February, 2009
US Senate passes stimulus bill
Via Reuters:
The U.S. Senate approved an $838 billion economic rescue plan on Tuesday, setting the stage for tough haggling this week over the final package of tax cuts and spending aimed at averting a deeper recession.
‘Financial stability’ unveiled
The factsheet, selected highlights in bold.
The Financial Stability Plan: Deploying our Full Arsenal to Attack the Credit Crisis on All Fronts. Today, our nation faces the most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression.
Markets live transcript – US Bad Bank edition, 10 Feb 2009
Markets live chat transcript for the chat ending at 17:09 on 10 Feb 2009. Participants in this chat were: Neil Hume, FT (NH) Stacy-Marie Ishmael, FT (SMI)
NH:
Good morning (or afternoon)
Bailout 2.0: financialstability.gov
In his speech due in a quarter of an hour, Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner, as well as pledging to restart the securitisation markets (somehow…), is going to declare that the US government’s bailout plans have so far been conducted with “limited transparency”
Markets Live US – Bad Bank edition
Its BOGOF day here on FT Alphaville and that means a second helping of Markets Live.
Join Stacy-Marie Ishmael and Neil Hume at 4.00pm (11.00am EST) as US Treasury secretary Tim Geithner launches the next phase of the great bank bail out plan.
Investment bank revisionism, Wiki edition
Felix Salmon points us in the direction of a new feature for Wikipedia, the user-generated online encyclopedia.
WikiDashboard, created by Silicon Valley’s Palo Alto Research Center, “aims to reveal much of the normally hidden back-and-forth behind Wikipedia’s most controversial pages.”
“Within 24 hours the world economy would have collapsed”
Michael Panzner’s choice of name for his blog, it turns out, could not be more apt.
Panzner points us in the direction of this post from Zero Hedge, which in turn links to an overlooked C span video of Democratic Representative Paul Kanjorski.
Lunch Wrap
On FT Alphaville Tuesday morning,
- A Swiss miss.
- Barclays’ secret cash call.
- What’s ‘oops’ in Russian?
- HSBC tries to ‘do something’ in private banking.
- It’s not yet the worst of all possible worlds.
CDS report: Financials weigh on credit markets
European credit markets were marginally weaker on Tuesday morning, tracking performances in stock markets. The iTraxx Crossover index of sub-investment grade companies was at 1004.8bp, around 7bp wider from the close on Monday,
How do you say ‘oops’ in Russian?
Some curious rumblings out of Russia today.
First, there was a report in the Nikkei newspaper that Russian banks and businesses may ask foreign banks to restructure loans worth $400bn. The Japanese paper cited an interview with the Anatoly Aksakov,
Aozora pushes Cereberus closer to the gates of Hell
The year just seems to get worse for Cerberus, which is watching key investments such as Chrysler and GMAC flail as it tries to cut even its own staff and costs – and it’s only mid-February. Clearly,
Not yet the worst of all possible worlds
Earlier this morning former chairman of RBS Sir Tom McKillop admitted that a lot of the bank’s’ thinking, back in 2007 – the year it bought ABN Amro – was rather panglossian. ”All was best in the best of all possible worlds”
HSBC tries to ‘do something’ in private banking
HSBC is about to launch a $10m drive to rebrand its global private banking operations, amid what the FT describes as “concerns in the wider industry over the rebuilding of fee income and client trust”.
Markets live transcript 10 Feb 2009
Markets live chat transcript for the chat ending at 12:11 on 10 Feb 2009. Participants in this chat were: Paul Murphy, FT (PM) Neil Hume, FT (NH) PM:Hello! NH:morning all and welcome to this special edition of ML
Markets Live – Select Committee Special, Part II – the Bankers
An early start for Messrs Murphy and Hume this morning. They will be live blogging the Treasury Select Committee meeting from the Thatcher Room, Portcullis House.
And this promises to be a lot of fun as selected bankers face the wrath of Rt Hon John McFall MP and his committee members.
Swiss miss
At SFr 20bn ($17bn), UBS’s 2008 loss is the biggest in Swiss corporate history. In fact, the banks results, out today, are awash with dire numbers.
UBS lost SFr 8.10bn in the fourth quarter alone, in spite of many analysts thinking the worst was over for the bank.
Further reading
Elsewhere on Tuesday:
- 10 questions for Congress to ask the bank chiefs
-”The same pundits who did not see this downturn coming will not see the recovery coming either….”
- Ackman and the
Pink Picks
Comment, analysis and other offerings from Monday’s FT:
Lex: not the mother of all bank crises… yet
Banks may not yet be cheap enough. In global financial crises dating back to 1987, Credit Suisse calculates the average trough in price to tangible book value was about 0.5 times.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Tuesday,
- JJB Sports confirms offers for fitness business – statement
- Accounting treatment buoys Brit insurance results -statement
- Corporate results: Cable & Wireless,
Senate narrowly passes stimulus bill
Senate Democrats on Monday advanced the $838bn economic stimulus bill, clearing a key procedural hurdle by a razor-thin margin with the help of just three Republicans, reports the NYT. Final passage of the bill is expected Tuesday.
One in eight lenders ‘could fail’: RBC
More than 1,000 US banks, or one in eight lenders, may fail in the next three to five years as commercial loan losses rise, compounding problems from record mortgage delinquencies and soaring home equity loan defaults,
Ross and Carlyle eye BankUnited
Two leading forces in the investment industry, distressed asset investor Wilbur Ross and the Carlyle private equity group, are considering a joint bid for BankUnited Financial, a troubled Florida-based bank with $14bn in assets.
Libya to raise investment in Unicredit
Libya’s central bank agreed to buy an extra €250m ($326m) of convertible bonds issued by UniCredit, potentially making it the biggest shareholder in the Italian bank. The move makes the Libyan government agency a potentially crucial actor in a clash between management at UniCredit and its largest existing Italian shareholder.
Madoff agrees over Ponzi charges
Bernard Madoff has agreed not to challenge US allegations that he ran a $50bn Ponzi scheme when it comes to determining fines and restitution to his victims, the SEC said Monday. The SEC, which filed civil charges against Madoff,
HSBC ‘does something’ to rebrand
HSBC is to launch a $10m rebranding of its global private banking operations, amid concerns in the wider industry over the rebuilding of fee income and client trust. The private bank’s move on Tuesday represents its first change in marketing strategy since it was formed in 2004,
NYSE Euronext posts $1.34bn Q4 loss
NYSE Euronext on Monday reported a Q4 net loss of $1.34bn, missing expectations, as it was hit by costs related to the merger of NYSE and Euronext. Revenues also suffered because of a new rebate scheme for high frequency customers.
BG’s bid turns up heat on Shell
BG Group aims to compete against Royal Dutch Shell by deepening its presence in Australia’s fledgling coal seam gas industry, after launching a A$796m (£363m) takeover bid for Pure Energy Resources.
Genentech urges on Roche bid
US biotechn company Genentech urged shareholders Monday to take no action on a hostile $42bn bid by rival Swiss drugmaker Roche, saying its independent directors will decide formally on the surprise offer within 10 days,