June, 2009
Overnight markets: Mixed
Asian stocks declined on Thursday, dragging the MSCI Asia Pacific Index to a three-week low, amid concern a rally since March had made stocks too expensive relative to earnings prospects. Futures on the S&P500 Index gained 0.4% after the gauge dropped 0.1% on Wednesday as S&P cut credit ratings on 18 banks.
CDS report: Credit lags equity as sentiment turns negative
This CDS report was written by Markit’s Gavan Nolan
The outperformance of credit vs. equity has been the prevailing market trend in recent days. The major credit indices on both sides of the Atlantic have widened consistently this week,
Is floating storage being restocked?
EIA stock data is out:
All of the above suggests one thing to us: floating storage may have been restocked last week and not – as some reports have suggested – offloaded due to a dissipating contango.
The Obama regulatory reform plan
Here’s it is, 89 pages which promise to “modernize and protect the integrity of our financial system.”
A NEW FOUNDATION: rebuilding Financial Supervision and Regulation
Bullet points:
Require
Key individual rankings for the 2009 Extel awards
First up, the top ten equity analysts across Europe…
Then the top ten specialist sales…
Equity sector teams…
Economics and strategy…
Emerging markets…
And, finally,
The Robert E Diamond, Jr. plan for world domination
From Wednesday’s investor seminar in New York.
In the event of financial panic…
Consider the Gold ATM!
Dispensing one and ten-gram gold units all day and all night.
Excellent for use during financial panics and moments of broker inaccessibility. Most likely coming to a public space near you soon (especially if you live in Germany).
Lex: Plenty of room at MySpace
Let’s hear it for Owen van Natta. MySpace’s new chief executive is taking the tough decisions that the site’s founders wouldn’t. Plans to cut a third of the struggling social network’s workforce are a late but necessary step.
UK: A nation of flexible workers
Wednesday brings news that UK unemployment rose less than expected in May while average earnings, including bonuses — still to be had apparently — grew by 0.8 per cent year on year in the three months to April.
The impact of rising US bond yields
Brought to us by the US Mortgage Bankers Association via…
Reuters
12:00 17Jun09 -US mortgage applications plunge to near 7-month low
-US MORTGAGE MARKET INDEX FALLS 15.8 PCT TO 514.4 IN WEEK ENDED JUNE 12 -MBA
-US MORTGAGE PURCHASE INDEX DECLINES 3.5 PCT TO 261.2 IN JUNE12 WEEK -MBA
- US MORTGAGE REFINANCING INDEX DROPS 23.3 PCT TO 1998.1 IN JUNE 12 WEEK-MBA
and Bloomberg.
Lunch Wrap
On FT Alphaville on Wednesday morning,
- Try something new at Sainsbury today…
- In defence of naked shorts.
- Brics confounded on dollar debate as sterling regains some sparkle .
- When is an ETF actually a structured product?
- A JV of a “strong monopolistic color”.
Brics confounded on dollar debate as sterling regains some sparkle
Well what do you know? For all the recent criticism of the dollar by leaders of the so-called BRIC economies, and the resulting fall in the US currency, Bloomberg reports on Wednesday that dollar bonds sold by the largest emerging-market countries are outperforming debt traded in reals,
Markets live transcript 17 Jun 2009
Markets live chat transcript for the chat ending at 12:08 on 17 Jun 2009. Participants in this chat were: Paul Murphy, FT (PM) Neil Hume, FT (NH) Sam Jones, FT (SJ) PM:Okay PM:It’s 11.02
In defence of naked shorts
Hedge fund manager, and experienced Ponzi hunter, John Hempton has launched a withering attack on the “flim flams, stock promoters and other market slime-bags” who want naked short selling banned.
He reckons this crackdown on a phoney problem is costing US taxpayers at least $1bn.
Green-shoot whacking, manufacturing edition
US industrial production figures recorded their 16th monthly drop in May according to Fed data released on Tuesday. The glaring figure, though, was industrial capacity utilisation which dropped to a record-low of 68.3 per cent.
Try something new today…
So goes the strapline of the latest J Sainsbury advertising campaign, which its chief executive Justin King is certainly taking to heart.
He has asked investors for £445m on Wednesday morning (via a capital raise and convertible bond) so Sainsbury can take advantage of opportunities in the real estate market.
A JV of a “strong monopolistic color”
Uh-oh.
From China Daily, citing the official Xinhua news agency:
On Monday, spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce Yao Jian said if the revenue of the joint venture reached “a certain amount,” China’s
Depression tracking, graphic edition
FT chief economic commentator Martin Wolf draws attention to the work of Barry Eichengreen of the University of California at Berkeley and Kevin O’Rourke of Trinity College, Dublin, in his Wednesday column.
Further reading
Elsewhere on Wednesday,
- Obama’s financial regulation reforms: A viewer’s guide.
- Alphabet soup gone mad.
- “Markets are trading on imagination”.
- ‘Buy China’ could get ugly.
- Stocks are not cheap.
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and other offerings from Wednesday’s FT,
Martin Wolf: The recession tracks the Great Depression
A paper by professors Eichengreen and O’Rourke shows global industrial output
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Wednesday,
- J Sainsbury to raise £445m in share, bond sale – statement, statement.
- British American Tobacco acquires control of Indonesia’s Bentoel for $494m- statement.
Buyout groups bid for First Republic
US buyout groups Carlyle, Blackstone and TPG are leading an investor group that is bidding to acquire First Republic Bank, a private banking unit of Bank of America, reports Bloomberg. The firms may partner with First Republic chairman James Herbert.
New US rules put Fed in hot seat
President Barack Obama will reveal plans on Wednesday for a new system of US financial regulation that gives the Federal Reserve primary responsibility for averting future financial crises. Obama will also call for a new council of regulators and a consumer-protection regulator,
US banks to shun state guarantees
JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley will no longer issue government-guaranteed bonds in an effort to show investors they can fund themselves without Washington’s help. In separate statements, the two banks said on Tuesday they did not expect to have to sell short-term bonds backed by FDIC,
Four vie for Citi’s Japan unit
Citigroup has moved a step closer to selling its Japanese asset management arm, with at least four contenders lined up for a second round of bidding. The US bank is thought to want more than Y100bn ($1bn) for Nikko Asset Management.
UK Treasury in syndicated debt sale
The UK’s gamble in launching its first conventional sovereign bond syndication paid off on Tuesday as investors flocked to buy the debt, suggesting that other governments could follow. Banks sold £7bn in new 25-year gilts carrying a coupon of 4.5% after demand rose to £15.25bn within two hours.
UK’s Darling to warn of crackdown
Alistair Darling, UK chancellor, will on Wednesday night warn the City to expect further regulation and a crackdown on sloppy boardroom practices. In his annual Mansion House speech, Darling will deliver a warning shot to those,
Hedge fund comeback gathers steam
Hedge fund liquidations fell by 50% in the first quarter from the record levels set in the previous quarter as the industry grew for the first time in 10 months, according to data provider Hedge Fund Research and Eurekahedge.