Sunday 12 October 2008

Honour Among Credit Derivatives Dealers

An emergency trading session was organized by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association on the day before Lehman Brothers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Its purpose was to allow dealers in credit default swaps and other types of derivatives to unwind positions linked to Lehman, thereby reducing risk associated with a potential Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. Even though the trades technically became invalid when Lehman missed its deadline for bankruptcy filing by a few hours, credit derivatives dealers are agreeing among themselves “in the spirit of things” (to quote a London trader) to honour trades made at the session.

When fear grows too intense to handle,
We shrink into a private smile,
Surprised when here and there a candle
Drives back the dark a little while…

In other news pertaining to world financial markets, the National Debt Clock installed at Times Square in New York, has been forced to drop the dollar sign in the total figure to accommodate a ten trillion dollar figure.

5 comments:

The Reluctant Rebel said...

Things aren't looking good then I suppose.

Pratiti said...

Baba, that must be very bad, I guess, although I understand pretty much nothing of all that's going on.
And I am a My Name Is Red fan. It made me an Orhan Pamuk fan. But I haven't read Istanbul yet. Will rightaway, got it for b'day. Got heaps of books for b'day actually. Went around ASKING for them, so, naturally. I practically forced Sujaan into buying the second book(Surely...Mr.Feynman!), too. But really, I have a perfectly acceptable explanation for that, not that you've ever asked for it. Porey bolbo nahoy, too long a comment already. But then I'm commenting after a long time(by my standards).
Oh yes, your blog, still my fave! Tied with Priyanka's, for which, also, I've your blogroll to thank. :-)

Dea said...

"When fear grows too intense to handle,
We shrink into a private smile,
Surprised when here and there a candle
Drives back the dark a little while…"

Very nice...

Sroyon said...

@saha: You tell me. You’re the one who posted the Economist cover.

@pratiti: Yes, Sujaan’s been hyping Istanbul a lot. And feel free to post long comments, by all means. No need to hold back. I don’t mind the occasional silence if you write post-length comments to compensate. Thanks for the compliment. Flattered to be mentioned in the same breath as Doubletake.

@jayantika: Did you think I wrote that? Oh dear.
*hastens to clarify*
That was actually a quote from Golden Gate by Vikram Seth. I can’t write poetry for nuts.

The Reluctant Rebel said...

you aint seen anything till you've see, in front of your eyes, Leghman Brothers Execs rushing out with their belongings from their office.