ROUND-UP
FT markets round-up: “After a slower start to the global session, stocks on Wall Street rebounded, pushing the S&P 500 closer to an all-time high. Throughout most of trading in Europe and Asia, investor optimism was alternately boosted by a surprisingly strong US jobs report but restrained by weaker-than-expected Chinese economic data. Still, gains picked up in afternoon trading in New York, leaving many leading stock barometers near record highs as hopes for worldwide growth prospects and continuing central bank support provide underlying demand for “risk” assets. The broad S&P 500 rose 0.3 per cent to 1,556, just 9 points shy of its record high close. The FTSE All-World index rose 0.4 per cent after the Asia-Pacific region, excluding Japan, dipped just 0.1 per cent. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 retreated less than 0.1 per cent.” (Financial Times) Read more
The nationalisation of the fourth largest bank in the Netherlands is proving to be a pain for the credit derivatives market. It’s only by virtue of the small number of contracts outstanding that referenced SNS Bank that this hasn’t been making more headlines and causing more consternation.
The Isda Determinations Committee has already declared that the expropriation of the subordinated debt of the bank was a restructuring credit event, and that there might be some auctions to determine payouts under the swaps. But it looks like that result of the auctions could prove a bit farcical, with buyers of protection walking away with very little compensation for the total loss experienced by subordinated debt holders. Read more
They’ve become interesting side-players in the saga principally starring Argentina — so it’s probably worth noting the latest from these two Caribbean sovereigns…
Belize has closed its restructuring with 86 per cent approval by its creditors: Read more
A new type of list. Not billionaires or executive fat cats or expensive cities, but the top “thinkers” in the world.
Prospect magazine are holding a poll. You can vote for your top three here or you can use the comment box below to strike names off the Prospect long list… Read more
Live markets commentary from FT.com
The latest commodity advice from Goldman Sachs suggests the current sell-off may be overdone.
Here are the key points from Monday’s note:
Shifting to near-term overweight as commodity sell-off overdone
Commodity markets declined sharply in February along with emerging market (EM) equities due to renewed concerns over China, which we believe is overdone. Although our price targets other than gold remain unchanged, this pull back has pushed our near-term return forecast from 2.0% to 6.0%, making commodities the asset class within the ECS coverage universe with the most robust near-term outlook. However, our 12-month neutral recommendation remains unchanged as our returns forecast is still a more subdued 3.0%, as we continue to remain structurally neutral on long-dated oil and commodity prices due to the structural supply-side response to persistently high prices.
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As the FT reports on Monday, banks in Europe are rushing to redraft executive pay deals in order to comply with recently passed legislation capping bonuses at the amount of fixed pay, or twice that amount where approved by investors.
We submit for discussion an illustration plus narrative on the subject the bonus cap, penned by Kevin Roose. (H/T Barry Ritholtz) Read more
Good morning, New York…
Daylight Savings Time started on Sunday, moving clocks forward an hour. British Summer Time doesn’t begin until March 31st, so enjoy easier to schedule transatlantic conference calls while it lasts. Read more
Elsewhere on Monday,
- The banking hierarchy explained.
- Economic expansion, here we come.
- Where the money in IPOs is. Read more
What now for Xstrata CEO Mick ‘The Miner’ Davis?
Bloomberg thinks it has the answer: Read more
A big stack of official Chinese economic data was released over the weekend and it paints a somewhat mixed picture of the country in 2013.
The short version is that some growth indicators were significantly weaker than expected, but others beat consensus forecasts — and consumer inflation appears to be on the rise again, even when the new year effect is discounted. This comes after strong export growth and weak import data surprised everyone late last week. Read more
Asian shares mostly higher || Japanese machinery orders fall sharply || Bank commission says new UK rules too weak || Kuroda would consider buying derivatives || European repo markets shrink || Private equity payouts reach new record || The equities debate Read more
Prediction market site Intrade is off the air.
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1'Collectively, humanity has yawned and decided to let the dangers mount'
2Man walks into a gold bar. Au!
3The end of QE?
4Rise of the funding altruists
5The persistent supply-side constraints in US housing
Show more6Bird, plane, Abe
7Bove vs Bloomberg, redux
8Risk goes on, Risk goes off
9A glorious episode in the history of the Revenue
10Stress you next year
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