September, 2009
Hands signals regret over EMI
Guy Hands, founder of private equity firm Terra Firma, on Thursday admitted that if the May 2007 auction of music group EMI had happened two weeks later, he would not have bought the company. The remarks,
SEC proposes ‘flash order’ ban
The SEC on Thursday proposed banning flash orders after lawmakers said the practice may give hedge funds an advantage over other investors, reports Bloomberg. SEC commissioners unanimously voted to seek public comment on a rule barring exchanges and trading platforms from giving clients access to information about stock orders a fraction of a second before the market.
SEC tightens screws on ratings agencies
The US SEC passed rules on Thursday to tighten supervision of credit rating agencies and improve disclosure amid criticism over their role in the financial crisis, including the top ratings they gave to bonds backed by risky mortgages.
ASX chief hits at US market reforms
The chief executive of the Australian Securities Exchange has criticised the Obama administration’s planned regulatory reforms of the US financial system, arguing they are “draconian” and out of touch with market developments.
Four firms pay $4.5m to settle NY probe
Four investment firms agreed to pay $4.5m to settle an investigation by New York’s attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, into the state’s pension fund, reports the NYT. The money paid by the four firms – HM Capital,
FTSE drops Iceland from benchmarks
Iceland on Thursday fell off the global map for investors who track stock market indices when it was dropped from key equity benchmarks. FTSE, the global equity index provider, has removed Iceland from the investable universe that make up its indices following the plunge in its financial markets after the collapse of its three main banks.
Market rally hands Temasek $30bn
The global equities rally has added S$42bn ($29.7bn) to the market value of Temasek’s investment portfolio since the end of March, Singapore’s state investment company said on Thursday. The mark-to-market value of the portfolio fell to S$130bn at the end of the year through March,
Colony founder eyes real estate debt
Tom Barrack, founder of Colony Capital, is raising about $500m to invest in real estate debt, in another sign of how quickly risk appetite is returning to the markets. Barrack, a billionaire property investor who profited in the aftermath of the S&L crisis in the early 1990s,
UK raises ‘subsidy war’ fear over Opel
Lord Mandelson, UK business secretary, urged Brussels on Thursday to ensure that Germany’s offer of multibillion-euro subsidies for the sale of GM’s European arm does not begin a “subsidy war”,
China scorns focus on imbalances
China expressed doubts on Thursday about a US and European push to launch an effort to tackle global economic imbalances at next week’s G20 summit in Pittsburgh. Zhou Wenzhong, China’s ambassador in Washington,
Overnight markets: Down
Asian stocks fell on Friday, dragging the MSCI Asia Pacific Index from a one-year high, as metal prices declined and Aiful Corp, Japan’s third-largest consumer lender, sought to reschedule debt repayments.
CNBC casts an Englishman
You’re a financial channel accused of cheer-leading stocks, biased reporting and financial-crisis denial.
You desperately want to appeal to a broader viewership, up ratings and get the critics off your back.
[Ireland's Bad Bank] An e-NAMA-ous property gamble
The Irish government announced details of its bad-bank programme, known as NAMA, on Wednesday.
From the FT:
The Irish state will pay €54bn to take over bank debt worth €77bn to cleanse the sector’s toxic assets and encourage renewed lending to businesses,
European ETF assets hit all time high
Mondo Visione reports European ETF assets hit an all time high of $192.1bn in August, versus a previous high of $182.5bn in July:
Related link:
The rise of synthetic ETFs - FT Alphaville
Lunch Wrap
On FT Alphaville Thursday morning,
- Barclays: how to lose friends and alienate people.
- China to world: No more shiny metals for you.
- How Yen intervention could ‘destroy a free economy’.
- The Sage’s sartorial splendour,
Markets live transcript 17 Sep 2009
Markets live chat transcript for the chat ending at 12:07 on 17 Sep 2009. Participants in this chat were: Miles Johnson, FT (MJ) Bryce Elder (BE) MJ:Cheap flights MJ:Michael Jackson
Fujii: Yen intervention could ‘destroy a free economy’
For a septuagenarian, Japan’s new finance minister, Hirohisa Fujii, packs a punch, single-handedly driving up the yen on Wednesday – his first day on the job.
As the FT reported on Thursday, the yen
China to world: No more shiny metals for you
Wowzers. Here’s one for the gold bugs — rumours on Thursday that China may ban the export of silver and gold.
The excerpt below is from a Commodity Online piece written by Erik Bethel of SinoLatin Capital — a Shanghai-based merchant bank exclusively focused,
The Sage’s sartorial splendour, Chinese-style
We all know that any whiff of interest from uber-investment guru Warren Buffett puts a rocket under any stock, and that many punters follow his every move and thought.
But now, it seems, there are devotees who even want to dress like the Sage of Omaha too.
An M&A cheat sheet
Tricky getting this table in a view-able format (click to enlarge), but here’s a handy guide to potential targets and their possible suitors, courtesy of Richard Kersley at Credit Suisse.
M&A is back in the spotlight,
Further reading
Elsewhere on Thursday,
- Will regulation hobble capitalism?
- “There was a mass walk-out at Barclays yesterday.”
- “Barclays has come up with an interesting way to solve an optical problem.”
- Ambrose Evans-Pritchard & the City.
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and other offerings from Thursday’s FT,
Some fires are best left to burn
Perhaps modern macroeconomists could learn from those who fight forest fires, writes William White, former economic adviser,
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Thursday,
- Balfour Beatty confirm it is in advanced discussions regarding a “significant and complementary” acquisition – statement.
- Tullow Oil finds oil in its Ugandan Ngassa-2 well;
Yen surges as Fujii calms fears
The yen surged to a seven-month high against the dollar on Wednesday after unusually emphatic comments from Japan’s incoming finance minister calmed fears that Tokyo would intervene to stem the currency’s recent rise.
Brown accused on UK spending
Gordon Brown was on Wednesday accused by the Tories of covering up the state of the public finances, after leaked Treasury papers suggested that soaring debt interest and social security costs could force the biggest UK spending cuts since the 1970s.
Skype deal stumbles amid row
The proposed purchase of Skype by a group of investors hit a stumbling block on Wednesday in the form of a lawsuit filed by a company owned by Skype’s founders against current owner Ebay, the investor group,
Carlyle revisits public listing
Carlyle has resumed deliberations about a possible public listing, reports the FT. Although the US buyout firm emphasised that “nothing substantive” had been decided, its interest in an IPO has been signalled in recent weeks by its CFO,