August, 2009
IKB probe victory for shareholders
Minority shareholders in IKB have scored a legal victory in their fight for an investigation into the German bank, which was one of the first casualties of the financial crisis. A court on Wednesday ordered the appointment of a special auditor to examine whether IKB’s executive or supervisory boards violated their duty at the bank,
Hermes warns on new German rule
Germany’s ban on managers “moving upstairs” to become non-executive directors could damage the country’s companies, some key European investors have warned. Hermes, the activist UK shareholder,
Toyota to slash global production
Toyota is poised to slash production by as much as 580,000 vehicles – nearly 6% of global capacity – in an effort to stem losses amid sliding vehicle sales. The world’s largest carmaker, which forecasts its second consecutive net loss this year,
Nasdaq and Brazil exchange in talks
BM&F Bovespa, Brazil’s futures and equities exchange, and the Nasdaq OMX Group of the US are discussing a “strategic, commercial and technological partnership”, the Brazilian exchange said on Wednesday.
Overnight markets:Down
Asian stocks fell back on Thursday, led by commodity companies, after China said it may curb overcapacity in the steel and cement industries, as well as strengthen controls of stock and bond sales. Futures
A stressful reality for the Fed
Back in April, the Federal Reserve released the methodology for its stress-testing of the major US financial institutions. The Fed’s models included a “baseline” scenario for economic conditions in the US and a “stressed”
Introducing Spain’s lowest-rated covered bond
This sounds like a sure thing (not).
What appears to be the lowest-rated Spanish covered bond ever is in the pipeline, after Moody’s on Tuesday assigned a provisional A1 rating to the cedulas hipotecarias of CajaSur.
The existential QE
Bank of England deputy governor Charlie Bean’s discussion on Tuesday of quantitative easing poses quite a few questions for the market.
Notably, if QE, the process of injecting liquidity into the financial system through direct central bank asset purchases,
Optimistisch in Deutschland
The latest figures out from Germany indicate that the state of the economy is still a bit ‘nicht gut’ but less ‘nicht gut’ than a few months ago.
Results of the August Ifo Business Climate survey were published on Wednesday.
Less CMBStress?
What’s this? Some good news for the CMBS sector?
Not quite.
While the delinquent unpaid balance for CMBS decreased in July 2009 – for the first time since Aug. 2008 – it’s mostly down to a single CMBS name,
Bernanke, victim of identity theft
Newsweek reported on Tuesday that Fed chairman Ben Bernanke was a victim of identity theft in August 2008 — just a month before the Lehman crisis brought the financial world on its knees.
According to court filings seen by Newsweek,
Lunch Wrap
On FT Alphaville Wednesday morning,
- Richard Bove on a risky Morgan Stanley.
- The academic QE.
- How much money did JPMorgan make from Madoff?
- Bullish the zloty.
- Dark pools, flash orders and other dirty words.
China’s aluminum inventories: larger than you may think
Bloomberg reported an interesting claim by Aluminum Corp of China, or Chalco, the country’s largest producer of the metal, on Wednesday:
Chinese smelters, traders and warehouses hold as much as 600,000 metric tons of inventories because of surplus output
Privately held inventories would be equal to two-and-a-half weeks of forecast Chinese demand this year,
Markets live transcript 26 Aug 2009
Markets live chat transcript for the chat ending at 12:05 on 26 Aug 2009. Participants in this chat were: Paul Murphy (PM) Neil Hume, FT (NH) PM:Hello there PM:It’s 11.03
Dark pools, flash orders and other dirty words
Yet another US lawmaker is going on the attack against high-frequency trading, dark pools and flash orders – and some commentators applaud the growing push to expand the scope of complaints against such sophisticated investing tools.
How much money did JPMorgan make on Madoff?
Included in the SEC’s civil complaint against Frank DiPascali, a key figure in Bernard Madoff’s mega Ponzi, was an allegation that BMIS maintained a sizable “slush fund” at JPMorgan.
As the FT reported earlier this month:
The academic QE
Today’s lesson in academic quantitative easing, then, comes courtesy of Bank of England deputy governor Charlie Bean:
The rationale for asset purchases — that relative asset supplies affect asset prices and returns — instead lies in an older strand of the literature,
Richard Bove on a risky Morgan Stanley
Geeze. What does veteran banking analyst Richard ‘Dick’ Bove have against Morgan Stanley?
Judging from his latest note on the bank, for relatively-new employer Rochdale Securities, quite a lot. Emphasis FT Alphaville’s:
Further reading
Elsewhere on Wednesday,
- Great inflation rates in history.
- Stocks shout ‘recovery’, what do other markets say?
- Annals of Icelandic overspending, Kaupthinking edition.
- Blame the lawyers for bank bonuses.
Pink picks: Bernanke special edition
Comment, analysis and news from the FT, with a special focus on the decision by US President Barack Obama to reappoint Ben Bernanke for another term as chairman of the US Federal Reserve:
Editorial comment:
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Wednesday,
- Natixis parent BCPE will guarantee €35bn of toxic assets as the struggling investment bank – Reuters.
- Gazprom said its oil arm had accumulated a 55 per cent stake in Sibir Energy between April and June 2009,
Obama to reappoint Bernanke
President Barack Obama announced his intention to reappoint Ben Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve on Tuesday praising the Fed chief’s “bold action and out-of-the-box thinking” as the White House warned of a sharp deterioration in the US fiscal outlook.
US stocks set fresh 2009 record
US stocks set a fresh record high for the year on Tuesday as encouraging economic data boosted stocks even in the face of a marked drop in oil prices. Data from Case-Shiller and the Federal Housing Finance Agency suggested that home prices increased in June for a second consecutive month.
France cracks down on bonuses
Banks will be barred from lucrative French government mandates if they fail to abide by new international guidelines on pay, President Nicolas Sarkozy warned on Tuesday as he unveiled tough domestic rules on rewards for traders.
SEC explanation on BofA ‘puzzling’
A US federal judge on Tuesday raised fresh questions about the SEC’s settlement with Bank of America over bonus disclosures, calling the regulator’s explanation for why it did not charge individuals “puzzling”.
UK’s Ronson forms investor club
UK property entrepreneur Gerald Ronson is bringing together fellow wealthy investors in a new vehicle to mark his return to European commercial property markets. It is the first time Ronson has launched a fund open to third-party investment.
Guy Hands in talks for wind farm
Private equity investor Guy Hands is in advanced talks to invest up to $350m for a controlling stake in EverPower Wind Holdings, a New York-based developer of wind farms, reports the WSJ. EverPower will use the money to expand and to refinance a loan.
Lloyds faces £500m Admiral write-off
Lloyds Banking Group is facing the prospect of having to write off as much as £500m on loans it made to Admiral Taverns as part of a restructuring of the pub group’s balance sheet. The privately held group,