Round-up
US equity markets ended the day slightly down as trading thinned going into the long Easter weekend, and earlier in the day Spanish bond yields climbed to multi-month highs to make this their worst week of trading this year. (Financial Times) Read more
Our earlier post on the excellent Credit Suisse collateral note risked alerting Blogger Interpol for its verbiage, but there was one more item we thought worth noting.
Specifically the bit that covers the household collateral situation — which is obviously and inextricably linked to the collateral issue in the shadow banking system, but which also matters directly to real-economy issues like consumer spending and changes in the geography of American economic growth. Read more
It must have come as quite a shock to the FSA apparatchiks when Ian Hannam turned on them. The accepted procedure following the ritual humiliation, fine and brutal publicity that accompanies a critical report is for the miscreant to issue a more-in-sorrow-than-anger statement, and express a desire to move on. Hannam, though, is made of sterner stuff, and the FSA will now be forced to justify its action in front of an independent tribunal.
It promises to be quite a scrap. The 24-page Decision Notice is not one of the FSA’s finest documents. The logic is thin, relying on arguments like: Read more
The man who did the Fed’s buying will – by coincidence – leave the NY Fed pretty much the minute Operation Twist finishes in June.
Like so many others, FT Alphaville has spent much of the past year thinking about collateral shortages in the shadow banking system and how safe assets function as a kind of currency.
But it’s about time someone actually calculated just how much money these assets might represent. Read more
Beyond Thursday’s back-up in Spanish bond yields — questions about Spain’s banks.
How could there not be when they’ve been buying so much sovereign debt since the LTRO. Ever since December’s record jump of €22.5bn in purchases in fact, as banks began washing LTRO cash through the domestic bond market. (Chart via Nomura) Read more
The story so far:
In Part 1, we reminded you of Morgan Stanley’s footnote in their fourth quarter earnings, whereby the bank stated that it had reduced its exposure to Italy by $3.4bn while benefiting from a positive hit to net revenue of $600m. All of this was as a result of restructuring certain derivatives transactions with the sovereign. Read more
The IMF’s latest quarterly update on the currency composition of official foreign exchange reserves (COOFER) is out. One person excited by the numbers is Simon Derrick at BNY Mellon.
But not with respect to what they say about the share of global US dollar reserves, but rather what they say about the world’s “other” non-dollar denominated reserves, as well as reserve growth in general. Read more
Or, “This House believes all interesting things are in footnotes and FT Alphaville reader comments.”
Allow us to make the case in favour of the motion. Beginning with: Read more
Live markets commentary from FT.com
There’s been some exciting action in the CHF/EUR cross in the last few minutes:
Good morning, New York
FT ALPHAVILLE Read more
Maybe it was Mario Draghi pooh-poohing the idea that the ECB might start to withdraw its support for european banks. Or maybe it was just further consideration of Wednesday’s frank words from Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy…
Spain is facing an economic situation of extreme difficulty, I repeat, of extreme difficulty, and anyone who doesn’t understand that is fooling themselves. Read more
Elsewhere on Thursday,
- Delta-hedging explained. Read more
- Asian share markets opened lower, extending Wednesday’s losses. (Bloomberg) Markets are worried after Spain’s bond sale, and fearing there will be no further easing from the Fed or the ECB. (Wall Street Journal)
- JJB Sports has a saviour: US retailer Dick’s Sporting Goods, which is investing £20m in JJB, alongside a £10m investment from existing shareholders, the companies said. Dick’s could end up with a stake of more than 60%. (Financial Times) Read more
Asian markets
Nikkei 225 down -85.13 (-0.87%) at 9,735
Topix down -8.23 (-0.99%) at 827.13
Hang Seng down -288.96 (-1.39%) at 20,502
US markets
S&P 500 down -14.42 (-1.02%) at 1,399
DJIA down -124.80 (-0.95%) at 13,075
Nasdaq down -45.48 (-1.46%) at 3,068 Read more
1Bernanke weighs in on robot wars; brings Keynes for backup
2Secret liquidity and Scottish independence
3Pump up, debase
4S&P 2,100, by Goldman Sachs
5Apple Operations International, facts (?) du jour
Show more6Collateral crunch-counting gets sophisticated
7In which the FTSE puts the crisis behind it
8Further reading
9The risk of a Japanese VaR shock
10Spain's awful unemployment
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