RSS feedThe foreclosure settlement
Click to open the generic state form (Word doc) sent out by the Iowa AG’s office very early this morning:
The main bits:
Under the agreement, the five servicers have agreed to a $25 billion penalty under a joint state-national settlement structure.
Here be Draghi, on ECB collateral [updated]
Some interesting points about the ECB’s expansion of the collateral it will accept for funding at February’s three-year LTRO, plus a bit on its Greek bonds, from ECB President Mario Draghi at pixel time…
Bank of England ups QE (and tweaks its gilts)
In the light of its most recent economic projections, the Committee judged that the weak near-term growth outlook and associated downward pressure from economic slack meant that, without further monetary stimulus,
Markets Live transcript 9 Feb 2012
Markets Live chat transcript for the chat ending at 12:09 on 9 Feb 2012. Participants in this chat were: Paul Murphy Bryce Elder/FT PMYo! PMWelcome to Markets Live PMBryce is here
Albert the (financial) Populist
Albert Edwards is with Terry Smith on this one. If Shredded Fred must lose his knighthood, then certain other players in this game of bubble and crunch need to forego an honour or two.
But while Smith has focused on Sir Alan Greenspan,
Another IB “surprises” on the downside…
And so to the harsh news amongst the “key messages” from Credit Suisse, which on Thursday followed both UBS and Deutsche Bank in reporting rather softer Q4 numbers than anyone seemed to be expecting…
John Paulson vs Hartford Financial
You’ll have to imagine how it sounded.
But here’s an interesting demonstration of John Paulson at work… stepping onto Hartford Financial’s earnings conference call to lambast the insurer’s performance.
Optimistic forecast of the day, Greek GDP edition
Some detail on the draft agreement Greece’s political leaders want to submit to their international saviours (assuming they can agree to pension cuts).
Via Bloomberg (emphasis ours):
Further financing may be needed for the country as the economy contracts at a faster pace than originally estimated.
Further reading
Elsewhere on Thursday,
- No, banks shouldn’t be in the tail risk-selling business.
- Hempton on Diamond Foods: “There is seldom only one cockroach…”
- Economic recovery complacency?
- Oil &
Pink picks
Comment, analysis, and other offerings from Thursday’s FT,
John Gapper: Don’t put venture capital at risk
Venture capital is now on the same threshold that both banking and private equity crossed before,
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Thursday,
– Robust first half from Diageo – statement
– Credit Suisse moves into the red in Q4 – Bloomberg
– Strategy update from BG Group – statement – along with
Further further reading
For the commute home,
- Gavyn Davies assesses the impact of QE. Short version: it’s working.
- S&P 500 valuation charted against NGDP.
- How many jobs has the app economy created since the recession started?
- Don’t put venture capital at risk,
American swap regulation: a class apart
Take a moment to imagine what it must be like to be an American regulator. There are plenty to imagine being: the OCC, the Fed, the CFTC, SEC, FDIC, and that thrift one, until it subsumed into the OCC. Got one?
So there you are,
Dystopia — safe assets edition
A familiar theme in this year’s Barclays Equity Gilt Study (57th edition, just out)…
(Click charts to enlarge)
But there is a twist — Barclays Capital tried to estimate the percentage of “safe”
Greek funny money
Greece is not printing its own money already. No drachmas are being issued by Greece, nor is there monetisation of public debt. However….
And with that rather tantalising intro — Stephane Deo of UBS blows the lid off something we’ve been wondering about Greece for a while.
Natural gas outrage of the day
The natural gas market has always behaved a little oddly.
First, it’s always been hugely seasonal, thus responsible for many a widow-maker trade. But now investors and traders have to contend with the impact of fracking too,
Markets Live transcript 8 Feb 2012
Markets Live chat transcript for the chat ending at 12:07 on 8 Feb 2012. Participants in this chat were: Paul Murphy Bryce Elder/FT neil collins PMMornin PMWelcome to ML on time
UK banks are good to go
RBS is still in its loss making phase (1) which inevitably gives us communication challenges. The losses ironically are a measure of our recovery success…
– Stephen Hester’s memo to staff on Tuesday.
European repo has been contained!
From Icap’s latest repo weekly report:
See that? That’s Italian general collateral trading more-or-less in line with the Eonia OIS curve after a good few months of haywire behavior. What’s more,
Greece’s biggest holdout, dealt with? [updated]
Goodbye to one massive FT Alphaville bugbear, anyway? An interesting story from Stephen Fidler of the WSJ/DJ FX Trader:
The ECB has agreed to exchange the government bonds it purchased in the secondary market last year at a price below face value,
Overplaying the role of haircuts in the crisis
ICMA’s European Repo Council has taken a look at the role of haircutting repo collateral in the current crisis on Wednesday. It’s decided that, overall, (and especially in Europe) there is little reason to believe the practice of discounting repo assets’ market value has had much of an impact.
Further reading
Elsewhere on Wednesday,
- Roubini is bullish; time to short everything!
- What on earth has Bill Gross been reading?
- Extreme optimism.
- New year, new CLO structures.
- Repackaging austerity.
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and more from Tuesday’s FT,
Martin Wolf: Crisis must not change India’s course
What do the financial and economic crises of the high-income countries mean for emerging and developing countries? I addressed this in New Delhi last week,
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Wednesday,
- Statoil raises 2012 capex, Q4 beats forecasts – statement.
- Supergroup sales growth slows in January – statement.
- SAS posts fresh loss, boosts cost-cut pace – statement.
Further further reading
For the commute home,
- “Deposits” with money market funds aren’t protected like those in banks, and the SEC is only just getting around to regulating them. Better late than never?
- The shortage of safe assets is both structural and cyclical.
Global liquidity fail — the role of skewed incentives
Presenting, one of the best accounts of how the current crisis came about that we’ve read to date.
It comes courtesy of Benoît Cœuré, member of the executive board of the ECB, and should be required reading for every player in financial markets,
From deposit stashing to repo lending at UBS
UBS announced lacklustre results on Tuesday, saying it expected further weakness in investment banking in the first quarter.
But the bank also provided details of some interesting underlying trends at the bank,
It just dropped in my inbox…Trump Hotel Collection
This is a pilot for an occasional AV series.
Shouting and emphasis not ours…
NEW YORK – Feb. 7, 2012 – TRUMP HOTEL COLLECTION™ has launched a fresh, new lifestyle website and national advertising campaign that promote living without compromise – inviting guests to seize opportunities in travel and life in the Trump family tradition.
LTRO-ing, with Magnus
Intesa Sanpaolo’s chief executive says he’ll use ECB funds to buy Italian bonds…
BBVA sells the first senior unsecured bond to be issued by a Spanish bank since October… (like Intesa a few weeks ago.
Markets Live transcript 7 Feb 2012
Markets Live chat transcript for the chat ending at 12:06 on 7 Feb 2012. Participants in this chat were: Paul Murphy Bryce Elder/FT PMMorning PMWelcome to Markets Live