November, 2009
The CoCo indexing conundrum
How confusing is this?
LONDON, Nov 11 (Reuters) – Bank of America Merrill Lynch reversed its position for a second time on Wednesday to decide its bond indexes would not include new contingent capital securities,
A balance sheet comparison
We’ve become used to seeing charts of the Fed’s expanded balance sheet over the course of the crisis, but here’s a useful comparison of the balance sheets of all four of the world’s major central banks,
Markets live transcript 12 Nov 2009
Markets live chat transcript for the chat ending at 12:13 on 12 Nov 2009. Participants in this chat were: Neil Hume, FT (NH) Bryce Elder (BE) NH:Good morning NH:it’s 11:03
The law of intended consequences – BT edition
Efforts by the world’s central banks to push down long-term lending rates has many benefits, but also some nasty side effects. Just ask telecoms company BT.
From its second quarter results statement,
What to buy and sell on the MSCI re-shuffle
The results of the latest MSCI reshuffle are out and they are already having an impact on stock prices.
As was widely rumoured, Ladbrokes has been removed from the MSCI World index, along with upmarket housebuilder Berkeley.
An AP-Moller Maersk ouch for global trade
If you had hoped global shipping markets were returning to health in the third quarter, numbers out on Thursday from Denmark’s AP Moller-Maersk should firmly shatter that illusion.
The world’s top container shipping company reported a deeper than expected net loss of DKr3.85bn for the nine months to September,
London hedge fund exodus — finally here?
With the European Commission’s crackdown on the “alternative asset management” industry looming, London’s hedge funds managers have been increasingly threatening to take their offices elsewhere.
Now,
Goldman Sachs abandons kittens (really)
A fresh PR disaster for Goldman Sachs.
The investment bank stands accused of abandoning kittens. Really.
Kittens, we might add, that could look like this:
The Villager, a New York newspaper,
Further reading
Elsewhere on Thursday,
- How banks view loan modifications.
- The Dow in gold.
- The Greatest Trade Ever, a preview.
- The prepackaged bankruptcy.
- Ten lessons from the financial crisis that investors will soon forget.
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and other offerings from Thursday’s FT,
John Gapper: How not to take care of a brand
Maclaren is a small private company with a big public problem, one that it has not handled well,
AV after dark
On FT Alphaville late Wednesday,
- Is AIG’s Benmosche staying or leaving? Both, maybe.
- Sleeping with private equity.
- Dubai tells sceptics to shut up.
- Chinese yuan appreciation pressure mounts.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Thursday,
- 3i delivers total return of £81m in nine months to September – statement.
- Deutsche Börse AG and SIX Group buy STOXX from Dow Jones – statement.
- Royal Boskalis says it will acquire Smit International for more than €800m – statement .
HP buys 3Com in run at Cisco
Hewlett-Packard on Wednesday agreed to buy 3Com for $2.7bn in cash, escalating its competitive war with Cisco Systems. The 3Com purchase would make HP, the top computer maker, number two in the market for networking gear – Cisco’s core business.
Hedge funds back Kraft
The growing share of Cadbury held by hedge funds betting that Kraft will raise its $16.2bn (£9.8bn) offer for the UK confectioner is increasing the likelihood that Kraft’s hostile bid will succeed, say brokers.
Lloyds raises new capital target
Lloyds Banking Group will raise up to £22.5bn of fresh capital, 7% more than under last week’s plan for £21bn, amid strong demand from bondholders for a larger allocation of the bank’s ground-breaking contingent convertible instruments,
Fed, Wall St discuss CoCos
The US Federal Reserve is in talks with banking executives over whether US financial groups should raise capital through a new type of bond that converts into equity when a bank is in trouble. The talks,
RBS chief under fire over Anglo role
Shareholders in Royal Bank of Scotland are protesting that Sir Philip Hampton has taken a non-executive board position at Anglo American in addition to his full-time role as chairman of RBS. Investors are concerned his new role at the mining group will distract him from steering RBS,
India probes UBS accounts
A near-record fine imposed on UBS, the Swiss bank, by UK regulators is part of an unfolding investigation into the past management of Indian private banking accounts, including two linked to the tycoon Anil Ambani,
ING to list insurance unit
ING, the Dutch financial services company, will work towards an IPO of its insurance business early next year although it has not ruled out finding a buyer for the assets in parts or as a whole. Under a restructuring plan imposed by the European Commission to reflect the state aid it received,
Chinese $11.7bn bond issue planned
The subsidiary of China’s sovereign wealth fund that controls the country’s largest state-owned banks is planning to sell bonds in the interbank market for the first time, in what could be China’s biggest bond issue to date,
China hints at stronger renminbi
China’s central bank on Wednesday acknowledged the case for a stronger renminbi, days ahead of the arrival in Beijing of US president Barack Obama for talks expected to highlight mounting international concern over Chinese currency policy.
BlueCrest to shift staff to Geneva
BlueCrest Capital, one of the UK’s largest hedge funds, is moving a significant portion of its operations to Geneva amid concerns about London’s status as a centre for alternative asset managers. Founded in 2000 by former JPMorgan traders Bill Reeves and Mike Platt,
Motorola eyes sale of unit
Motorola is in the early stages of looking into a potential sale of its $4.5bn television set-top box and network equipment business, and has hired JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs as advisors, reports Reuters.
Hyosung scraps Hynix bid
Hyosung, a South Korean chemical and trading company, on Thursday scrapped its bid to buy control of Hynix Semiconductor, setting back efforts by creditors to recoup the $4.6bn spent bailing out the chipmaker,
Ex-Santander exec on Madoff charges
The former head of Optimal, the Geneva-based hedge fund investment arm of Spanish bank Santander, has been charged with criminal mismanagement of client funds placed with fraudulent US broker Bernard Madoff.
Benmosche ‘committed’ to AIG
AIG’s chief executive Robert Benmosche on Wednesday told staff he remains “totally committed” to leading the state-controlled insurer through its challenges but acknowledged frustrations with the government’s stance on executive compensation,
Overnight markets: Mostly up
Asian stocks and currencies mainly rose on Thursday, reports Bloomberg, as an unexpected increase in Australian employment bolstered confidence in the region’s growth prospects. Gold climbed to a new high as the dollar weakened.
Is AIG’s Benmosche staying or leaving? Both, maybe
Will he stay or will he go? That was the question raised by the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday morning, when it trumpeted that Robert Benmosche, AIG’s gaffe-prone chief executive had threatened to “jump ship”.