Posts from Thursday Nov 1 2012

The Closer

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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| Nov 01 2012 22:00 | Comment |

ROUND-UP

US stocks posted their biggest day of advances since mid-September. The S&P 500 rose 1.1 per cent to close at 1,427.59. The Dow added 136 points to close up at 13,232.62 (Bloomberg). Read more

Argentina, padlocks and vultures

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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| Nov 01 2012 20:46 | Comment |

Complicated, ambiguous, a Heath Robinson machine of sovereign debt payment.

Those are all good ways to describe the likely legal strategies that are now open to Argentina, if it proposes to go on freezing out holdouts but continue paying out on restructured foreign-law debt. That’s after last Friday’s landmark US Court of Appeals decision. Read more

Moody’s Analytics: $50bn in economic loss from Sandy

| Nov 01 2012 18:19 | Comment |

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

Moody’s Analytics is the latest to estimate the total economic costs from Sandy, arriving at a higher projected loss than most of the forecasts we’ve seen. Read more

Barclays faces huge fine and charges of rudeness

David joined the FT in 2011 as a Marjorie Deane fellow. He covered emerging markets, equities and currencies before making the jump over to FT Alphaville in May 2012.

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| Nov 01 2012 16:09 | Comment |

Awkward. One of the newish regulatory probes afflicting Barclays has brought us another batch of inter-trader communications they clearly never thought would see the light of day.

This particular investigation, which could see Barc landed with a record $470m fine over alleged US energy market manipulation, circles around four traders on the bank’s West Coast power desk who allegedly thought it wise to exchange messages explaining how they would “crap on” certain prices in one market to profit in another. Read more

Meanwhile in European high-yield debt issuance

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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| Nov 01 2012 15:49 | Comment |

So how is it going with new issuance in the high yield debt markets for corporate Europe? Middle-market investment bank RW Baird has the answers in its Global Leveraged Loans Quarterly, out this Thursday. Highlights:

Key Findings: Read more

Coalition troubles in Athens

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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| Nov 01 2012 12:35 | Comment |

There are some worrying signs about the strength of the Greek government coalition building this week. Between voting abstentions, public disagreements and new strikes, it’s looking ever bleaker. Read more

PPI claims: bringing uncertainty to a British bank near you!

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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| Nov 01 2012 12:18 | Comment |

Remember the frustrating old days when a cloud of uncertainty hanging over bank balance sheets was due to illiquid structured products and mortgage security holdings? When one was left to look out the window and wonder just how much of a payout would a bank ultimately get on its credit default swap protection on super-senior CDO tranches from ailing monolines? Sigh. Read more

Greek government acquires more realistic crystal ball

David joined the FT in 2011 as a Marjorie Deane fellow. He covered emerging markets, equities and currencies before making the jump over to FT Alphaville in May 2012.

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| Nov 01 2012 10:34 | Comment |

Greece’s new budget was announced on Wednesday. With it came projections for the country’s economic health. The patient is not well. Even before the government’s own-self assessment of conditions, revisions by the IMF alone revealed the deterioration, as Exotix’s Gabriel Sterne points out in a note on Thursday. More of his analysis further down, but first this from the FT on the Greek government’s figures: Read more

The (early) Lunch Wrap

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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| Nov 01 2012 09:51 | Comment |

China PMIs || US GDP || Argentine bond payments || Wall Street reopens || Greece update || China pumps $60bn into money markets || JPMorgan files claim against “London Whale” boss || Shell earnings || Barclays possible fine || Panasonic & Sharp losses Read more

China PMIs are stumbling upwards with mixed conviction

Kate is FT AV’s Asia Correspondent. She joined FT Alphaville in mid-2011 after carrying out various roles in the FT’s London office since 2005: interactive editor, companies reporter, and founding editor of the FT’s Energy Source blog.

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| Nov 01 2012 08:39 | Comment |

The official PMI is 50.2, back in positive territory. Yay for China’s manufacturers, right?

Well, sort of, given how mixed the picture is.

Below is a breakdown of components in the official PMI survey over the past three months, via Nomura:

China official manufacturing PMIs breakdown from Aug to Oct 2012 - Nomura  Read more

Further reading

David joined the FT in 2011 as a Marjorie Deane fellow. He covered emerging markets, equities and currencies before making the jump over to FT Alphaville in May 2012.

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| Nov 01 2012 08:21 | Comment |

Elsewhere on Thursday,

- More on self-defeating austerity.

- Which kids will steal your Halloween candy? There’s a study for that.

- Nightmare on Wall Street. Read more

The 6am Cut London

Kate is FT AV’s Asia Correspondent. She joined FT Alphaville in mid-2011 after carrying out various roles in the FT’s London office since 2005: interactive editor, companies reporter, and founding editor of the FT’s Energy Source blog.

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| Nov 01 2012 05:42 | Comment |

China’s PMIs more positive || Panasonic plunges on big loss warning || Comet likely to go into administration || CIC buying stake in Heathrow || European short selling ban starts today || United Continental looks at A-350s || A year on from MF Global’s collapse || Who wants to work in banking, now?  Read more