October, 2009
Regulatory Nonsense Service
Is this the most unintelligible statement released to the London market this year?
From Emblaze, the Israeli video technology specialist:
ACCESS and Emblaze Mobile Unveil ELSE INTUITION™
The revolutionary
Short dollar leverage?
This is a chart of the inverted trade-weighted US dollar index versus foreign financial commercial paper outstanding.
While the USD is plummeting then, FFCP is surging — suggesting foreign banks may be tapping the market to borrow cheap dollars.
What Goldman thinks of regulation
Or at least what it tells analysts.
BarCap’s Roger Freeman and Eric Bertrand have hosted a get-together with Goldman president Gary Cohn, CFO David Viniar and global sales and trading co-heads David Heller and Harvey Schwartz.
Anatomy of a Hamp modification
Did you ever want to see what a mortgage modification from the US government’s Home Affordable Modification Plan (Hamp) looks like?
Here’s your chance. Calculated Risk has got hold of some loan modification documents from Wells Fargo.
It’s time to take out the (rally) trash…
And replace it with new trash “low quality” stocks.
So say the quants at Bernstein Research, in inimitable quant-style.
Here’s the basic idea, though:
This year’s rally in lower quality stocks spanned most industry groups and had an impressive 6 month run from March to September.
Lunch Wrap
On FT Alphaville Thursday morning,
- Banks are too big to bonus, FSA says.
- Deleveraging CFDs, Japan style.
- China’s baozi economy.
- High-frequency trading, a survey.
- Talking Talf on commercial real estate.
Banks too big to (excessively) bonus, FSA says
Take that Mervyn King!
The UK’s Financial Services Authority has just released a discussion paper — the second part of Lord Turner’s banking review — on “systemically important banks”, better known as `too big too fail.’ And while on Tuesday,
Deleveraging CFDs
An interesting development in Japan overnight. Their Financial Services Agency has unveiled proposals to limit leverage on contracts for difference.
That prompted spread betting firm IG Group, which has just expanded into Japan,
Markets live transcript 22 Oct 2009
Markets live chat transcript for the chat ending at 12:17 on 22 Oct 2009. Participants in this chat were: Neil Hume, FT (NH) Miles Johnson, FT (MJ) NH:it’s 11.03am NH:Good morning
KNOC lands Harvest
It is one of Canada’s less loved energy companies. But Harvest Energy’s combination of oil and gas production and refining operations certainly appealed to state-run Korea National Oil Corp, which on Thursday said it had agreed to buy the Calgary-based oil company for C$4.1bn ($3.9bn).
China’s baozi economy
Qin Xiao, chairman of China Merchants Group and of the Asia Business Council, is worried.
He is worried about China — and specifically whether the Chinese authorities will be able to extricate themselves from their loose and stimulus-heavy monetary and fiscal policies of recent months.
HFT according to Greenwich: Friend or foe?
Just as the debate over high-frequency trading intensifies alongside the SEC’s inquiry into the structure of the US equity market, a new study from research firm Greenwich Associates provides further evidence that institutional investors are divided about regulating HFT.
Talking Talf on commercial real estate
October 16, via Structured Finance News:
Researchers at Barclays Capital (BarCap) expect the October facility date for a government loan program to receive an uptick of requests over the last subscription date.
Further reading
Elsewhere on Thursday,
- The Bloomberg help desk as psychiatrist.
- Why the Fed must stop qualitative easing.
- The Galleon nark named.
- The Aviva CEO and that affair.
- City rottweiler predicts a 10-year bull market.
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and other offerings from Thursday’s FT,
John Gapper: Goldman should be allowed to fail
It might sap some resentment if taxpayers could see that Goldman’s bonuses were a form of equity partnership,
AV after dark
On FT Alphaville late Wednesday,
- High frequency trading finally catches the eye of the SEC.
- International regulators in coordinated action shocker.
- Analysts dissect Autonomy.
Over in the Long Room,
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Thursday,
- National Express board plans cash call before end of the year, continues to evaluate Stagecoach offer – statement.
- Credit Suisse reports SFr2.4bn net profit for the third quarter – statement.
Hedge fund assets rise $34bn
Hedge-fund assets increased by about $34bn in September, a fifth straight monthly gain, helped by global stock market gains, according to Eurekahedge, reports Bloomberg. Net inflows into hedge funds totaled $15.1bn in September,
BofA to sell First Republic Bank
An investor group led by two buy-out firms, Colony Capital and General Atlantic, is buying First Republic Bank from Bank of America for more than $1bn. Colony and General Atlantic will each have 24.9% of the equity,
Morgan Stanley sees Q3 profit
Morgan Stanley on Wednesday reported its first quarterly profit in a year, led by a rebound in income from underwriting debt and equity issues as well as an infusion of new revenues from its Morgan Stanley Smith Barney network of financial advisers.
KNOC to buy Harvest for $3.9bn
State-run Korea National Oil Corp said on Thursday it agreed to buy Canada’s Harvest Energy Trust for C$4.1bn ($3.9bn) as South Korea competes with other resource-hungry Asian economies for overseas assets.
Obama ‘pay tsar’ to order huge cuts
The top 25 executives at the seven US companies bailed out by the government will see their cash pay slashed. Kenneth Feinberg, the Obama administration’s “pay tsar”, is set to unveil drastic curbs for those whose pay plans he can overrule.
Galleon sinks as informant surfaces
Galleon Group is winding down all its hedge funds just days after billionaire Raj Rajaratnam, its founder and president, was charged along with five others for insider trading, sparking investor withdrawals.
Brown and Darling rebuke King
Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling on Wednesday rebuked Mervyn King, Bank of England governor, over his call this week to break-up Britain’s biggest banks. King, who is increasingly seen as an opponent of government policy,
Merger savings boost Wells’ profit
Wells Fargo, the fourth-largest US bank by assets, on Wednesday posted record Q3 profits as revenues outstripped loan losses, and savings from its merger with East coast rival Wachovia began to materialise.
Deutsche Bank profits hit €1.4bn
Deutsche Bank earned Q3 net income of €1.4bn ($2.09bn), Germany’s biggest bank said as it brought forward key details of its expected quarterly results. In the first indications of Q3 performance from a big European bank,
SEB benefits as Baltics stabilise
SEB returned to profit in the third quarter on Wednesday and announced its withdrawal from the Swedish government credit guarantee programme amid signs of stabilisation in the crisis-hit Baltic region.
Meriwether to start new venture
John Meriwether, the hedge fund manager and arbitrageur behind Long-Term Capital Management, is in the process of setting up a new hedge fund – his third. The move comes barely three months after Meriwether decided to close his second company,
Gala Coral agrees debt plan
Shareholders in UK gambling group Gala Coral have agreed to cede overall control of the group under a debt restructuring proposal to be considered by the board on Friday. The breakthrough over restructuring Gala’s £2.5bn debt came last weekend after Candover,
Dollar drops on waning optimism
The dollar fell through $1.50 against the euro for the first time in 14 months on Wednesday as optimism over the prospects for global growth continued to weigh on the US currency. The dollar dropped to a low of $1.5017 against the euro in afternoon trading in London,