September, 2009
Overnight markets: Down
Asian stocks fell on Friday, dragging the MSCI Asia Pacific Index to its biggest weekly decline in a month, after Nomura Holdings said it will sell new shares and US figures showed sales of existing homes unexpectedly declined a monthly 2.7% in August.
“When it comes to valuation, making money is a real obstacle”
Twitter generated yet more media attention on Thursday, as the WSJ’s Deal Journal blog broke news of a fresh-round of fundraising that values the microblogging service at around $1bn.
We shan’t add to the ink and pixels spilt on that particular venture.
An unfortunate media/F*&C up
You’d think an institution called The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation would be inherently incapable of creating emotive outbursts amongst analysts and members of the media.
But you’d be wrong.
Holy See names new CEO
No, we’re not talking about the Pope; Benedict XVI is no fan of capitalism, in any event.
But not everyone in the Vatican City would bewail the futility of money and ambition, as the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday:
Twitter, the new Reuters witness
Yeah, we know, glass houses. But we couldn’t help noticing the following Reuters headline on Thursday:
RTRS-SOME GOOGLE GMAIL USERS REPORT TECHNICAL PROBLEMS ACCESSING CONTACTS – REUTERS WITNESSES,
CDS report: Markets move wider in volatile trade
Gavan Nolan of Markit wrote this CDS report
It was a volatile session in both the credit and equity markets as investors digested the statements of central bankers and governments, particularly in the US.
Getting to the bottom of Comex ETF gold delivery
There have been a number of reports in the gold bug-blogosphere that the CME’s Comex exchange now accepts SPDR GLD exchange-traded-fund units as part of their delivery settlement process.
Par exemple,
Securitisation and subprime mortgages – a contrarian view
Ronel Elul, a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, has penned a working paper that should be required reading for anyone interested in – or pontificating upon – the dynamics of securitisation and the mortgage market.
Volcker: ‘Think about it!’ (UPDATED: ‘Do you want me to eat it?’)
Paul Volcker, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, was due to address the House Banking and Financial Services Committee in Washington on Thursday morning.
If his prepared testimony is anything to go by,
Lunch Wrap
On FT Alphaville Thursday morning,
- This bank-engineered equity rally.
- Banks’ flashy commodity positions.
- The bulk penetration myth.
- Baleful Aiful – a tale of Japan’s consumer lenders.
Banks’ flashy commodity positions
Ah, those mysterious ‘fixed income, currency and commodities’ divisions at banks like Goldman Sachs. They do so well, yet we never know exactly how much which bit is making or how.
Well, we’re pleased to report a little more light can be shed on these matters now.
Markets live transcript 24 Sep 2009
Markets live chat transcript for the chat ending at 12:07 on 24 Sep 2009. Participants in this chat were: Neil Hume, FT (NH) Miles Johnson, FT (MJ) NH:hola NH:this is Markets Live
This bank-engineered equity rally
The creatively-named Moonraker Fund Management is, we think, one of the first firms to say the below relatively explicitly.
The boutique investment house is “concerned” that banks may have been using their bailout money — and no doubt some of their quantitative easing-gained liquidity — to buy equities,
The bulk penetration myth
Here’s an interesting chart from a recent presentation by James Leake, managing director of ICAP shipping research (click to enlarge):
It shows, as Leake explained to us, that a correlation between charter rates for dry bulk carriers and container ships only really began to materialise when dry bulk rates began to soar towards their record highs of 2008.
ChiNext: China’s next shiny, new thing
There are few things that Chinese punters love more than the chance to gamble on shiny, new stocks.
Combine that with a shiny, new exchange and you have what looks increasingly like a surefire debut for ChiNext,
The rise and fall of the middle classes
Courtesy of Goldman Sachs — a snapshot of recent US leverage.
Related links:
The expanding middle: The exploding world middle class – Goldman Sachs
An impaired Anglo-Saxon – FT Alphaville
Baleful Aiful
Another troubled Japanese consumer lender — Aiful — is struggling for its life, highlighting yet again the festering crisis in the once highly lucrative niche area of Japanese consumer finance.
The top four consumer lending companies reported total losses of $16bn in 2007 and despite hopes that 2008 might be a better year,
Further reading
Elsewhere on Thursday,
- Fed days are good days for stocks.
- William Black on systemically dangerous institutions.
- On European bank charges.
- That complaint against RBC
- The G20′s crowded agenda.
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and other offerings from Thursday’s FT,
John Gapper: Where there’s a will, there’s a way
Of all the suggestions since the financial crisis erupted to rein in banks – and to curb their incentives to become “too big to be allowed to fail”
AV after dark
On FT Alphaville late Wednesday,
- Fed keeps rates on hold.
- Oh, the boldness of Kazakh bankers.
- And now for a Chinese real estate crash?
- Viva la ratings revolution.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Thursday,
- Songbird Estates announces ₤620m proposed share placing – statement.
- VT Group agrees sale of 45 per cent stake in BVT shipbuilding unit to BAE Systems – statement.
Fed holds rates, sees US ‘pick up’
The Federal Reserve left benchmark interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, saying that economic activity had picked up. After a two-day policy meeting, the Fed held rates at a range of zero to 0.25%, maintaining the most aggressive easing cycle in monetary policy history.
Stitzer ‘sees sense’ of Cadbury takeover
Todd Stitzer, chief executive of Cadbury, has appeared to concede that a combination with Kraft makes “strategic sense”. Bank of America/Merrill Lynch revealed that Stitzer told a conference it organised that Kraft was unlikely to walk away from its $16.8bn bid,
Credit Suisse bankers set for pay-out
About 300 Credit Suisse bankers and executives stand to share an estimated SFr1.9bn ($1.85bn) in stock next spring under a performance-based retention plan instituted nearly five years ago. The eligible staff were paid one-fifth to one-half of the bonuses they received in early 2005 in ‘incentive’ awards rather than cash.
Citi to slash US presence
Citigroup plans to narrow the focus of its US branch network to six key metropolitan areas and will limit its overall consumer lending in the US primarily to credit cards and “jumbo” mortgages, while catering largely to affluent customers,
Moody’s warns on banks’ ‘living wills’
Plans to make the UK’s biggest banks prepare “living wills” so they could be dismantled more easily in a crisis could hurt their credit ratings, it emerged on Wednesday. Large UK banks would have to spell out what businesses they would sell to raise emergency funds and allow them to wind up their trading books within 60 days of a collapse,
Geithner rejects implicit subsidies
Large financial institutions will be prevented from receiving an implicit government subsidy, Tim Geithner, US Treasury secretary, and Barney Frank, chairman of the House financial services committee, insisted on Wednesday.