June, 2009
Time to pull back liquidity?
Wednesday has so far proved to be another inflation focused day.
Among the latest indicators of tearaway borrowing costs in the near future was a jump in mortgage rates to their highest since last November,
Fed releases fresh balance sheet data
The Fed preempts the release of its US economic conditions report later on Wednesday with a fresh monthly release pertaining to its balance sheet and reserves.
Readers may recall that news agencies like Bloomberg filed freedom of information requests a-plenty to get the Fed to come clean on just what’s been going on within its credit and liquidity programmes.
False news shock – Heritage Oil edition
Here’s another example of false news shock – the tendency of erroneous news to move markets even though it has proved to be wrong. It concerns an exploration company called Heritage Oil, which has found a serious amount of oil in Kurdistan.
CDS report: Swedish banks rally after authorities reassure on Baltic exposure
This CDS report was written by Markit’s Gavan Nolan
European CDS indices gave back some of their gains this afternoon following a lacklustre opening in the US. The Markit iTraxx Europe index threatened to break through the 100bp barrier this morning,
California’s eighth largest city ponders bankruptcy
SFGate reports:
behind closed doors the Oakland City Council has discussed filing for bankruptcy protection in the midst of a $100 million budget deficit.
“We have asked the (bankruptcy) question because we wanted to know the impact,”
Saad on sale – again
This time the troubled Saudi investment group had sold 30m shares in 3i Infrastructure fund at 85p each.
Or has it?
Like Tuesday’s disposal of 16m shares in Berkeley Group, the sale has again been handled by Citigroup.
The need for greater realism in monetary policy
Is it ironic that the following conclusion is coming out of the Bank of England?
(Emphasis FT Alphaville’s):
. . . What lessons might be drawn for the operation of monetary policy? As we have argued,
Postcode asset management
S024.
Bramdean confirms approach has been made by Sheet Asset Management Petersfield Asset Management Ltd.
Hampshire County Council pension fund is second-largest Bramdean investor
Another illogical Russian smackdown for US treasuries
Next week, Russia hosts a meeting between the leaders of Brazil, India and China in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, at which it is widely expected the dollar’s dominant role will be hotly contested.
RTRS: GOLDMAN CEO SAYS “CHANCES ARE” THIS IS NOT THE RECOVERY
Can this be right? A Goldman executive who’s not bullish?
According to Reuters it is.
TEL AVIV, June 10 (Reuters) – Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein said on Wednesday he believed a current upturn in world markets was probably not a full recovery from crisis and said he expected a further long recession.
Lunch Wrap
On FT Alphaville on Wednesday morning,
- Swedish Riksbank borrows from the ECB.
- JPM sees repeat fixed income performance for investment banks.
- Crude over $71, or 20 Big Macs.
- CMBSnafu.
Crude over $71, or 20 Big Macs
Crude futures are racing higher on Wednesday. The ascent has much to do with a continuing slide in the dollar, unexpectedly large crude draws in the last week according to figures from the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday night,
Markets live transcript 10 Jun 2009
Markets live chat transcript for the chat ending at 12:13 on 10 Jun 2009. Participants in this chat were: Neil Hume, FT (NH) Bryce Elder (BE)
NH:
Good morning
NH:
Due to industrial action there will be no Markets Live this morning or tomorrow
Swedish Riksbank borrows from the ECB
A run of the mill central-bank currency swap or tell-tale sign of something more ominous? The jury is still out here at FT HQ –thoughts welcome.
From the Riksbank:
The Executive Board of the Riksbank has decided to borrow EUR 3 billion from the European Central Bank,
[The Stanford Series] Avast, ye salty Stanford lawfirm website
Matthew Goldstein, freshly installed at Reuters, notes the latest twist in the ongoing Alan Stanford saga:
The R. Allen Stanford legal defense story keeps getting stranger and stranger.
While the securities world waits for the inevitable indictment of the Texas financier,
Posner, the critics and the blame game
It’s not every day you read a review that begins like this:
Note: After writing this, I read Brad DeLong’s better review of Posner’s book (hat tip Felix Salmon). I won’t be offended if you go read that instead.
Turquoise down
MARKET ALERT.
Due to a system outage, the trading session today is being suspended. We will send an e-mail update when a re-opening time has been defined. We are currently working to overcome all issues and apologize for any inconvenience.
Get Charter
Much has been made about turn in the inventory cycle. Companies in industries as diverse as mobile phones, steel and consumer goods have recently been telling investors that the worst of the de-stocking is over and sales should start improving in the second half of the year.
Emerging market datapoint(s) du jour
Still uncertain as to the relevance of all the fuss over tottering Eastern European, South American or Asian economies? Uncertainty begone. Says JP Morgan’s Joyce Chang, via Felix Salmon:
Total lending to emerging markets is now some $4.7 trillion.
Further reading
Elsewhere on Wednesday,
- A very British bounce?
- Oh no! My $10m bonus might lose out to the pay police.
- Investment funds and the tinkle of nine alarm bells.
- Government by prediction markets.
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and other offerings from Wednesday’s FT,
Martin Wolf: It is in Beijing’s interests to lend Geithner a hand
China’s decision to accumulate roughly $2,000bn in foreign currency reserves was,
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Wednesday,
- UK FSA repeats call for hands-off EU regulator – Reuters.
- Liontrust Asset Management full-year profit before tax falls 25 per cent to £12.4m — statement.
Ten US banks to repay Tarp funds
Ten financial groups including JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs were on Tuesday allowed to repay a combined $68bn to the US Treasury. The groups, including Morgan Stanley and American Express, can now shed the pay and hiring restrictions that came with last year’s Tarp assistance.
Court revives Chrysler deal with Fiat
The US Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the sale of Chrysler to Fiat to go ahead, rejecting an appeal by three Indiana pension funds – which hold $42m of Chrysler’s $6.9bn in secured debt – to suspend the deal,
House subpoenas Fed over BoA-Merrill
The US Federal Reserve was served with a subpoena from a Congressional committee on Tuesday, as lawmakers demanded documents related to Bank of America’s acquisition of Merrill Lynch. The House oversight and government reform committee made the unusual move in efforts to discover whether undue pressure was placed on Ken Lewis,
Lloyds eyes part sale of fund
Lloyds Banking Group is in talks to sell part of the fund management arm it gained when it merged with HBOS last year to a private equity-backed management team for up to £300m. Abdallah Nauphal, former chief executive of Insight Investment Management and now managing director of asset management for the Lloyds group,
Lloyds poised for branch closures
Lloyds Banking Group may close up to 400 bank branches, including 164 Cheltenham & Gloucester outlets set to shut in November. The bank has hired Jones Lang de Salle and CB Richard Ellis, the property consultants,