May, 2009
CDS report: clawing back the losses
European credit derivatives markets were in recovery mode on Friday morning. Despite the shock of yesterday’s news that the UK could lose its triple-A rating, indices across the board in Europe tightened.
Markets live transcript 22 May 2009
Markets live chat transcript for the chat ending at 12:13 on 22 May 2009. Participants in this chat were: Neil Hume, FT (NH) Paul Murphy, FT (PM) NH:It’s Friday NH:It’s 11:03
Sibir tender offer; maybe; price unknown
More farce on the Sibir Energy front – but this time not necessarily of its own making.
Renaissance Capital, the Russian investment bank, said on Friday it was making a tender offer for Sibir stock on behalf of Gazprom Neft,
Tick, tock goes the investment clock
This week’s UBS investment research is brought to you by the number eight. (That’s eight, as in eight o’clock, or eight-ish)
You see, the global financial crisis cycle can, according to UBS, most easily be conveyed to investors around the world from the point of view of a clock face….
HM Treasury refuses FOI stress test data
No surprise, really, in news that Bloomberg has had a Freedom of Information request to find out the results of the banking stress tests in the UK turned down.
This is Britain, after all.
Disclosure of the results “at this time may lead to uncertainty in financial markets,
BA: Not the world’s most profitable airline
British Airways reported a record full-year loss of £401m before tax on Friday, and even though the figures were always expected to be pretty awful in light of the carrier’s recent downgrade by Moody’s,
Further reading
Elsewhere on Friday,
- Don’t believe the optimists.
- Five winners post-credit crunch.
- “We are placing the world’s leading credit rating agencies on review for a possible downgrade…”
- Face it,
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and other offerings from Friday’s FT,
Philip Stephens: Not quite a revolution but, with luck, the end of an era
Mr Martin was ousted because, first, he was never much good in the role;
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Friday,
- British Airways announces record losses of £410m – statement.
- FDA accepts Skyepharma’s Flutiform drug for review – statement.
- RBS appoints Sir Sandy Crombie a non-executive director – statement.
S&P warns UK over high debt level
Britain on Thursday became the first big economy to be warned in the financial crisis that it might lose its top-notch credit rating, in a move that raised fears of possible downgrades for other large industrialised nations.
Gross: US could lose AAA rating
Bill Gross, manager of the world’s biggest bond fund, warned on Thursday the US was “going the way of the UK” and will eventually lose its top AAA credit rating – a fear that had already spooked financial markets on Thursday and could keep the dollar,
Consortium wins BankUnited auction
A group including investors such as Blackstone, Carlyle, Centerbridge and WLRoss won an auction for BankUnited on Thursday after the Florida lender – worth nearly $13bn by assets – was closed by federal regulators in the biggest US bank failure of 2009.
Liddy to step down from AIG
Edward Liddy, the government-appointed chairman and chief executive of AIG, is to leave the stricken insurer after only eight months in a move that will allow the Obama administration to choose its own leaders for the troubled insurer.
US puts $7.5bn into GMAC
GMAC, the automotive financing company, received $7.5bn of government aid on Thursday, allowing it to stay in business and offer loans to buyers of Chrysler vehicles. The investment comes before the June 1 deadline for General Motors to complete a restructuring or file for bankruptcy,
US to steer GM towards bankruptcy
The Obama administration is preparing to steer General Motors Corp into bankruptcy next week, reports The Washington Post, citing sources familiar with the discussions. Under the GM draft bankruptcy plan,
KKR sees opportunities in stimulus package
KKR could take advantage of US plans to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on infrastructure stimulus but is less interested in buying banks or their troubled assets, the US private equity group’s co-founders Henry Kravis and George Roberts told the FT.
Citi looks to slash tech costs
Citigroup is ramping up efforts to slash its huge technology costs, as the bank’s management aims to save far more than its earlier target of $1bn in 2009 by integrating hundreds of systems that have been separate for years.
M&B chief quits over losses
Mitchells & Butlers is battling to regain investor confidence after the UK pub operator announced the departure of its long-serving chief executive following further losses over an abortive property deal two years ago.
Tata Motors gains debt reprieve
Tata Motors is expected on Monday to gain the agreement of its banks to roll over about $1.05bn in debt, rescuing India’s largest carmaker from the brink of default. The extension of the loan until the end of 2010 will complete the refinancing of a $3bn bridge loan Tata Motors took out last year to finance its acquisition of Ford’s Jaguar-Land Rover marques.
Bramdean in countdown to breakup
Bramdean Alternatives, the investment trust managed by Nicola Horlick, yielded to shareholder pressure on Thursday and pledged to break itself up if it received no takeover bid within 10 weeks, reports The Times.
Morgan Stanley replaces prime brokerage head
Morgan Stanley on Thursday replaced its head of prime brokerage Stu Hendel with Alex Ehrlich, who was hired from UBS where he ran the prime brokerage division for six years. An internal memo said Hendel was leaving the firm to “pursue outside interests.” Morgan’s prime brokerage,
Overnight markets: Down
Asian stocks mostly fell on Friday, led down by Japanese stocks as speculation that the US will lose its top credit rating lifted the value of the yen against the dollar. In New York, the S&P500 slid 1.7% as US figures showed initial jobless claims fell by 12,000 to 631,000 in the week ended May 16,
BankUnited fails, long live BankUnited
FDIC has pre-empted the traditional Bank Failure Friday with the announcement that BankUnited had become the largest US bank failure this year.
From the press release:
BankUnited, a newly chartered federal savings bank,
Anyone left on the Titanic? Or, Liddy’s leaving AIG
AIG is splitting the roles of chairman and chief executive, and Edward Liddy, who’s been at the helm all of eight months, will leave as soon as replacements are found. Dealbreaker has the memo, which we’ve reproduced below:
Sing-a-long Russian/Ukrainian gas crisis
Talk about non-seasonal events. The world is used to the routine energy crisis that is the annual January gas-spat between Russia and Ukraine, as the two renegotiate contract terms. But this is May. Surely some mistake eh Russia?
First,
Another (sensationalist) sterling chart
Sterling has regained all the ground lost in the aftermath of S&P’s decision to change its outlook on the UK from “stable” to “negative”. Still, that was quite a precipitous drop.
The dollar/oil relationship, Goldman edition
We’ve been watching the reemergence of the dollar/oil relationship here on FT Alphaville for the last few weeks. In that time frame oil has appeared consistently to ignore fundamentals in favour of an inverse relationship with the dollar.
Green shoots panned
Another day, another notable green-shoot whacker emerges. Thursday’s turn is that of former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.
As Bloomberg reports (our emphasis):
May 21 (Bloomberg) — Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan signaled that the financial crisis has yet to end even as borrowing costs tumble,
Muni investors still backing California bonds
The LA Times’ Money & Co blog noted on Thursday that holders of bonds issued by fiscally-challenged California are betting that “debt repayment will be a priority at the expense of other spending.”
Tom Petruno makes his case thus: