October, 2009
China’s land boom goes private
How does one compete with a liquidity-swamped state-owned Chinese land developer?
Like so:
HONG KONG (Dow Jones)–Chinese developer Agile Property Holdings Ltd. (3383.HK) plans to sell US$400 million worth of seven-year U.S.
Analysts still confident even if US consumers aren’t
My, my — Tuesday’s US consumer confidence survey certainly took some analysts by surprise.
The Conference Board’s confidence index fell to 47.7 from a revised 53.4 in September, while analysts polled by Reuters had expected a rise to 57.0.
Further reading
Elsewhere on Wednesday,
- The Fed’s secret choice to pay for AIG swaps.
- “Tim Geithner and pals left up to thirteen billion dollars of taxpayer money just sitting on the table? Why?”
- AIG take two,
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and other offerings from Wednesday’s FT,
Martin Wolf: How mistaken ideas helped to bring the economy down
How did the world economy fall into such a deep hole? It is recovering, but painfully,
AV after dark
On FT Alphaville late Tuesday,
- GLD’s mysterious disappearing gold-bar list
- Goldman Sachs defends itself, again.
- Greenberg’s “we only took 13 of them” defense.
- The mother of all bank securitisations.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Wednesday,
- Centrica to invest ₤725m to build offshore wind farms – statement.
- Nic Nicandrou joins Prudential as Chief Financial Officer from Aviva – statement.
- Astrazeneca says it has withdrawn regulatory submissions for certain uses of its Zactima treatment – statement.
UBS banker to succeed Kingman at UKFI
The appointment of Robin Budenberg, a seasoned UBS banker, as the next chief executive of UK Financial Investments, is expected to be confirmed on Wednesday, along with details of a plan to carve up nationalised mortgage lender Northern Rock into “good”
Draft law aims to give Fed powers of direct intervention
The Federal Reserve could order a financial institution to sell a risky division or stop dangerous trading activity if the central bank determined there was a threat to the US financial system, under a draft law released on Tuesday.
SEC chief urges sweeping legislative reform
US securities laws are outdated and legislation is needed to govern new investment products that blew up during the financial crisis, SEC chairman Mary Schapiro said on Tuesday. Speaking as Congress is already drafting legislation to wind down big financial companies,
TPG sells out of Debenhams
Private equity group TPG has sold its 9 per cent stake Debenhams for £100m, making it the second of the department store’s three former owners to exit the group. Shares in Debenhams rose 3 per cent to 84.35p,
Former AMD chairman reportedly linked to Galleon probe
The executive at Advanced Micro Devices who alleged shared information with a defendant in the Galleon insider dealing case was the group’s former chairman, Hector Ruiz, according to the Wall Street Journal.
GMAC said to seek a fresh bailout
GMAC, the troubled American consumer finance group, is reportedly seeking its third hand-out of Federal aid in a move that could leave the US government with a controlling stake, the New York Times reported.
Launch success for Sothic distressed debt fund
The former head of JPMorgan’s credit proprietary trading desk and a team of senior traders from the bank have set up a new London-based hedge fund to invest in the debt of troubled European and UK companies.
Icahn again tries to block CIT plan
Carl Icahn, the activist investor, has offered to limit losses for bondholders that join him in an 11-hour attempt to block a restructuring plan for CIT, the stricken US commercial lender. The offer from Mr Icahn is the latest salvo in a war of words between the investor and the company,
LSE seeks a rival to the NYSE bell
The London Stock Exchange wants to emulate the glamour associated with the clanging “opening bell’ on Wall Street, that marks the start to trading each day. Having closed its own trading floor in 1986,
John Kay: ‘Too big to fail’ is too dumb to keep
The FT columnist has weighed into the debate over whether big banks should be broken up. Extract:
“The governor of the Bank of England is one of the few public officials to have grasped that the primary purpose of regulation is to protect the public,
Greenberg’s CV Starr says it’s only poached 13 AIG employees
On Monday, the New York Times declared Maurice “Hank” Greenberg to be “at it again”, by which they meant executing a talent raid on the company he once steered:
Even as he has been lambasting the government for its handling of A.I.G.
CDS report: US economic data disturbs
Gavan Nolan of Markit wrote this CDS report
Tightening European credits were thin on the ground today as disturbing US economic data and disappointing earnings reports closer to home weighed on spreads.
In defence of Goldman Sachs
By Goldman Sachs…
A 50-odd page presentation from the former investment bank has surfaced – prepared by three Goldman MDs for a meeting with SEC officials back in September.
The document provides a detailed defence of the benefits of high frequency trading,
GLD’s mysterious disappearing gold-bar list
There have been some strange goings on in the world of ETF gold bar holdings of late.
Gold bug extraordinaire Professor Antal Fekete shines a light on the case of the SPDR GLD specifically –the largest of the gold-backed ETF funds in the US in terms of money managed.
The mother of all bank securitisations?
It could be on its way from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp — the body responsible for insuring US bank deposits.
Avid readers of FT Alphaville will know that FDIC, headed by Sheila Blair, took over its 100th failed bank this week.
TPG exits Debenhams
The trade has not printed yet – but we are told it will do so later on Tuesday.
TPG, the US private equity house, is rumoured to have sold its remaining 9.3 per cent stake in Debenhams — that’s 120m shares.
Schapiro really is on the HFT case
So, it wasn’t just an afterthought. The SEC has clearly woken up to the possible unfair advantages enjoyed by those practising the art of high frequency trading.
Alternative trading systems, co-location services,
Hope for second-homeowners
Are you not eligible for the US government’s Home Affordable Modification Plan — the Hamp?
Are you a second homeowner, or investor in homes, underwater and struggling to pay your mortgage?
Then never fear,
[Galleon] Galleon rat report
Okay, okay, that’s just a lame little joke.
Call ‘em what you will — stoolies, narks, informer, a grass, co-operative witnesses. Either way, FT Alphaville does not condone illegal activity in any form.
Einhorn, unsmoked
We might have expected David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital to have suffered terribly during the recent equity rally.
But no! Mr Einhorn might scold the Obama administration for pursuing “short-term popularity over our solvency”
Lunch Wrap
On FT Alphaville Tuesday morning,
- The Last Hurrah in stocks?
- The UK’s ‘disturbing parallel’ with Japan.
- Unrepeatable results from BP?
- Vedanta hit by Indian fraud investigation.
- Switching banks,
Markets live transcript 27 Oct 2009
Markets live chat transcript for the chat ending at 12:12 on 27 Oct 2009. Participants in this chat were: Neil Hume, FT (NH) Miles Johnson, FT (MJ) Paul Murphy (PM) NH:hola hombres
Unrepeatable results from BP?
BP shares soared as much as 5 per cent higher on Tuesday, hitting a 16-month high after the oil major significantly beat expectations on its third quarter results on sharper than expected cost-cutting measures in the period and rising oil prices.
The Last Hurrah in stocks?
Is it here?
Shares in Wall Street and Asia fell on Monday — sending the market scrambling for explanation. The FTSE is down about 1.3 per cent on Tuesday morning — despite BP, one of the weightiest stocks on the index,