RSS feedCDS report: All quiet on the sovereign front
European credit markets started the week on a low note, underperforming weak equity markets. The trend accelerated later in the session after the US markets opened down. The Markit iTraxx Europe index widened to 76.25bp,
Alleged Tarp fraud at The Park Avenue Bank
Watch this space: at 1pm ET on Monday, Tarp overlord Neil Barofsky will discuss the arrest of one Charles J Antonucci Sr, the former president and chief executive of the (failed) Park Avenue Bank in New York.
S&P relegates Spain’s financial system to ‘Group 3′
We dedicate this post to all the Spanish banks S&P has loved before.
For on Monday the rating agency officially revised its “Banking Industry Country Risk Assessment” of Spain’s banking system to Grupo tres since S&P now believes Spanish financial institutions are going to be operating in a “difficult economic environment over a prolonged period”.
‘A European Monetary Fund would be an admission of defeat’
Marco Annunziata, chief economist at UniCredit, is not convinced by the idea of a European Monetary Fund. As he put it in a note on Monday (emphasis ours):
This would be an extremely counterproductive move:
The Threadneedle uncertainty principle
…and so the Bank of England’s Quarterly Bulletin landed on our desktops with a thump on Monday. And yes, it brought with it a little bit of a mystery over the uncertain recovery of the UK’s labour markets,
S&P euro index arbitrage at work
Here’s one for all those would-be algo traders out there – the euro-denominated e-mini S&P 500 contract, has seen a sudden and unexpected upsurge in trading in the last few days.
Here’s a breakdown of recent activity courtesy of the CME:
Insider dealing reaches the Comoros Islands
Fresh from its success in the Streaky trial, the FSA is bringing another insider dealing case to court.
Christian Littlewood, a senior investment banker, and his wife Angie Littlewood (also known as Siew
Innovating on GBP liquidity requirements
With the UK possibly standing on shaky ground when it comes to its Moody’s-imposed AAA sovereign rating, it’s to be expected that some UK gilt holders could be getting jittery.
A reasonable alternative
Markets Live transcript 15 Mar 2010
Markets Live chat transcript for the chat ending at 12:14 on 15 Mar 2010. Participants in this chat were: Neil Hume, FT Bryce Elder NHGood morning NHand welcome to Markets Live
I, Jean-Claudius
We can’t let the Ides of March go past without at least one Roman-themed post on Monday. Happily, the President of the European Central Bank has been ready to oblige.
As Jean-Claude Trichet argued before a Californian economic policy summit on Friday (emphasis ours):
GBK watch
It has been a volatile start to the week for the Great British Krona.
Cable ran up to $1.52, then hit a brick wall presumably as the market digested Sunday’s YouGov opinion poll, which showed the lead of the Conservative Party down to just four points.
Sterling is definitely Tory
If the Great British Krona had a vote, it would definitely be going towards the Conservatives.
We’re being facetious of course; currencies don’t have political preferences, or consciousness for that matter.
Cap * 105
What is it with Lehman Brothers and 105-titled operations?
Buried in Volume II of the 2,200-page Court Examiner’s report is the story of Cap * 105 — a commercial property valuation system used by Lehman’s Principal Transactions Group (PTG) and its real estate servicer,
Further reading
Elsewhere on Monday,
- ‘Good blood-curdling stuff,’ or, the British economy today.
- A rave review for Michael Lewis’ The Big Short.
- “Lehman was too complex to do anything but fail”
- Ernst &
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and other offerings from Monday’s FT,
Wolfgang Münchau: Shrink the eurozone, or create a fiscal union
I was confused when Wolfgang Schäuble, German finance minister, proposed a European Monetary Fund,
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Monday,
- Gulf Keystone Petroleum announces £16m interim equity fund raising at 76.5p a share – statement.
- Rightmove says UK house asking prices rose just 0.1 per cent in March – statement.
FTfmonAV
Some highlights from Monday’s FTfm,
Naked truth about the villain of Europe
Not all users of credit default swaps are hedge funds or investment banks trying to push on-the-edge companies or countries over the cliff.
The truth about speculators: they are doing God’s work
In which Paul Murphy sorts the truth from the claptrap
There’s a lot of claptrap going around right now about the way financial markets operate. That’s claptrap in the purest sense: words designed to win applause or impress the public.
Pop goes the index effect
The index effect — the long-observed fact that if a stock joins one of the major indices, the price goes up — seems to be on the wane.
Shrinking everywhere, that is, but the UK.
Standard & Poor’s have gone to the trouble of comparing the effect over the past five years with the preceding five year period,
US households’ absolute deleveraging
Alternate titles: Frugality is the new black. Frugality is the new frugality. Americans discover thrift. Etc.
From the FT on Friday:
Americans reduced their household debt for the first year on record last year as they aggressively cut back on spending to cope with the recession,
US CMBS delinquencies tick ever upwards
A never ending story, this.
Data released by Moody’s on Friday showed CMBS delinquencies ticked up again in February, climbing by 31bp to 5.73 per cent. The data are based on based on all loans in US conduit and fusion deals issued in 1998 or later which have a current balance greater than zero.
CDS report: The threat of punitive regulation casts a shadow
This week marked the one-year anniversary of the lows in the equity markets. When people write their retrospectives of 2010, however, this week is unlikely to feature prominently. After a strong start on Monday,
A future ‘Big Three’?
Here’s where we currently stand in the overly consolidated world of international accountancy.
Firms ranked by revenues:
Price Waterhouse Coopers Lybrand Ross Montgomery
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
The Greek boy who cried (no) wolf — and a €25bn bailout
If Greece’s public debt management agency has a copy of Aesop’s fables to hand, we’d advise the staff to give them a read.
For it’s all too clear that Athens’ past indiscretions with the truth about its deficit are coming back to haunt the Hellenic Republic.
BGC 10, Tullett 0
One of the numerous (and seemingly never-ending) pieces of litigation in the world of money broking is nearing its end.
On Friday, a judge in London ruled that 10 brokers who left Tullett Prebon over a year ago to join BGC Partners can now actually work for their new employer.
A $3,000bn shift in the interest rate swaps market [Corrected]
This is a big one: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will start using central counterparty clearing on their massive interest rate swaps portfolio, according to a Reuters report.
It’s worth noting that the combined size of Fannie and Freddie’s interest rate portfolio is $3,000bn – or about than 0.5 per cent per cent of the gross market value of the global interest rate swap market,
A dark shadow sweeps over Asia…
Dark pools of liquidity could be on their way to the Hong Kong mainstream, and one of those pools is potentially being set up in Singapore this year. Is Asia catching up to the US and Europe in this shadowy arena?
Risk magazine has the story on an intriguing arms race in Asian equities innovation:
Party like it’s 2007: KKR finally files for a NYSE listing
In 2007, the (financial) world was a very different place. Blackstone had just become the first ever private equity firm to offer itself up to the public. That $7.8bn initial public offering was roughly seven times subscribed,