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Cavuto: Why We Should be Pulling for Lehman

 
 

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Lehman, we're pullin' ... for you.

Because here's the deal, my friends:

It's all hanging on Lehman Brothers.

It hangs on, we hang on.

I'm not kidding you.

We have focused so much for so long on this so overblown, over-analyzed, over-scrutinized brokerage house...that we've attached its very fortunes to our house...all our houses.

I'm not saying that's fair, or accurate, or even right.

Again, it just is.

Because it represents what I like to think is a financial firewall.

The last stacked sandbags before the rising waters.

The worry has been Lehman is next. It's losing money. Losing customers. Losing support. And losing momentum.

Lehman taking the unusual step today to say not so, not so, not so.

Moving up an earnings release that looked draconian, but not "as" draconian as some feared...

...all but completely wiping out its dividend amid a nearly $4 billion hit in the latest quarter.

And indicating it's willing to sell billions of dollars of assets to make things right...including the majority of its highly-regarded asset prized management arm.

It didn't wow Wall Street...but it didn't "not" wow Wall Street.

Let's just say, for now, the blood-letting seems to have stopped.

You know how this goes, of course. When vultures circle, they can be very patient.

Bear Stearns comes to mind. Lehman trying extra hard to say we're no Bear Stearns.

Many hoping they're right...because "if" they are, and it's a big if, not only will Lehman dodge a bullet, but a market fearing another domino falling in this cascade of crunched creditors.

John McCain once said after the Russian conflict, "we're all Georgians now," I think we might secretly be saying, whether Lehman stockholder or not, "we're all Lehmanites now" as well.

 
 

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Contango

No, it's not a dance craze. Contago is a condition of supply and demand, essentially a fancy word to say that prices for items, typically commodities, are cheaper now than they would be at some point down the line.

Anything that¿s sold in the futures market can be in a case of contango. Futures are exactly that: a contract to buy an item or asset at a price in the future. This is the case with oil, with traders buying and selling contracts to acquire a barrel of oil in months down the line. When a market is in contango, spot prices, or the price of a commodity if you were to buy it right now, are lower than forward prices.

Why is that important? Well, it usually tells you the supply of a given commodity is plentiful (since, according to Economics 101, a large supply usually leads to cheap prices).

Incidentally, if you think contango is a mouthful, its opposite condition is known by the equally tongue-tying term backwardation.