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The Institutional Risk Analyst
© 2003-2025 | Whalen Global Advisors LLC All Rights Reserved in All Media | ISSN 2692-1812
Banks | Markets | Finance


Trading Points: Banks, Interest Rates & MSRs
Some of the smaller holders of MSRs may ask themselves if selling right now is not the best strategy over a 36-48 month horizon.Â

R. Christopher Whalen
Apr 168 min read
451 views


Trump Volatility: Go to Cash? Or Go Shopping?
The paper money economy created by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1933 trapped Americans and the world into using fiat dollars.

R. Christopher Whalen
Apr 137 min read
745 views


Trade, Taxes & GSE Release
Who are the two most powerful people in the Trump White House?

R. Christopher Whalen
Apr 94 min read
352 views


AIG Reflux: Private Equity Collapse Threatens US Insurers
Is the flow of toxic waste pouring from busted private equity portfolios into credit trades a threat to insurance companies? Yup.

R. Christopher Whalen
Apr 36 min read
3,306 views


Q: Which Top Seven Bank is Most Vulnerable in a Recession?
If we consider the larger picture, we already have years of pent-up credit expenses awaiting realization, but add to the sauce Donald Trump.

R. Christopher Whalen
Mar 2314 min read
668 views


Trump, Powell and the Banks
Even as President Donald Trump demands rate cuts, the Powell FOMC is sharply reducing US economic growth estimates

R. Christopher Whalen
Mar 206 min read
390 views


Silicon Valley and the Large Bank Dead Pool
When you see a bank with more than 10% of total assets in MBS, that's a big red flag in our book.

R. Christopher Whalen
Mar 97 min read
718 views


Trading Points: Trump, Housing & Private Credit
President Trump is using the threat of tariffs to change the behavior of some of our trading partners, particularly Canada and Mexico.Â

R. Christopher Whalen
Mar 57 min read
442 views


Trump, Trade Deficits & the Dollar
But what happens if the US simply picks up the proverbial football and goes home?

R. Christopher Whalen
Mar 35 min read
515 views


Trumpian Wave Threatens Key Markets
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell now reports up to National Economic Council head Kevin Hassett.

R. Christopher Whalen
Feb 207 min read
684 views


Powell Fed Dithers on Inflation as the Trump Rally Fizzles
Kevin Hasset is now effectively Powell’s boss on everything other than monetary policy.

R. Christopher Whalen
Feb 188 min read
364 views


QT + Lower Federal Outlays = ?
Banks continue to show a strong preference for late vintage loans over securities, a fact which may cause loan yields to continue falling

R. Christopher Whalen
Feb 115 min read
369 views


The Bottom Quartile: FLG, KEY, LOB & TCBI
A look at the bottom quarter of WGA Bank Top 100 Index. We view TCBI as a work in progress. But kudos to KEY...

R. Christopher Whalen
Feb 67 min read
191 views


Trump, Musk & the Dollar
The real threat of tariffs announced by Trump is not inflation, but rather a LT decline in the dollar as the global reserve currency

R. Christopher Whalen
Feb 46 min read
513 views


WGA Bank Top 100 Index | Q1 2025
GS had not appeared in the top 25 since we began the indices a year ago, while MS had made it three times.

R. Christopher Whalen
Jan 294 min read
190 views


The Fed & GSEs: Questions Asked and Unanswered in Washington
In the strange world of Washington, speaking truth in public is a capital crime. Truth is often revealed accidentally.

R. Christopher Whalen
Jan 237 min read
549 views


Update: Charles Schwab | SCHW
The SVB duration management from 2020 onward was recklessly negligent by any reasonable standard

R. Christopher Whalen
Jan 225 min read
340 views


Big Losses in Commercial Real Estate & PE in 2025?
Private equity portfolio companies are about 10 times as likely to go bankrupt as non-PE-owned companies.

R. Christopher Whalen
Jan 136 min read
1,154 views


Trump, Risk and Liquidity
With Gov Michael Barr stepping down from bank supervision, perhaps Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is more willing to test liquidity lower bound

R. Christopher Whalen
Jan 87 min read
174 views


Update: Top Bank Asset Managers
As and when GS can exit the loss leading credit card relationship with AAPL, the performance of the business should improve significantly.

R. Christopher Whalen
Dec 30, 20248 min read
231 views
Christopher Whalen
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