From the bank on Tuesday…
NEW YORK, September 18, 2012 — The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS) today announced that Harvey M. Schwartz, the global co-head of the Securities Division, will become Chief Financial Officer at the end of January 2013. After a distinguished 32 year career at the firm, including 12 years as the Chief Financial Officer, David Viniar has decided to retire and will join the Board of Directors as a non-independent director at that time. The firm expects to appoint additional independent directors to its board in the near term. Read more
A cheat sheet for the hawk-dove breakdown on the FOMC (click to enlarge, via Credit Suisse):
Well, this is good news… Reuters have corrected their copy on what had sounded like confusing remarks made on Monday by Luc Coene, Belgian central bank governor, about the maturities of the debt the OMT will buy. (It had certainly confused us, in an earlier version of this post – sorry.)
He also said parts of the new programme’s design meant there were built-in limits to how much it could spend. Read more
The Office for National Statistics is out to get the Retail Price Index… or at least the part of responsible for the ‘formula effect gap’. But before we get to the sexy stuff — involving gilts and clauses and all — a quick statistical primer is called for.
The RPI began life as a compensation index, developed as an aid to protect ordinary British workers from price increases associated with WWI. It didn’t become the main domestic measure of inflation until much later. Read more
The trauma and cost of a public rescue must surely teach the bank management concerned to behave in a more prudent manner, right?
Wrong, according to a recent Bank of International Settlements paper. Read more
US 10-year Tips breakeven rates are surging, and talk of a revival in inflation expectations is, understandably, doing the rounds.
But we’re not entirely convinced that it is that simple. Read more
Unable to benefit from currency depreciation, the peripherals have been urged to seek other ways to improve their balance sheets by means such as ‘internal devaluation’ — regaining competitiveness by lowering costs, particularly wages.
One of the criticisms of “internal devaluation” is that it’s a slower method of improving competitiveness than an old fashioned currency devaluation. There are also questions about whether it even works. Read more
Forecasting is a tricky thing. The latest quarterly update from Australia’s Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics predicts iron ore prices will average A$101 a tonne in 2013:
Live markets commentary from FT.com
Good morning New York…
FT ALPHAVILLE Read more
People are still scratching their heads over what possibly sparked crude oil’s sell-off in the middle the US trading day on Monday.
Explanations in contention include: fat fingers, SPR talk and general illiquidity due to the Jewish New Year. Read more
Elsewhere on Tuesday,
- Romney said stuff that really wasn’t good for his campaign. Read more
Anti-Japanese protests spread across China: Thousands of Chinese protesters gathered outside the Japanese embassy in Beijing on Tuesday, some hurling water bottles at the heavily-guarded facility, and Japanese companies in China braced for an escalation of demonstrations over a territorial dispute between the two countries. Canon, Toyota, Honda and Mitsumi have all suspended some operations while Fast Retailing’s Uniqlo shops and many 7-11 stores are also closed. September 18 is the anniversary of Japan’s 1931 occupation of parts of mainland China. US election campaign criticisms of China and the White House’s decision to seek trade sanctions against China for illegal auto industry subsidies is further complicating the picture. (Financial Times)(Reuters)(Wall Street Journal)
US inflation expectations have risen sharply after the Fed’s QE3 announcement. Expectations for US inflation over the next 10 years rose as high as 2.73 per cent on Monday, based on the difference or the “break-even rate” between nominal and inflation-protected Treasury debt. It was the highest intraday break-even rate since May 2006. (Financial Times) Read more
