July, 2009
Snap news
Breaking pre-markt news on Friday,
- Anglo America announces appointment of Sir John Parker as chairman — statement.
- London & Stamford Property to raise £225.8m through placing and open offer — statement.
Nominations invited…
And save the date – Nov 9, at Grosvenor House, Park Lane, London
Just four months to go till the 2009 Complinet Compliance Awards.
The categories will include:
· Compliance Officer
Bullish Anglo picks new chairman
Anglo American is on Friday set to name Sir John Parker as its new chairman aiming to reassure shareholders that the international mining group has a strong independent future after its emphatic rejection of a merger offer from rival Xstrata,
Gilts fall after Bank sows QE confusion
The Bank of England sowed confusion in the gilts markets on Thursday, announcing it would suspend its £125bn asset purchase programme, at least for now, but offering no clue to its future thinking. UK government bonds sold off sharply after the Bank disappointed investors by failing to increase its quantitative easing programme,
Lloyd’s of London plans strategic revamp
Lloyd’s of London has begun the biggest strategic review it has undertaken this decade in an attempt to ensure the more than 320-year-old insurance market does not fail in exploiting the gaps in the market thrown up by the financial crisis,
China attacks dollar’s dominance
China has launched its highest-profile criticism of the dominant role of the US dollar as a global reserve currency at a meeting of the world’s biggest economies, the FT said. Dai Bingguo, Chinese state councillor,
‘I’m a broker, get me out of here’
Drax, the energy group, is making the contenders for its latest corporate broking mandate fight it out in an Apprentice-style challenge. UBS this week secured the mandate to be Drax’s co-corporate broker,
Big names in UK digital media launch new fund
Four of the biggest names in the UK digital media scene are teaming up to launch an investment fund for internet start-ups, the FT reported. Michael Birch, co-founder of Bebo, the social network acquired by AOL last year for $850m,
Sprint forms $5bn Ericsson network deal
Sprint Nextel, the struggling US mobile network operator, is to outsource the management and day-to-day running of its two nationwide networks to Sweden’s Ericsson in a seven-year deal worth between $4.5bn and $5bn,
Chinese steel executive held in Rio probe
Beijing on Thursday detained an executive of a large Chinese steel mill in a widening probe that has already led to espionage allegations against four employees of Rio Tinto, the Anglo-Australian miner.The government also defended its decision to detain the four Rio employees,
Citi reshuffles senior management, again
Citigroup replaced Ned Kelly, its finance chief, on Thursday after less than four months in the job. The surprise move follows regulatory pressure to overhaul top management, and could weaken the position of Vikram Pandit,
Overnight markets: Range bound, but under pressure
A poor performance by Japanese shipping companies amid fears that a global recession just might curb international trade weighed pushed the Topix index to an eighth day of declines, while the Nikkei Average was little changed.
Lex: Quantitative easing in the UK
The Bank of England is practising the new art of macro-prudentialism by easing off on QE, but this may be only a pause.
It makes sense for the Bank to take a break. The world economy seems to be on the mend.
CDS report: Indices rebound after US jobless claims tumble
This CDS report was written by Markit’s Gavan Nolan
Credit indices rebounded today following Alcoa’s better than expected results and a positive surprise from US jobless claims figures. The Markit iTraxx Europe index closed at 120.5,
Quote of the day, dirty dirty miners edition
Presented without comment, via The Guardian:
Takeover battles are usually about share price performance and profits growth but the tussle between the mining giants Xstrata and Anglo American has taken an unusual turn with a crass,
Banc of America talks up Goldman Sachs
Banc of America/Merrill Lynch analyst Guy Moszkowski is a Goldman Sachs fan, if his latest missive on the former investment bank is any indication.
According to Bloomberg, Moszkowski believes Goldman ”
China calls for a “more diversified currency system”
On the wires earlier on Thursday (H/T John Kemp):
12:46 09Jul09 RTRS-CHINA AT G8 MEETING SAID SHOULD IMPROVE RESERVE CURRENCY SYSTEM – CHINESE OFFICIAL
12:47 09Jul09 RTRS-CHINA AT G8 MEETING SAID
Lunch Wrap
On FT Alphaville Thursday morning,
- Quantitative tightening in China.
- Some unQEasy drama.
- Reserving the euro.
- Goldman code surfing in Further reading.
- Keep the QE flowing in Pink picks.
BoE holds interest rates, leaves QE unchanged
No more QE for you! Not for a while anyway…
12:00 RTRS-BANK OF ENGLAND SAYS LEAVES QE TOTAL UNCHANGED AT 125 BLN STG
12:00 RTRS-BANK OF ENGLAND HOLDS KEY UK INTEREST RATE AT 0.5 PCT
12:00 RTRS-BANK OF ENGLAND SAYS LEAVES QE TOTAL UNCHANGED AT 125 BLN STG
12:00 RTRS-BANK OF ENGLAND HOLDS KEY UK INTEREST RATE AT 0.5 PCTAnd a bit of market reaction:
Markets live transcript 9 Jul 2009
Markets live chat transcript for the chat ending at 12:08 on 9 Jul 2009. Participants in this chat were: Neil Hume, FT (NH) Paul Murphy, FT (PM) NH:Good morning NH:and welcome to Market’s Live
Reserving the euro
Talk of reserve currencies and the possible decline of the dollar’s supremacy has been heated over the past few months, with China and Russia leading the fighting talk. With market-watchers awaiting more mention of the debate at this week’s G8 meeting,
Quantitative tightening
From Reuters:
Chinese shorter-term bond and bill yields soared on Thursday after the central bank resumed one-year bill sales, that had been suspended for seven months, confirming to traders that monetary policy was being tightened.
UnQEasy drama
As the Bank of England is widely expected to keep interest rates at 0.5 per cent today while simultaneously boosting quantitative easing by another £25bn — we thought we’d share this graph:
That’s from Goldman Sachs, and it shows just how dramatic the BoE’s QE has really been.
Further reading
Elsewhere on Thursday,
- Who’s looking for Goldman code?
- So farewell then, JWM.
- Troubles in shipping (again).
- Gilt Russian Roulette.
- Financial (CDO) alchemy at Morgan Stanley.
- “Bramdean has woman run money,
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and other offerings from Thursday’s FT,
John Gapper: Big banks look to rainmakers again
Investment bankers have delicate egos at the best of times and the past few years have not been the best of times.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Thursday,
- Man Group FUM is $43.3bn at June 30, compared with $44bn last year — statement.
- Charlemagne Capital AUM up 28.2 per cent to $2.4bn in three months — statement.
IMF says world is pulling out of recession
The world economy is starting to pull out of recession, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday, marking up its growth forecasts for next year and hinting that it might reduce its estimates for bank losses,
Darling’s banking reforms attacked
Alistair Darling’s blueprint for reforming the financial regulatory regime on Wednesday failed to impress the City and drew withering fire from the Conservatives, who vowed to reverse the report’s main proposals should the party win the next election,
Switzerland to block UBS record transfer to US
The Swiss government on Wednesday waded into the legal battle between UBS and the US authorities by saying it would forbid the bank from handing over confidential client information, if a crucial court case next week required it,