For the commute home, where your kids are tagging embarrassing pictures of you on Facebook,
- The Economist halts production for a month to let its readers catch up. (Or so says America’s finest news source.) Read more
It seems the doves are turning the market tide.*
Given the problems immediately facing debt markets and the Fed — S&P, debt ceiling, end of QE2 — you might have missed that the market’s implied probability for the Fed’s eventual move toward tightening has shifted considerably in just the last week or so. Read more
There’s been plenty of hurly-burly lately over forecasts of default rates in the municipal bond market.
But what of recovery amounts, should muni bonds default? Read more
The two biggest foreign holders of US Treasuries appear to be taking diverging views of Standard & Poor’s stark warning on the US debt rating. S&P on Monday cut its outlook on US debt – which maintains the top triple A rating – from “stable” to “negative” for the first time since it started rating the US 70 years ago. While Japan played down concerns about US creditworthiness after the decision, China’s foreign ministry on Tuesday urged Washington to protect investors in its debt. “We hope the US government will take responsible policies and measures to safeguard investors’ interests,” it said. The Chinese government has repeatedly called on Washington not intentionally to debase its currency and to protect the interests of foreign investors in its bonds. China’s foreign reserves increased by $197bn in the first quarter to $3,050bn, exceeding the symbolic $3,000bn mark for the first time. The reserves are the world’s largest by far and although their exact composition is regarded as a state secret, about two-thirds are believed to be invested in US dollar assets. According to US data, China held $1,154.1bn in US Treasuries at the end of February, making it the largest foreign holder of US debt ahead of Japan’s $890.3bn. The Federal Reserve is the largest overall holder of US Treasuries with $1,368bn on its books. Read more
The initial shock from S&P’s warning on US debt has largely faded. Asian equity markets tumbled, but US and European shares rallied alongside the euro and US Treasuries, reports the FT. The FTSE All World equity index is up 0.6 per cent, held back by heavy losses in Japanese and Chinese stocks as the region got a chance to react to New York’s 1.1 per cent stumble overnight. The FTSE Asia Pacific index lost 1 per cent, falling for a third day. The S&P 500 on Wall Street rose 0.6 per cent, however, as well-received earnings rom Goldman Sachs and Johnson & Johnson cancel out a disappointing forecast from Texas Instruments and encourage traders to revert to the bullish tack. Sentiment is also being supported by a firmer than anticipated US housing starts report. Commodities – Brent crude’s 0.3 per cent decline aside – are recovering some of their recent losses and the reduction in risk aversion is seeing the dollar weaken and Bund yields give up a chunk of Monday’s big dip. US sovereign debt is seeing modest buying. The price of gold in spot markets in New York has neared $1,500 an ounce, with a few futures traders venturing to $1,500.50. But the spot price has not quite broken the psychological threshold, thus far topping out at $1,499.32. Riskier growth and commodity-linked currencies also bounced back, with the Brazilian real up 0.9 per cent versus the dollar. The Swedish krona and Norwegian krone were up 1.3 and 1.1 per cent, respectively, against the greenback. Read more
Nasdaq OMX and IntercontinentalExchange have offered a $350m reverse break fee and lined up $3.8bn in committed bank financing as part of a fresh approach to buy NYSE Euronext, after the operator of the US exchange rebuffed their initial bid in favour of a merger with Deutsche Börse, reports the FT. The move highlights Nasdaq-ICE’s confidence, only weeks after unveiling their counter-bid, that their proposal stands a better chance of passing antitrust scrutiny faster than the German-US deal can overcome antitrust issues in Europe. Read more
Strong revenues in Goldman Sachs’ newly created investments and lending arm saw the bank lift first-quarter net income above Wall Street’s expectations, reports the FT. Even with much of its business hit by regulatory and economic uncertainty, Goldman still made strong gains in the new unit, which houses stakes in companies such as Industrial and Commercial Bank of China as well as the loans it extends to clients. It was created earlier this year to make its financial reporting more transparent. Read more
Singapore has made a bid to become the first overseas hub for trading renminbi, marking a new stage in the internationalisation of the Chinese currency, the FT reports. The Monetary Authority of Singapore said Beijing would soon appoint a Chinese bank to clear renminbi trades in the city state – a move that would enable Singaporean banks to directly access onshore renminbi rather than having to route transactions via Hong Kong or commercial banks on the mainland. “It’s a huge development,” said Mirza Baig, a Singapore-based currency strategist for Deutsche Bank. “Think of a clearing bank as a pipeline that flows between Singapore and mainland China. Singapore won’t need to go through Hong Kong any more.” Almost 7 per cent of China’s international trade was settled in renminbi in the first quarter of this year, up from almost zero two years ago, official data showed this week. Read more
Jonathan Macey, a law professor at Yale University, has an op-ed in Tuesday’s WSJ arguing that the SEC’s definition of insider trading is too strict and at odds with Supreme Court precedent. (Hat tip Stacy Marie-Ishmael.)
Using the ongoing Galleon case as an example, Macey says there is an important distinction between Raj Rajaratnam allegedly bribing Rajiv Goel for tips on Clearwire and other allegations that “accuse Mr. Rajaratnam of simply talking to people and then trading”. Read more
There was a really interesting column penned by Matthew Lynn on Tuesday.
