as usual” on Wall Street means the next big crash is inevitable

The Audio Interview

Sounds reassuring... ;-) For more on this topic i recommend Kass: The Quant Bubble

Hört sich doch beruhigend an, oder...? Mehr zum Thema Kass: The Quant Bubble

And They ( Banks ) Are Still Whining......

Add to the chart the "brutal" accounting standards surpressing every leeway in showing the "real" earnings power, the draconian bailout terms, etc & i can understand them........ ;-)

Nachdem man sich den folgenden Chart ansieht kann man schon verstehen das die Banken momentan bei dem kleinsten regulatorischen Eingriff das große Wehklagen einsetzt...Muß zudem an den mehr als strengen Bilanzierungsrichtlinien, die ja seit Ausbruch der Krise nochmals drakonisch "verschärft" worden sind, sowie wie den wirklich unfairen Bedingungen der Bailouts liegen .... ;-)

The bank problem in a single chart FT Alphaville

"In all honesty 12 months ago we felt that the banks would likely become more utility-like in their profitability and their earnings would oscillate around their longrun trend – a level they had reverted back to after all the write downs.

So the size of the surge in profitability in 2009 perhaps surprised us more than the ’shock’ writedowns did in 2008"

AMEN!

UPDATE:

Financial Services: From Servant to Lord of the Economy Jesse