November, 2009
Dubai shock after debt standstill call
Dubai on Wednesday shocked investors by asking for a debt standstill at Dubai World, the emirate’s flagship holding company and developer of some famously extravagant real estate projects. The move raised the spectre of default in the Middle East’s trading hub.
Markets reel over Nakheel default fears
Bond markets reacted with alarm to Wednesday’s news that Nakheel, the property arm of government-owned Dubai World, was restructuring a bond due for redemption in December, amid fears that Nakheel’s move will be considered a technical default.
Companies to defy EU accounting delay
Some of Europe’s biggest multinational companies are preparing to defy moves by Brussels to delay the introduction of new global accountancy rules within the EU. Companies contacted by the FT say they intend to use the so-called IFRS 9 rules as “proforma”
UK banks win overdraft battle
Britain’s banks won a surprise victory on overdraft fees on personal bank accounts as the Supreme Court in London ruled on Wednesday that the charges cannot be assessed for fairness by the competition regulator.
Minsheng Bank falls in HK debut
Shares of China Minsheng Banking Corp, China’s first private lender, staged a weak debut in Hong Kong on Thursday after a glut of offerings damped investor sentiment for new listings in the territory.
UK banks face pressure to reveal pay
Big UK banks will have to disclose how many of their UK employees are paid more than £1m under proposals to be published on Thursday by City banker Sir David Walker. Sir David will say that half the bonuses paid to employees should be deferred for three to five years.
Commerzbank doubts early profit
Commerzbank damped talk of an early end to its losses following its takeover of Dresdner Bank, reiterating that it would be profitable by 2011 at the latest but raising its estimates of the synergies it would generate from Germany’s biggest banking merger.
Lloyds investors ‘mugged’ over HBOS
Lloyds TSB shareholders were “mugged” when the bank agreed to buy HBOS last year without knowing that the stricken lender was being propped up by a secret £25bn loan, Jim Cousins, a Labour MP, said on Wednesday.
Hope recedes for Saab rescue
Sweden’s government has admitted that time is running out to save Saab Automobile from liquidation after niche carmaker Koenigsegg abandoned a provisional deal to buy the loss-making company on Tuesday.
Beal makes play for Trump casinos
Beal Bank has made a restructuring proposal for bankrupt Trump Entertainment Resorts’ Atlantic City casinos that would give it a 65% stake in the casinos company, the bank’s attorney said on Wednesday,
Porsche counts cost of VW fiasco
Porsche on Wednesday revealed the legacy of its failed attempt to take over fellow German carmaker Volkswagen, saying it would incur a second successive multi-billion euro annual loss. Hans Dieter Pötsch,
KPMG faces Thai probe on Lehman
Thai police have summoned three executives at KPMG, liquidators of the Hong Kong subsidiaries of Lehman Brothers, to Bangkok for questioning over the sale of properties previously owned by the failed bank.
Beijing accused of “renationalisation”
Beijing is facing a growing backlash from prominent business and academic figures over claims of creeping renationalisation in parts of the economy. China’s economy has recovered sharply in recent months amid an unprecedented surge in lending,
AIG, Greenberg settle dispute
AIG and Hank Greenberg have agreed to settle all the remaining lawsuits between them. The US insurer, rescued last year with more than $180bn of government money, will reimburse legal fees of up to $150m for Greenberg and Howard Smith,
Overnight markets: Mixed
Asian stocks fluctuated on Thursday, reports Bloomberg, as share-sale concerns and the dollar’s slump to a 14-year low against the yen overshadowed advances by commodity and technology companies. Futures on the US S&P500 Index lost 0.2% after the gauge added 5% on Wednesday.
Anna’s story
This is the story of Anna Anile:
162. Anna Anile is a 56-year-old single mother of three who lives in New York. Ms. Anile is a clerk in the dietician department of a local hospital.
163. In early 2008,
CDS report: All eyes on Dubai World
Gavan Nolan of Markit wrote this CDS report
European credit indices rallied today as the economic climate remained supportive of risk assets. The Markit iTraxx Europe index closed at 84bp, 1.5bp tighter than yesterday’s level.
Doth a global natgas glut come (already)?
FT Alphaville has written a lot about Nymex Henry Hub natgas futures prices and the supply glut potentially being formed in the US market.
We’ve not, however, touched upon the UK market quite as much.
“For the general purposes of the Dubai Financial Support Fund…”
As FT Alphaville noted the market was on Wednesday digesting news that the $5bn Dubai had raised from two Abu Dhabi government-controlled banks would not go to paying off Nakheel convert bond holders as expected.
Bond insurer death watch, FGIC edition
According to the investor relations section of the website of FGIC, the bond insurer part-owned by PMI Group and Blackstone:
FGIC provides irrevocable and unconditional guaranty of timely payment of principal and interest on the securities it insures.
“The Sun Never Sets on Dubai World.” Really?
So goes the motto of Dubai’s flag bearer in global investments.
True to our claim “The Sun Never Sets on Dubai World”, our investment portfolio extends across 100 different cities in the world. We are spread across a wide spectrum of strategic industries and sectors ranging from Ports Management,
Is China preparing for a vampire attack?
We’ll get right to the point: garlic has outperformed gold and stocks in China, becoming the country’s best performing asset this year, according to a Reuters report.
And no, the trigger has not been a sudden fear of vampire squids in China,
Lunch Wrap
On FT Alphaville on Wednesday morning,
- Debunking carry-trade denial.
- Dear Vodafone.
- UK GDP revised…
- Vietnam: Ding goes the dong.
- Latvian house prices fall 59.7% in Q3 (y/y).
Latvian house prices fall 59.7% in Q3 (y/y)
The Global Property Guide’s quarterly house price report was published on Wednesday offering some sobering statistics on global real-estate prices in the third quarter.
To wit, the fact that “price falls in several countries have been much larger than house price rises anywhere and include unprecedentedly severe falls in Latvia (-59.7% year to date),
Markets live transcript 25 Nov 2009
Markets live chat transcript for the chat ending at 12:09 on 25 Nov 2009. Participants in this chat were: Neil Hume, FT (NH) Miles Johnson, FT (MJ) Bryce Elder (BE) NH:Good morning
Debunking carry-trade denial
To carry trade or not to carry trade. That is the question.
In the last few weeks a host of different banks have stepped forward to question both the depth and degree of the current dollar carry trade. Among them have been Goldman Sachs,
Dear Vodafone
Bernstein analyst Robin Bienenstock has opened her heart to the management and board of Vodafone — via an open letter.
And she does not hold back.
In it she laments the fact that Vodafone “has the potential to become the most compelling transformational story in European Telecoms,”
UK GDP revised…
… but not by much.
From Reuters on Wednesday:
And in pictorial form:
All of which means those economists who rubbished the initial reading have still got egg on their face.
Still,
Vietnam: Ding goes the dong
From the New York Fed: When a government devalues its currency, it is often because the interaction of market forces and policy decisions has made the currency’s fixed exchange rate untenable. In order to sustain a fixed exchange rate,
More bid rumours in the UK utility sector
Rumours of predatory interest in the UK utility sector has been swirling for a few weeks now with several names mentioned including United Utilities and Severn Trent.
However, the speculation has now focused on one company: