Posts from Friday Nov 30 2012

The Weekender

| Nov 30 2012 22:15 | Comment |

This week on FT Alphaville,

- A Canadian took over FT Alphaville, the first ever foreigner to run the blog in its over 300 years of existence. Read more

The ESM loses an Aaa

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 30 2012 21:57 | Comment |

Moody’s has cut the eurozone bailout fund’s credit rating to Aa1, and maintained a negative outlook. It also removed provisional Aaa ratings from debt issued by the EFSF.

In a statement, the ratings agency blamed… France, whose own Aaa rating it cut last week: Read more

On trying to read the coming Catalan coalition

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 30 2012 15:01 | Comment |

Last weekend’s Catalan elections returned perhaps the most difficult-to-read result. Judging by the overall support for separatist parties, there was significant support for at least a referendum on independence. Yet the largest separatist party, the centrist Convergència i Unió, saw its majority in the regional parliament slashed, forcing it to seek a coalition. Read more

A classic Friday meltdown from Santelli

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 30 2012 14:17 | Comment |

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Don’t kill the old! Just get them to adopt you

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 30 2012 11:32 | Comment |

We’ve been moaning about the old stealing our jobs for quite a while but we may have been missing an obvious trick. Much like their advanced toilet habits, Japan is leading the way demographically and has come up with an alternate to our more “soylent green” approach to the problem. Read more

Markets Live: Friday, 30th November, 2012

Paul Murphy is the founding editor of FT Alphaville.

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| Nov 30 2012 11:01 | Comment |
This is a Markets Live transcript. Read more

Live markets commentary from FT.com 

A sterling inflow

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 30 2012 10:45 | Comment |

So, would a sovereign downgrade hurt sterling? And if so, how much? It’s hard to model this as historic comparisons are muddy and sterling crosses each obviously carry their own difficulties. Consider this chart from Morgan Stanley, by way of illustration:

 Read more

The (early) Lunch Wrap

| Nov 30 2012 10:38 | Comment |

Indian growth slows to 5.3% || Japan unveils Y880bn stimulus package || Schaeuble presses German MPs to back Greek bailout || Cameron faces fight over press reforms || SAC chief gives testimony on share sales || Slowdown in London’s luxury real estate || Markets update || The ABS hangover, Eurosystem-style || Funding pressure time again || You’re un-Belizeable, encore || When the Doves cry Read more

A negative euro lending rate and year-end funding pressure

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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| Nov 30 2012 09:32 | Comment |

If you have euros and want to borrow dollars against them… at the moment, it’s going to cost you.

But… if you happen to have dollars and want to borrow euros against them… you will be paid to do the deal instead. Read more

The ABS hangover, Eurosystem-style

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 30 2012 08:54 | Comment |

The ECB announced some updates to its General Documentation on Wednesday. The item on ABS modifications caught our eye.

The move in question was first announced last April, and it represented a toughening up of the rules around ABS collateral for borrowing from the ECB. The update therefore isn’t so much a surprise as a reminder of one of the ongoing, but less spoken about, hangovers of the crisis.

Let’s review the situation… Read more

Further reading

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 30 2012 08:23 | Comment |

Elsewhere on Friday,

- TED’s rules for iBanking life.

- Internet Explorer sucks… less?

- Timmy proposes to end US debt ceiling crises. 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 30 2012 05:21 | Comment |

Asian shares rise || Japan industrial output posts unexpected rise || Fiscal cliff talks sour || UK banks need more capital, says BoE || What Steve Cohen told the SEC || Thailand’s PTTEP plans $3bn rights issue || British consumer confidence unexpectedly rose || JGB shorts bide their time Read more