August, 2009
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Thursday,
- Qatar paid Porsche €80 per VW share — Reuters report.
- Macquarie to restructure, spin off infrastructure, review says – Bloomberg report.
- Corporate:
UBS to hand US 4,450 names
Switzerland on Wednesday agreed to reveal the names of 4,450 wealthy Americans holding offshore accounts at UBS, its biggest bank, reports the FT. Washington hailed the deal and indicated it would pursue other foreign banks and individual tax “cheats”.
Spain’s BBVA leads race for Guaranty
BBVA, the Spanish bank, on Wednesday emerged as the frontrunner in the auction for Guaranty Financial, a struggling Texas bank with $14bn in assets that US regulators have been trying to sell for the past six weeks.
Hedge fund bets millions on gas prices
A hedge fund has made a large bet that natural gas prices will triple by winter just as the price of the commodity slides to a seven-year low. Traders took notice last week when the fund, as yet undisclosed,
Macquarie seals China, US deals
Macquarie Group on Wednesday unveiled deals in the US and China that mark another step in the Australian bank’s global expansion. Macquarie sealed its largest foreign acquisition with the purchase of Delaware Investments,
Macquarie Infrastructure mulls split
Macquarie Infrastructure Group on Thursday said it may split into two separate, listed entities and will also mull separating from its manager, Macquarie Group, in an effort to boost security holder value,
Bank of England’s King outvoted
Bank of England governor Mervyn King wanted to pump billions more pounds into the economy this month but was outvoted by his colleagues on the monetary policy committee, it emerged on Wednesday. News of the vote,
Private equity supported on bank deals
A coalition of large US state pension funds has backed the private equity industry’s opposition to new rules on takeovers of troubled lenders, saying the plan would undermine efforts to revive the US banking system.
Lloyds in U-turn over C&G cuts
Lloyds Banking Group is to halt its decision to close its 164-strong Cheltenham & Gloucester branch network, less than than three months after announcing the move. Lloyds, which is 43.5% government owned,
Earnings flat at China’s BoCom
Bank of Communications, China’s fifth-biggest lender, posted flat first-half earnings on Wednesday, despite the fact that lending jumped on the back of China’s economic stimulus plan, reports Reuters.
US banks deepen credit line cuts
US banks reduced access to revolving loans such as credit cards and home equity lines of credit for about one in five US borrowers in the six months to April, according to a study by credit scoring group Fico.
Burrows’ BAT appointment questioned
One of the City of London’s top institutional investors has queried the appointment of Richard Burrows, the former Bank of Ireland governor, as the next chairman of British American Tobacco. Guy Jubb,
Overnight markets: Up
Asian stocks gained on Thursday, led by energy and finance companies, as oil prices rallied. Futures on the S&P500 Index rose 0.1% after the gauge advanced 0.7% on Wednesday as energy stocks gained, while Merck led drugmakers higher after a judge upheld a patent.
Lehman Brothers: the (BBC) movie
Just in time for the one-year anniversary of the fall of Lehman Brothers, the BBC announced on Wednesday it was producing a drama “inspired by” the investment bank’s collapse.
“The Last Days of Lehman Brothers”
A defence of high frequency trading by NYSE Euronext
This is certainly interesting. On Wednesday, NYSE Euronext’s vice president of corporate communications Ray Pellecchia posted a defence of high frequency trading – flash orders aside – on the exchange’s “Exchanges”
If you’re not yet worried about CRE, what are you waiting on?
Fitch on Tuesday announced an “expanded review” of the exposure of major US banks to commercial real estate, a favourite topic here on FT Alphaville.
According to the rating agency, “the performance metrics of commercial real estate,
CDS report: Falling Chinese equities weigh on credit sentiment
Gavan Nolan of Markit wrote this CDS report
European credit indices widened for the sixth consecutive session today following another sharp drop in Chinese equities. The Markit iTraxx Europe was at 102.75bp,
Latvia’s not for turning
The governor of the Bank of Latvia, Ilmars Rimsevics, took a heroic stand on CNBC Wednesday morning, rubbishing all talk of potential devaluation and accusing anyone of having suggested as much of being hugely misguided on the subject of Latvia,
Lunch Wrap
On FT Alphaville on Wednesday morning,
- China’s fiscal stimulus fading fast.
- The govenor’s insatiable appetite for QE.
- Gorgon: Who’s the real LNG seller?
- Zimbabwe’s hyperinflation No.2 in world history in Further reading.
Markets live transcript 19 Aug 2009
Markets live chat transcript for the chat ending at 11:44 on 19 Aug 2009. Participants in this chat were: Paul Murphy (PM) Bryce Elder (BE) PM:Hello there PM:It’s 11.02
China’s fiscal stimulus fading fast
Standard Chartered analyst Stephen Green has been pondering the meaning of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC)’s declaration that monetary policy was undergoing a ‘moderate adjustment’”
As he writes on Wednesday:
The governor’s insatiable appetite for QE
From the minutes of the last Bank of England monetary policy committee meeting…
The Governor invited the Committee to vote on the proposition that:
Bank Rate should be maintained at 0.5%;
The Bank of England should finance a further £50 billion of asset purchases by the creation of central bank reserves,
Gorgon: Who’s the real LNG seller?
Much is being made in Australia – or rather, by the Australian government – of Petrochina’s mega-energy deal signed on Tuesday to buy $41bn worth of Australian natural gas over the next 20 years.
Anyone seeing Martin Ferguson, Australia’s energy and resources minister,
Further reading
Elsewhere on Wednesday,
- Niall Ferguson is choking on his own snark, says Krugman.
- Zimbabwe’s hyperinflation is No.2 in world history.
- A bestiary of algorithmic trading strategies.
- HFT defender Arthur Levitt is an adviser to Getco.
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and other offerings from Wednesday’s FT,
Kenneth Rogoff: Why we need to regulate banks sooner, not later
There are problems with the view that the costs of greater bank regulation outweigh the benefits,
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Wednesday,
- Richard Burrows appointed non-executive director at British American Tobacco – statement.
- Corporate: Ithaca Energy, Care, Electronic Data Processing, Venture Production,
China, Australia in $41bn energy deal
Petrochina, China’s largest energy company, on Tuesday signed a deal to buy $41bn worth of Australian natural gas in a ceremony designed to put a gloss on strained relations between the two trading partners.
US clients identify banks in tax probe
Wealthy US citizens under a tax-evasion amnesty scheme have voluntarily identified nearly 10 Swiss and European banks where they hold accounts, opening new fronts in the US probe into potential tax crimes,
150 US clients of UBS investigated
More than 150 American clients of UBS, the Swiss bank, are under criminal investigation as part of a broader crackdown on tax evasion by the US government, according to a court document. The public confirmation
Regulators urged Citi to replace CFO
US regulators put direct pressure on Citigroup to replace its finance chief only weeks before his surprise departure, according to a confidential agreement that contrasts with the two sides’ account of the episode.