Posts from Monday Aug 6 2012

The Closer

| Aug 06 2012 22:33 | Comment |

ROUND UP

Markets continued to rally on Monday, as Friday’s relatively upbeat jobs report continued to lift spirits. Yields on Italian and Spanish bonds fell, and the FTSE 100 closed up 0.37 per cent; the S&P 500 closed up 0.23 per cent (Financial Times). Read more

In search of liquid water (investment vehicles)

| Aug 06 2012 20:30 | Comment |

This guest post was submitted by Jason Abbruzzese of FT.com.

A little more than a year ago, Citi chief economist Willem Buiter said water was on its way to becoming “the single most important physical-commodity based asset class, dwarfing oil, copper, agricultural commodities and precious metals”. Read more

Ultravox populi, vox debita

Masa joined the FT in 2009 and has worked on a number of desks across the paper, including Companies, Markets and Comment. She spent much of 2010 in New York covering the US equity markets. But earlier this year she finally saw the light and moved to Alphaville.

She started her career in the investment banking division at Lehman Brothers in the summer of 2007, timing it perfectly with the beginning of the credit crunch.

She studied philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford University.

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| Aug 06 2012 19:24 | Comment |

Eye-catching charts, for a type of risk that should catch investor eyes:

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StanChart, Iran, and a Swift allegation

Joseph joined FT Alphaville way back in March 2010. He likes all the politically and legally fiddly bits of finance. He also likes credit, rates, global macro, tail risk, and all that stuff. (You should email him story ideas. He’ll take anything.)

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| Aug 06 2012 17:24 | Comment |

Standard Chartered’s New York branch operated a “front for prohibited dealings with Iran – dealings that indisputably helped sustain a global threat to peace and stability,” the US state’s department of financial services alleged on Monday.

(Click pic to enlarge for filing) Read more

73% dilution for existing Knight Capital holders

Paul Murphy is the founding editor of FT Alphaville.

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| Aug 06 2012 12:45 | Comment |

One expensive software glitch…

Details of the Knight Capital rescue in the wake of last week’s order routing mayhem are out and they are as expected — a $400m capital injection in the form of convertibles at $1.50 a share. Read more

The Alternative Investment Management and Booksellers Association

Paul Murphy is the founding editor of FT Alphaville.

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| Aug 06 2012 11:04 | Comment |

Remember that crap Mel Gibson film, The Passion of Christ, that got every Christian group across the land up in arms, thereby ensuring its success at the box office?

Well, the Alternative Investment Management Association seems intent on manufacturing the same reaction to Simon Lack’s book, The Hedge Fund Mirage. Read more

The (early) Lunch Wrap

Masa joined the FT in 2009 and has worked on a number of desks across the paper, including Companies, Markets and Comment. She spent much of 2010 in New York covering the US equity markets. But earlier this year she finally saw the light and moved to Alphaville.

She started her career in the investment banking division at Lehman Brothers in the summer of 2007, timing it perfectly with the beginning of the credit crunch.

She studied philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford University.

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| Aug 06 2012 10:41 | Comment |

Good morning New York…

FT ALPHAVILLE Read more

On the declining use of core collateral in repo markets

Izabella Kaminska joined FT Alphaville in October 2008. Before that she worked as a producer at CNBC, a natural gas reporter at Platts and an associate editor of BP's internal magazine.

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| Aug 06 2012 10:20 | Comment |

The European Repo Council’s latest survey on changing collateral trends in the bilateral repo market:

There seems to have been a modest shift out of core Eurozone collateral.  Read more

What’s a credit trader to do?

Lisa joined FT Alphaville in September 2011 after a tour of duty through the guts of the financial industry, having worked as an analyst at a bank and for a financial data company.

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| Aug 06 2012 09:50 | Comment |

Friday’s rally in credit markets was no joke, as these charts from Markit Source shows:

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Further reading

Paul Murphy is the founding editor of FT Alphaville.

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| Aug 06 2012 08:04 | Comment |

Elsewhere on Monday,

- A quick recap of major events in Europe. Read more

The 6am Cut London

Lisa joined FT Alphaville in September 2011 after a tour of duty through the guts of the financial industry, having worked as an analyst at a bank and for a financial data company.

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| Aug 06 2012 05:49 | Comment |

The market for repos has shrunk in Europe, contracting by an estimated 14.2 per cent year-on-year in the six months to June 30, based on constant samples over the period. The decline highlights how reliant financial institutions in the region have become on European Central Bank support (Financial Times).

Wall Street banks eye protection against euro exit, increasingly telling counterparties and borrowers to restructure contracts or find another bank as they prepare for the potential exit of a country from the eurozone. Using hedges, such as credit default swaps, US banks have reduced their net exposure to troubled eurozone countries (Financial Times). Read more