In a nutshell it argued that investors should be mindful of investing in a company known for its shrewdness when it comes to market-timing. Read more
Lots of rubber-necking on the Uncle Sam-deficit section of global imbalances this week, not so much on the China-surplus side.
Let us correct that injustice. Read more
Don’t get us wrong — what you see below doesn’t mollify our concerns about the Federal Reserve’s explanation for why commodity price rises will moderate.
But, courtesy of the NY Fed’s new blog, these graphs do shed some light on how the doves on the FOMC think about inflation expectations: Read more
Some light reading for the long Easter weekend.
It’s the report by Peter Nyberg, former International Monetary Fund economist and senior Finnish government official, into the Irish banking crisis. Read more
A data point for the Australian housing bubble debate.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts have a great report questioning how Australian banks calculate mortgage approvals. It’s been picked up by Macro Business, Banking Day and Naked Capitalism. Read more
Ignore, for a second, Standard & Poor’s warning of political impasse on the US budget, or its talk of contingent liabilities like student loans and the financial system. That’s all short- to medium-term.
Focus instead, on the longer-term — those unfunded obligations. Read more
No slumming it for the executives of Heritage Oil.
Tuesday’s annual results statement from the FTSE 250 exploration company shows the company spent $43m last year on a private jet last year and wrote down the value of another. Read more
Live markets commentary from FT.com
Citi doing weird accounting manoeuvres? Perish the thought!
From the bank’s first-quarter results press release: Read more
Attorneys for Raj Rajaratnam have rested their case in his insider trading trial, without calling the Galleon founder to the stand, the WSJ reports. Although people close to Rajaratnam said he had told them he would testify after his arrest, calling the main defendant is relatively rare given the risks from cross-examination. Prosecutors responded to the defence on Monday by playing a new recording of phone conversations between Rajaratnam and Danielle Chiesi, a former Bear Stearns hedge fund manager, in which the two discuss trading in Advanced Micro Devices. The prosecution alleges that Rajaratnam received insider tips about AMD. Read more
The Federal Reserve will likely continue reinvesting maturing asset-backed securities into Treasuries even after ending QE2 on schedule in June, Bloomberg reports. Reinvesting to replace around $17bn of debt per month would keep the Fed’s balance sheet at the same size and retain some stimulus amid a fragile economic outlook. Analysts expect Fed chairman Ben Bernanke to discuss the reinvestment programme at his first press conference on April 27, but see few signals that it will be phased out before the end of the year. The Fed’s return to recycling ABS into Treasuries in August sparked investor fears of deflation. The Fed announced QE2 in November. Read more
Treasury yields closed lower on the day Standard & Poors warned that it might cut the United States’ AAA rating, FT Alphaville says. That’s an indication of deflationary and liquidity trap effects in the market, as investors look to the impact on growth of deficit cutting, and also price in fewer supplies of future Treasuries for purposes of quality collateral. Other observers have different explanations. The bond market sees S&P’s action as a spur to budget discipline, Brad DeLong writes in the FT. Goldman’s Jan Hatzius argues that lower growth from austerity implies easier monetary policy, complicating Treasury yields even further, FT Alphaville adds. Read more
Japan, the second-largest foreign holder of Treasuries, has said that US government debt remains an ‘attractive product’, despite S&P’s negative outlook, according to the FT. Japan held $890.3bn in US Treasuries at the end of February, compared to China’s $1,154bn, according to Bloomberg data. The country also accounted for almost two-thirds of Asian demand in the last year, as Japanese institutions sought higher returns than on domestic government debt. However, the move by Dagong, a Chinese rating agency, to downgrade the US AAA rating last year is looking weirdly prescient, Beyond Brics says. Read more
A few, final thoughts on the negative outlook for the USA from Jan Hatzius and his team at Goldman Sachs.
First they look at the somewhat confusing market reaction — Treasuries were remarkably resilient following the move by S&P: Read more
Alright, it’s waaayyy premature. But we thought we’d show the below — from RBC in response to Monday’s S&P action — showing change in 10-year bond yields after losing a triple-A:
Apple has filed a suit against Samsung Electronics alleging that the company’s Galaxy smartphones and tablets infringe patents on the iPhone and iPad, Bloomberg says. Samsung ‘slavishly’ copied Apple designs with earlier products less redolent of iPad features, the suit argues, according to Reuters. The suit pits the tablet market’s two largest competitors each other and marks a new stage in litigation over smartphones, says the FT. Apple’s relatively small portfolio of patents puts it at a disadvantage to rivals. The Samsung case is the first Apple has brought over ‘trade dress’ or product appearance. Its suit even covers the Nexus S phone, a Google Android product that has no Samsung software, Daring Fireball notes. Read more
Older entries
1Bernanke weighs in on robot wars; brings Keynes for backup
2About China's capacity to absorb more capital
3Secret liquidity and Scottish independence
4Spain's awful unemployment
5Pump up, debase
Show more6S&P 2,100, by Goldman Sachs
7Everlasting credit, the long view
8Buyback to enrich
9Apple Operations International, facts (?) du jour
10Collateral crunch-counting gets sophisticated
Show fewer