January, 2010
The defining feature of 2010 will be…
… Reverse repos.
That’s according to Morgan Stanley’s chief European strategist Teun Draaisma, who reckons the moment the Fed starts to drain excess reserves from the system will be the point at which a 10 per cent equity market correction begins.
Consolidating the US, UK gov’t bond sell-off
With the holiday season finally over, it’s probably a good time to contemplate the period’s more excessive and illiquid market moves. Among them the rather sudden and acute sell-off in US and UK government bonds.
Professional athletes and their money, Ponzi edition
In March 2009, FT Alphaville riffed on the theme of the generally poor financial and investment decisions made by professional athletes.
By the end of the year, another — although not unrelated — trend had emerged:
Not many new homes
Calculated Risk has a nice rundown of the various government programmes aimed at propping up US housing.
By Calculated’s count there are eight, including the Home Affordable Modification Plan (Hamp),
Citi sells its electronic FX platform
There’s been some consolidation in the world of FX electronic trading platforms on Monday.
According to a statement released by foreign-exchange platform FXall, Citigroup has reached an agreement with the company to sell it its LavaFX foreign-exchange electronic trading platform for an undisclosed sum.
Scanning Smiths Group
The elusive head and shoulders pattern emerges in Smiths Group — makers of X-ray body scanners — on Monday morning, after airport-operator BAA says it will introduce the equipment at Heathrow.
Markets Live transcript 4 Jan 2010
Markets Live chat transcript for the chat ending at 12:15 on 4 Jan 2010. Participants in this chat were: Neil Hume, FT Bryce Elder
NH
Hey there
NH
Happy New Year
NH
and welcome to the first Markets Live of 2010
Scratch(ed) and Dent(ed) RMBS
Here’s something that might have escaped your radar during Christmas week — a mass downgrade of so-called `Scratch and Dent’ RMBS deals by ratings agency Fitch.
A Scratch and Dent mortgage is a funny thing.
Royal Dog of Scotland
RBS has flown out of the traps on the first trading session of 2010:
Aside from a rumour that Brazil’s Unibanco is, for reasons that escape us, interested in buying a stake in RBS (and also Lloyds),
Literally frozen orange juice
A few days into the new year and a key observation that can already be made in the west is that it’s cold; Colder than usual, in many parts of the US and Europe.
Weather-affected commodities are consequently staging a bit of a rally.
A depressing decade
That’s from S&P Indices, with data until Dec. 18th.
Taking into account last week, the S&P 500 ended up rising an impressive 23.5 per cent in 2009 — but still not enough to stop the index from posting its first negative total return.
Happy new year (not) for the UK and Europe…
Sorry we couldn’t be more positive today but here’s the latest New Year gloom from UK and Europe-based economists and business executives:
UK deficit warning from City economists
Britain is in danger of succumbing to a budgetary crisis this year,
Further reading
Elsewhere on Monday,
- “To hell with Japan, we have already had our lost decade.”
- No to Bernanke.
- John Hempton vs Paradigm, again.
- Google’s evil policy of shutting down blogs.
- The economics of happiness.
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and other offerings from Monday’s FT,
Clive Crook: Beware the crisis around the corner
The US economy is sickly, but the mood of impending doom has lifted, writes Crook. The response of US and other authorities to the emergency is unfinished business and needs continuing attention – but in 2010,
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Monday,
- Novartis agrees to buy a 52% stake in Nestle SA’s Alcon for $28bn in cash – statement.
- DP World annouces profit distribution for sukuk holders – statement.