(Daily Mail) — A mystery investor or hedge fund reportedly made a bet of almost $1billion at odds of 10/1 last month that the U.S. would lose its AAA credit rating.
Now questions are being asked of whether the trader had inside information before placing the $850million bet in the futures market.
The latest bet was made on July 21 on trades of 5,370 ten-year Treasury futures and 3,100 Treasury bond futures, reported ETF Daily News.
Now the investor’s gamble seems to have paid off after Standard and Poor’s issued a credit rating downgrade from AAA to AA+ last Friday.
Whoever it is stands to earn a 1,000 per cent return on their money, with the expectation that interest rates will be going up after the downgrade.
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When Did the President Know and Who Did He Tell?[/h]
The tremendous 7% crash in stock market prices over the last five trading days serves as over-whelming evidence that the President of the United States or someone in his inner circle leaked “material non-public information” to Wall Street traders that the AAA credit rating of the United States of America would be downgraded.. Leaking of such information is criminal activity for both the trader who profits and the leaker. Depending on the level of the leak in his Administration; the President may be forced to resign of face severe sanctions.
Reuters News Service reported from a source familiar with the talks on Friday: “Obama was briefed earlier in the day regarding S&P’s intentions, but discussions only took place with Treasury officials and did not include the White House.” This statement suggests the worst type of political spin possible. Either the President is completely incompetent in financial matters or he is disengaged from the plight of the nation!
Ratings agencies meet regularly with every organization they rate. When S&P is about to issue a change in credit rating, they send a preliminary rating and a justification for the rating to the organization. The organization is given the opportunity to formally respond in writing to the proposed ratings change. The formal response is then forwarded to the Standard & Poors Credit Committee for final review. In the momentous event of the issuance of a preliminary downgrade of the United States; the most senior credit analysts at S&P would have personally met with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and senior Treasury staff. President Obama himself or another White House official would have attended the meeting to provide the Administration’s input.
