FT Alphaville » David Keohane http://ftalphaville.ft.com FT Alphaville - Market Commentary - FT.com Fri, 17 May 2013 16:07:42 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Bird, plane, Abe http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/05/17/1506092/bird-plane-abe/ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/05/17/1506092/bird-plane-abe/#comments Fri, 17 May 2013 09:45:22 +0000 David Keohane http://ftalphaville.ft.com/?p=1506092 One for the mantelpiece, Mr Abe:

(Click through the pic for the Economist article)

Continue reading: Bird, plane, Abe]]> http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/05/17/1506092/bird-plane-abe/feed/ 0 Further reading http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/05/16/1503962/further-reading-1269/ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/05/16/1503962/further-reading-1269/#comments Thu, 16 May 2013 07:17:44 +0000 David Keohane http://ftalphaville.ft.com/?p=1503962 Elsewhere on Thursday,

- Dirty medicine.

- In search of that targeted lending scheme in Europe.

- Cells as living calculators.

- Abundant Star Trek.

Continue reading: Further reading]]> http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/05/16/1503962/further-reading-1269/feed/ 0 Risk goes on, Risk goes off http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/05/15/1502762/risk-goes-on-risk-goes-off/ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/05/15/1502762/risk-goes-on-risk-goes-off/#comments Wed, 15 May 2013 16:23:27 +0000 David Keohane http://ftalphaville.ft.com/?p=1502762 Deutsche Bank’s Stuart Parkinson and Rineesh Bansal kick off their tale of RoRo on a controversial subject: where did the phrase risk-on/ risk-off originate. We’ve had some outlandish claims sent our way in the past.

A colleague who shall remain nameless once claimed he had invented RoRo (and the question mark) but we feel there is a ring of truth to the suggestion that a company called Riskmetrics, originally a JP Morgan project born to gauge the level of risk being run by the firm, actually has the dubious honour.

Continue reading: Risk goes on, Risk goes off]]> http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/05/15/1502762/risk-goes-on-risk-goes-off/feed/ 0 The super soaraway Nikkei [updated] http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/05/15/1501722/the-super-soaraway-nikkei/ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/05/15/1501722/the-super-soaraway-nikkei/#comments Wed, 15 May 2013 13:57:02 +0000 David Keohane http://ftalphaville.ft.com/?p=1501722 Nikkei 15,000 comes courtesy of a weak yen and increasing earnings expectations which carry some potentially elevated valuations with them. If you need any evidence of how sensitive the Nikkei has become to the yen’s rise, here’s a chart to ease your suffering:

But there are other things at work here.

Continue reading: The super soaraway Nikkei [updated]]]> http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/05/15/1501722/the-super-soaraway-nikkei/feed/ 0 Upgrade driven rally du matin http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/05/15/1501742/upgrade-driven-rally-du-matin/ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/05/15/1501742/upgrade-driven-rally-du-matin/#comments Wed, 15 May 2013 09:11:27 +0000 David Keohane http://ftalphaville.ft.com/?p=1501742 An upgrade in this environment is apparently stupidly effective. Here’s Greece’s 10-year bond yield tumbling a full one per cent the day after Fitch upgraded it to to B- from CCC, and said the outlook was stable:

Continue reading: Upgrade driven rally du matin]]> http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/05/15/1501742/upgrade-driven-rally-du-matin/feed/ 0 Eating yields… How does that make you feel? http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/05/14/1500122/eating-yields-how-does-that-make-you-feel/ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/05/14/1500122/eating-yields-how-does-that-make-you-feel/#comments Tue, 14 May 2013 16:21:49 +0000 David Keohane http://ftalphaville.ft.com/?p=1500122 This Fobor based paragraph is from a Bank of America Merrill Lynch note published earlier in the month which the FT’s Robin Wigglesworth brought to our attention:

In a world of zero rates, where $19.4 trillion of government bonds (that’s 48% of the total market) is trading below 1%, it’s little wonder the “lust for yield” is as strong as it is.

Continue reading: Eating yields… How does that make you feel?]]> http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/05/14/1500122/eating-yields-how-does-that-make-you-feel/feed/ 0 JGBs: “Yes I would, Kent” http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/05/14/1498902/jgbs-yes-i-would-kent/ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/05/14/1498902/jgbs-yes-i-would-kent/#comments Tue, 14 May 2013 15:33:29 +0000 David Keohane http://ftalphaville.ft.com/?p=1498902

Japanese government bonds have kept stumbling. Small beer anywhere else in the world, but considering the policy experiment ongoing over there it’s worth keeping an eye on.

We’re not too excited yet but here’s a chart of five and ten year yields and some speculation anyway…

Continue reading: JGBs: “Yes I would, Kent”]]> http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/05/14/1498902/jgbs-yes-i-would-kent/feed/ 0 Of stereotypes and the slow end of the European affair http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/05/14/1499052/of-stereotypes-and-the-slow-end-of-the-european-affair/ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/05/14/1499052/of-stereotypes-and-the-slow-end-of-the-european-affair/#comments Tue, 14 May 2013 10:01:37 +0000 David Keohane http://ftalphaville.ft.com/?p=1499052 Some charts from Pew’s latest survey of 8,000 people across eight EU countries, most of whom are increasingly *insert euphemism* with Europe:

Continue reading: Of stereotypes and the slow end of the European affair]]> http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/05/14/1499052/of-stereotypes-and-the-slow-end-of-the-european-affair/feed/ 0 Sony to Loeb: ‘Thanks, but no thanks Dan’ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/05/14/1498912/sony-to-loeb-thanks-but-no-thanks-dan/ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/05/14/1498912/sony-to-loeb-thanks-but-no-thanks-dan/#comments Tue, 14 May 2013 08:03:50 +0000 David Keohane http://ftalphaville.ft.com/?p=1498912 That’s the gist of Sony’s response to billionaire activist investor Daniel Loeb’s suggestion, made via hand-delivered letter, that Sony should break itself up. It stems from an NYT Andrew Ross Sorkin exclusive.

Loeb’s idea is basically: partially spin out Sony’s entertainment division via an IPO which Loeb’s Third Point fund would happily sign up to. He’d also gladly accept a seat on Sony’s board. As the NYT noted, Loeb is known for ousting Yahoo’s former chief executive and poaching Marissa Mayer from Google to run the company. His hedge fund has quietly amassed a stake of about 6.5 per cent in Sony, making it one of the biggest shareholders.

From Loeb’s letter to Sony’s president and CEO Kazuo Hirai:

Continue reading: Sony to Loeb: ‘Thanks, but no thanks Dan’]]> http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/05/14/1498912/sony-to-loeb-thanks-but-no-thanks-dan/feed/ 0 NPLs and lights in dark places http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/05/13/1497002/npls-and-lights-in-dark-places/ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/05/13/1497002/npls-and-lights-in-dark-places/#comments Mon, 13 May 2013 11:06:28 +0000 David Keohane http://ftalphaville.ft.com/?p=1497002 Consider this chart from JP Morgan’s Flows & Liquidity team. It shows the evolution of non-performing loan ratios (as percentages of total loans) across three different Euro area blocks: Germany, core and periphery.

The definition of a non-performing loan (NPL) differs across countries but the picture is definitely not pretty.

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