September, 2009
Lunch Wrap
On FT Alphaville Monday morning,
- Lehmania, redux.
- St Ledger’s lament.
- Sprint finish(ed)?
- Good banks, bad banks.
- Analysts are not created equal.
- Spanish catastrophe,
KBConfusion
What fresh hybrid debt hell is this?
KBC Bank has today launched tender offers in certain countries in Europe and, in respect of one security, in the United States of America to repurchase four series of outstanding hybrid Tier-1 securities with a total nominal value of approximately €1.6 billion.
Why the UNG is issuing new units
In case you missed the news, the United States Natural Gas Fund — the exchanged-traded-fund — posted a note to the SEC on Friday saying it planned to restart the issue of creation baskets once again.
Natural gas comeback not exactly what it seems
Natural gas staged a small comeback last week, inciting some speculation within the blogosphere that a renewed bull market might be under way in the commodity. Evidence for this, say commenters, is the now heady height of the gas-to-oil ratio above the 20x mark.
Markets live transcript 14 Sep 2009
Markets live chat transcript for the chat ending at 12:14 on 14 Sep 2009. Participants in this chat were: Neil Hume, FT (NH) Miles Johnson, FT (MJ) Paul Murphy (PM) NH:surprise NH:its 11.01am
Spanish catastrophe, otro datapoint del dia
Here’s a rather pointed rejoinder from Credit Suisse, on the matter of Spanish banks:
Contrary to some investors and analysts, we are not particularly concerned about the solvency of the institutions we cover.
The idea that Spain’s banks are not technically insolvent (hooray) is about the limit of Credit Suisse’s bullishness,
St Ledger’s lament
So much for the old adage.
If you had sold in May and come back on Friday you would have missed out on a 17 per cent rally and quite possibly lost your job.
According to the Motley Fool, selling in May and coming back in September would have worked 13 out of 25 times in the last quarter of a century.
Good banks, bad banks
That’s as measured by European banks’ coverage ratios, or loan loss provisioning.
KBW analysts led by Andrew Stimpson and Antonio Ramirez provide an interesting chart on the measure in a research note out on Monday.
Sprint finish(ed)?
Rumours of a bid for Sprint Nextel, the third-largest mobile phone operator in the US, have been swirling round the market for a couple of weeks now – something that has been reflected in the trading of its October $4 call options.
Analysts are ‘not created equal’, finds GLG
Analysts are “not created equal”, says Lex on Monday, picking up on Friday’s report by the FT’s Sam Jones (formerly of the FT Alphaville parish) about new research suggesting that broker stock picks can help investors outperform most mutual funds.
Poland facing another wobble after all
Poland’s growth was the envy of Europe, right?
Analysts pointed to its steady advancement, strong domestic demand, ongoing wage growth and only one ‘small’ wobble during the crisis connected to foreign currency exposure,
Lehmania, from FT Alphaville to you
In case you missed it, FT Alphaville’s all-singing, all-dancing, Lehman Anniversary coverage is available here.
Cat bonds and the ‘perfect storm’
Every natural catastrophe metaphor around seems to have been pulled out to describe the collapse of Lehman Brothers a year ago (a la “perfect storm”), as the FT’s Paul J Davies noted last week.
But no one expected that the US investment bank’s downfall would have an impact on the markets for natural catastrophe risks.
Further reading
Elsewhere on Monday,
- How Wall Street’s math wizards forgot a few variables.
- The ghost fleet of the recession.
- Trade tensions are brewing.
- Shrinking finance, graphic edition.
- The puzzling peso.
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and other offerings from Monday’s FT,
Clive Crook: It is never too early to fear inflation
Justified anxiety about long-term public debt will make the task of managing inflation expectations,
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Monday,
- Swedbank sets rights issue subscription price at SKr39 per share – statement.
- Cadbury says absorption into Kraft’s “low growth conglomerate” model is unappealing – statement.
American eyes stake in JAL
American Airlines has told Japan Airlines it would consider an equity investment in its Asian ally as part of a sweeping transpacific JV agreement between the two carriers, in a bid to ward off an approach by Delta Air Lines to the Japanese carrier.
BlackRock plans trading platform
BlackRock, the US asset manager now poised to become the world’s largest money manager with the acquisition of Barclays Global investors, is set to create its own global trading platform. In a plan to develop what an internal memo describes as a “new world-class global trading platform across the firm”,
Mediobanca eyes Sal Oppenheim unit
Mediobanca, the Italian investment bank, is considering its biggest move outside its domestic market with a possible offer for the German advisory business of private bank Sal Oppenheim. Mediobanca is carrying out due diligence on Sal Oppenheim’s German investment banking and equity capital markets business.
Cadbury attacks Kraft’s strategy
Cadbury has bolstered its defence against a proposed takeover by Kraft, the US foodmaker, by releasing a letter describing the US group as a “low-growth conglomerate”. Cadbury at the weekend released the letter from its chairman,
PAI tries to appease investors
PAI has sought to appease anxious investors by promising to shrink its new €5.4bn ($7.9bn) buy-out fund, which was frozen after its top two chiefs announced they would quit the France-based buyout group.
Lending in Europe continues to fall
The credit crunch in Europe worsened over the summer as corporate bond finance issuance failed to plug the gap left by a sharp fall in of bank lending. Net lending by banks fell further in July as companies repaid more loans than they took out new ones.
Buyout market shrinking, report
The difficult environment facing buy-out groups will be underlined on Monday by the publication of an Ernst & Young study that shows realisations from big European buy-outs slowed to a trickle last year.
China strikes back on US trade
China on Sunday announced dumping and subsidy probes of US chicken and auto products products after Washington’s move on Friday to impose tariffs on Chinese tire imports, raising tensions ahead of two planned meetings between the countries’ leaders,
ECB nets €900m from crisis lending
The ECB has made up to €1bn in extra profits from crisis-related emergency lending, but its caution on unconventional policy measures has curbed potential earnings, analysts estimate. Extra liquidity pumped into the eurozone banking system since the collapse of Lehman Brothers last year has probably generated an extra €900m ($1.5bn) in profits so far,
J&J seeks to cut price of Elan deal
Johnson & Johnson is negotiating to reduce the price of a previously announced $1.5bn deal with Elan Corp, after a US federal judge ruled this month that part of the deal breached a partnership between the Irish biotech firm and Biogen Idec,
Police eye mysterious death of Pang
Danny Pang, a 42-year-old Southern California businessman accused of a massive fraud by federal securities regulators, died over the weekend in a New Beach hospital after being rushed from his nearby home by paramedics,
Weekend catch-up
In case you missed these stories:
- Opel deal sparks European backlash
GM’s deal to sell its European business to a Canadian-Russian consortium drew criticism around Europe on Friday, as Belgium accused Berlin of reverting to protectionism,