“Garbage” Securities

Just a quick note.  I think it is important to remember that there is a tremendous amount of what I refer to as “garbage” securities currently in existence.  It is easy to forget this fact given that we don’t hear much about them anymore.  This is due to many reasons, including:  various credit spreads have been narrowing; their true value has been obscurred due to the removal of “mark to market” accounting; and various asset “guarantees” have, at least for now, greatly muted their impact.

However, “garbage” is “garbage” so to speak, and it is important to remember that they are either fundamentally worthless or very close to worthless. 

 

SPX at 1048.68 as this post is written