December, 2009
The dogs of the FTSE 100 in 2009
Here they are, courtesy of Cazenove:
Now, go back a year and imagine you had bought the dogs of 2008.
This would have been a very profitable investment strategy: an equally weighted basket consisting of the top 10 biggest fallers would have gained 130 per cent this year,
All aboard the bonus supertax bandwagon
Bandwagons can be wonderful – and terrible – things, depending on what side of the debate you’re on.
In the case of Britain’s bank bonus “supertax”, it already looks as though London’s move to slap a harsh tax on discretionary bank bonuses has emboldened not just the French but other leaders and policymakers.
Further reading
Elsewhere on Friday,
- Peston asks, is it time to hug a banker?
- Or are the pitchforks on the rise?
- How to kill OTC derivatives reform in two sentences.
- “Monsieur Trichet is not amused.”
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and other offerings from Friday’s FT,
Philip Stephens: US-Japan, an easy marriage becomes a ménage à trois
Tokyo these days is full of Americans with furrowed brows. US pre-eminence in Asia is being challenged by the rise of China.
AV after dark
On FT Alphaville late Thursday,
- Bookstaber branches out…
- Gartmore IPO pricing could disappoint.
- US CMBS delinquencies hit 4.5 per cent, Moody’s says.
- America’s greener trend.
- US natgas spikes 7 per cent.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Friday,
- European Union leaders urge IMF to consider a global financial transaction tax in draft summit statement – Reuters.
- Gordon Brown blocked Alistair Darling’s plan to increase VAT – Guardian.
Goldman scraps chiefs’ cash bonuses
Goldman Sachs moved to quell public anger over executive pay on Thursday with plans to eliminate cash bonuses for its top 30 executives this year and to give shareholders a vote on compensation. The move comes as London and other financial capitals weigh steep taxes on bonuses paid by banks that received government support,
France to follow UK on bonus tax
France on Thursday said it would follow Britain’s lead in levying a supertax on bankers’ bonuses, fuelling public debate as to whether the US should also adopt a windfall tax. However, with the Obama administration wary and no Congressional demand for such a move,
Banks may absorb UK supertax cost
Banks may opt to absorb the cost of the UK’s 50% ‘supertax’ on discretionary bonuses, rather than pass it on to bankers, it emerged on Thursday. Several big US banks, and some UK banks, conceded they were reluctant to cut bonuses of City staff,
UK investors sell off gilts
UK investors took fright on Thursday at the timidity of the government’s plans to balance the books with one of the biggest sell-offs of British gilts this year. As economists digested Wednesday’s pre-Budget report,
PCCP to buy Lehman property funds
Lehman Brothers Holdings is expected to announce the sale of two real estate private-equity funds, in the latest move by the collapsed investment bank to shed assets and wind down, reports the WSJ. PCCP,
Cazenove Capital buys Thornhill
Investment manager Cazenove Capital Management has acquired private client rival Thornhill for an undisclosed sum, in its first purchase under chief executive Andrew Ross. Cazenove Capital demerged from the broker of the same name five years ago.
Lloyds uses ‘pre-pack’ at Ashwell
Lloyds Banking Group has used the ‘pre-pack’ administration process to restructure one of the largest private property developers in south-east England as it works through the legacy of the former HBOS problem loan book.
Lachlan Murdoch ditches Nielsen bid
Lachlan Murdoch, the eldest son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and a director of his News Corp empire, has withdrawn at the last minute from a consortium bidding for the bulk of Nielsen Business Media. Pluribus Capital Management,
Carlyle turns sights on Turkey
Carlyle Group has bought a 40% stake in Medical Park Saglik Hizmetleri, a Turkish healthcare group, for an undisclosed price and is in “serious talks” to buy stakes in two more Turkish companies, the US private equity house has said.
Aiful, Goldman clash on debt plan
Aiful Corp plans to repay Y3.7bn ($42m) of loans held by Goldman Sachs to win support for the Japanese consumer lender’s debt restructuring proposal, reports Bloomberg. Goldman told Aiful it may block the proposal unless Aiful repays the loan.
Eurozone bond markets take heed
Greece’s bond markets this week saw the most dramatic collapse in the eurozone’s history, with two-year bond yields jumping 1.3 percentage points as investors decided the country’s public finances may be beyond repair.
Greece pledges action on deficit
Greece admitted on Thursday that swift action was needed to bring the budget deficit under control and rebuild confidence in its bond and stock markets. George Papandreou, the prime minister, is set to outline on Monday how his government plans to cut the budget deficit from 12.7% to 3% of GDP,
Geithner moots Tarp exemptions
Tim Geithner on Thursday argued that small businesses should be exempt from restrictions attached to the bank bail-out programme that large banks such as Citi and Goldman Sachs have been anxious to escape.
House approves private-equity tax rise
The US House of Representatives voted to hit private-equity executives with higher taxes as part of a piecemeal legislation that would also fund the renewal of tax breaks for large companies. The bill,
Overnight markets: Up
Asian stocks rose on Friday, reports Bloomberg, sending the MSCI Asia Pacific Index to its third gain this week, after Chinese industrial production exceeded forecasts and US jobless claims fell to a one-year low.
Bookstaber branches out…
Hey, we don’t usually get this from senior SEC officials – an extraordinary branching out from blogging about finance to stirring the Israeli-Palestinian pot.
Quant expert Rick Bookstaber, best known as the author of A Demon of Our Own Design and now a senior policy adviser at the SEC’s new-fangled Division of Risk,
US CMBS delinquencies hit 4.5 per cent, Moody’s says
Moody’s published the results of its latest CMBS “delinquency tracker” on Thursday and, as usual, they made for less-than-cheery reading.
The rating agency said the aggregate rate of delinquencies among US CMBS conduit and fusion loans stood at 4.47 per cent as at the end of November,
America’s greener trend
The world could probably do with another oil shock, as far as the effect of such an event on energy consumption goes.
From John Kemp, at Reuters, a counter-intuitive chart showing the amount of energy consumed in the US compared with the size of the economy;
Gartmore IPO pricing could disappoint
Actually, it almost certainly will disappoint.
One of the first large UK initial public offerings since the outbreak of the financial crisis is on track to close on Friday, but is likely to raise less money than first planned.
Belated preemptive strike by Goldman
As talk of a global banker bonus tax swirls…
Goldman get its retaliation in, complete with a neat “recapture” provision.
RTRS-GOLDMAN SACHS ANNOUNCES CHANGES TO 2009 COMPENSATION PROGRAM
RTRS-GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC SAYS MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE TO RECEIVE NO CASH BONUS FOR 2009
RTRS-GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC SAYS EQUITY “SHARES AT RISK”
US natgas spikes 7%
At last winter cometh to America.
The US Energy Information Administration disclosed on Thursday that natgas inventories declined 64bn cubic feet in the week ended December 4 versus an expected decline predicted by analysts of 45bn cubic feet,