November, 2009
Goldman boost from business aid fund
Goldman Sachs’ programme for US small businesses could help it comply with a law aimed at aiding low-income communities – a sign of demands created by its conversion to a bank holding company last year.
JPMorgan completes Cazenove takeover
JPMorgan Cazenove on Thursday stressed that it saw scope to make more of the synergies between itself and the UK broker, as it confirmed details of a £1bn takeover deal. JPMorgan is paying 535p a share for Cazenove – 25p in the form of a dividend next month and the rest when the transaction closes early next year.The transaction consummates the joint venture,
Cadbury chews over dual-listing idea
A solution to facilitate a Cadbury-Hershey merger and repel Kraft’s $16.6bn hostile bid for the UK confectioner has been outlined in a letter to Cadbury CEO Todd Stitzer from the special situations team at brokerage GFI,
Rio’s Cloud Peak in $459m IPO
Rio Tinto’s Cloud Peak Energy coal unit raised $459m in an IPO at $15 a share, below its forecast range, reports Bloomberg. Cloud Peak, the third-largest US coal producer, had sought $16 to $18 a share,
Dell Q3 profits sink
Dell’s third-quarter profits sank 54% on a continued decline in sales, but the world’s second largest PC maker said sales to both large and midsized companies increased from the second quarter, the first such gains in 21 months.
Russia mulls cross-border ‘Tobin’ tax
Russia is considering ways to discourage speculative currency traders from driving up the ruble exchange rate, including a tax on cross-border currency transactions, reports the WSJ citing a central bank official.
Van Rompuy takes EU presidency
European Union leaders on Thursday night awarded two of its top jobs to politicians relatively unknown on the international stage, ending weeks of deadlock over the key positions among the EU’s 27 national leaders.
Overnight markets: Down
Asian stocks fell for the fourth consecutive day, reports Bloomberg, dragging the MSCI Asia Pacific Index to its longest losing streak in more than four months, after Merrill Lynch cut its outlook on the global semiconductor industry and commodities retreated.
SocGen’s worst-case debt scenario
Our friends at the Daily Telegraph sent us into something of spin on Wednesday evening, when they published this:
What they didn’t mention was that the Societe Generale cross asset research study in question was published more than a month prior.
Lloyd and Gary wish wealth on 272 new Goldman MDs
Business as usual at the mighty Goldman Sachs.
Some 272 new managing directors have been named in an internal memo, with chairman and chief exec Lloyd Blankfein and the firm’s president Gary Cohn reportedly telling staff:
‘A gold rush moment’ for HFT
Unless you’ve had your head buried in the sand, you’ll know high frequency trading stormed onto the mainstream agenda this summer, catching the critical eye of the international press, public and regulators alike.
All roads lead to retranching in CRE crunch
Restructuring. Re-tranching. Re-remics. Repeat?
FDIC, the regulator in charge of insuring US bank deposits, has given banks the ability to restructure commercial real estate (CRE) loans to creditworthy borrowers,
Ambac attack!
On Wednesday bond insurer Ambac stunned investors with what looked like good news.
Ambac Assurance Corp., the main operating branch of the Ambac Financial Group, had been expected by many to reveal a breach of its minimum capital requirement when the company published its third-quarter 8-K this week.
The Daily Mail discovers contango
We love talking about contango on FT Alphaville.
But no one, it turns out, can turn a nerdy market-structure story about the shape of the futures curve into an alarmist `evil speculator’ rant extraordinaire quite like the Daily Mail.
Lunch Wrap
On FT Alphaville Thursday morning,
- Minsky and the next gold mania.
- Brazil nuts? A new capital control.
- UK banks still not lending.
- The Reckitt-Colgate rumour in pics.
- A Hershey CDS update.
Brazil nuts? The country’s new capital control
Late on Wednesday Brazil — land of impressive football and interest rates — announced a further development in its controversial capital controls.
From the Wall Street Journal:
BRASILIA—Brazil’s government will apply a tax on Brazilian stocks traded as American depositary receipts,
Markets live transcript 19 Nov 2009
Markets live chat transcript for the chat ending at 12:15 on 19 Nov 2009. Participants in this chat were: Neil Hume, FT (NH) Miles Johnson, FT (MJ) NH:good morning NH:and welcome to Markets Live
UK banks still not lending
The Bank of England’s just-released trends in lending report offers some interesting statistics and charts, as ever.
Here’s a selection of some of the data points that caught FT Alphaville’s eye.
First,
Maxis enjoys its maxi IPO while Hopu pulls out of Minsheng
While the hype about Asian IPOs is largely focused on China and the seemingly endless stream of offerings on the Shanghai and Hong Kong exchanges, Malaysia on Thursday quietly and smoothly staged the region’s largest IPO of the year.
When energy storage is big business
EIA US oil inventory data released on Wednesday surprised many investors by reporting unexpectedly large draws in crude, distillates and gasoline stocks last week.
While on the surface this came might have come across as bullish for the energy complex,
Goldilocks still popular among fund managers, BofAML says
It’s the non-shock headline of the day perhaps; but fund managers surveyed by Bank of America Merrill Lynch continue to position themselves for the `ideal’ economic recovery scenario — one where the growth rate is neither too hot,
Hershey CDS update: Thar she blows (wider)
Hershey’s market capitalisation: $8.6bn
The amount of debt HSY needs to buy Cadbury: $9bn
Jump in HSY 5-year CDS price move after HSY confirmed its interest: 33 per cent
A pretty chart of Hershey’s equity versus 5-year CDS,
A Minskian roadmap to the next gold mania
It’s making headlines, so here’s what all the gold at $6,300 fuss is about.
Selected highlights of the latest ‘Popular Delusions’ note from Société Générale’s Dylan Grice:
Central bank hoarding of gold in 1970 ushered in the famous gold bull market.
Further reading
Elsewhere on Thursday,
- SocGen on how to prepare for the global economic collapse.
- “Is gold going to $6,300?”
- 2009 vs 1982 stock market rallies.
- Kass on the quant bubble.
- Krugman on the unintended consequences of the AIG bailout.
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and other offerings from Thursday’s FT,
John Gapper: How to reinvent China’s growth
Qingdao, where the FT Chinese website this week held its annual forum, is a good place from which to see the changes taking place in China because it is,
AV after dark
On FT Alphaville late Wednesday,
- Just rip ‘em off LLC.
- Ambac stuns investors with good news.
Overheard in the Long Room,
- Hot invite and a hot competition.
- Russia Strategy 2010 – Worth a Tactical Look.
- Young and loose already – central banking for kids.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Thursday,
- Axa says has not withdrawn or changed its proposal with partner AMP for Axa Asia Pacific – Reuters.
- Clariant to cut 570 jobs, close plants – statement.
- Demand for gold falls 34 per cent,
JPMorgan sets £1bn Cazenove deal
JPMorgan will on Thursday unveil a £1bn deal to buy Cazenove, the UK broker with which it has had a joint venture for the past five years. The bank will pay about 535p a share in a deal in which David Mayhew,
Paulson to launch gold fund
Billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson is launching a new gold fund from Jan 1 that will include $250m of his own personal investment, reports the WSJ. The fund will focus on shares of gold miners and other bullion-related investments,