January, 2010
CDS report: Greece continues to widen
Markit’s Gavan Nolan wrote this CDS report
The Markit iTraxx Europe widened for the third consecutive day, proving immune to rising stock markets. The index closed at 71bp, about 0.5bp wider than yesterday’s close.
CFTC targets funds in position-limit clampdown
The oil markets have been waiting for it since the summer of 2009; some players have even acted in anticipation already.
But it wasn’t until Thursday that the commodity world got details of what the CFTC really had in mind in terms of increased regulation of energy markets,
Letter from Mayfair, 2009
Sam Jones, the FT’s hedge fund correspondent and former AV’er, has been looking at the performance of Mayfair’s finest in 2009.
Long Room members will have the list already, but we thought it deserved a wider audience.
Virgin’s triple play
Further evidence of the hot market in corporate bonds, via Evolution Securities (emphasis ours):
Virgin Media [VMED] Co priced its new senior secured notes, which was massively upsized to £1.5bn equivalent from £500mm (quite the triple play offering).
ECB snooze news, and Greece
As expected the ECB left rates on hold at 1 per cent on Thursday, in line with what 80 economists surveyed by Reuters had forecast.
No surprises there, then.
The euro, nevertheless, fell to session lows following comments from ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet reiterating that a strong US currency was important.
GSE losses could stand at $448bn, Amherst says
Here’s something that struck us in a bit of testimony submitted to the FCIC hearings on Wednesday.
In a document that’s well worth reading for some interesting banking statistics, J Kyle Bass, managing partner at hedge fund Hayman Advisors,
Lunch wrap
On FT Alphaville Thursday morning,
- Details of that Wall Street levy.
- The sovereign debt premium.
- Treasury Mystère.
- US petroleum stocks fit for bursting.
- A European sovereign upgrade cometh? (some mistake,
US petroleum stocks fit for bursting
Weekly US energy inventory data release on Wednesday confirmed the unbelievable. US petroleum stocks rose in the week despite especially cold weather in the region during the period.
Meanwhile, Dennis Gartman of the Gartman Letter draws attention to the fact that aggregate inventory rose by 8.9m barrels,
Markets Live transcript 14 Jan 2010
Markets Live chat transcript for the chat ending at 12:22 on 14 Jan 2010. Participants in this chat were: Neil Hume, FT Bryce Elder NHGood morning NHand welcome to rather damp and soggy Markets Live
Shanghai surprise, Tokyo nightmare
We briefly mentioned Tokyo’s shiny new Arrowhead stock trading platform in our earlier post on the JAL share-trading frenzy.
For the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the launch of Arrowhead at the start of the year was the culmination of four intensive years of lobbying and testing.
Will Hersbury happen? (Updated)
Hershey is preparing a counter-bid to Kraft’s hostile £10.4bn offer for Cadbury, according to people familiar with the matter. The US confectioner has authorised a bid for the UK chocolate maker and a formal offer could be made before the January 23 deadline,
The upside of an airline collapse: JAL’s shorting bonanza
The spectacular collapse in the share price of Japan Airlines — from Y200 late last year to Y88 on the first trading day of the new year and all the way down to Y7 on Wednesday, hides a tale of both woe and glee.
Treasury Mystère
Well someone is buying US government debt, despite prominent prognostications as to its worth(lessness). The problem is we don’t know who.
Wednesday’s auction of $21bn of 10-year US government bonds saw reasonably good demand,
Further reading
Elsewhere on Thursday,
- Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission: A User’s Guide.
- Find the Pandit.
- “Never short a country with $2 trillion in foreign currency reserves.”
- The ultimate (BoE) carry trade?
- The mother of all commercial real estate slumps.
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and other offerings from Thursday’s FT,
David Pilling: Google is not alone in calling China’s bluff
What do Google’s threat to pull out of China, iron ore pricing negotiations and US sales of arms to Taiwan have in common? They are all examples of calling China’s bluff.
Hurry! The Peter Cummings sale has started!
Re-started, actually.
Mark Kleinman at Sky.com had news on Wednesday, that Lloyds Banking Group is auctioning off a portfolio holdings in scores of British companies, together worth something in the region of £400m.
Geneva snow havoc!
Let’s face it, snow in southern England is a bit of a rarity.
Consequently, it’s quite understandable that when the occasional dump occurs transport chaos, truancy and mindless sledging-related accidents are common place.
Shell and the analyst mind meld
Isn’t it great when City analysts think alike?
Take those who follow Shell. On Tuesday of several of them decided to cut their earnings forecasts — all at the same time.
Spooky or what?
RBS:
Hersbury?
Six days to go to Kraft’s deadline for raising its bid for Cadbury, and suddenly this pops up on the Associated Press wire:
The Hershey Co. continues to work on a bid to acquire British candy maker Cadbury PLC without the help of Italian candymaker Ferrero International.
Testimony the FCIC should really be hearing…
Harley Bassman, a veteran strategist on the US rates trading desk at BoA Merrill Lynch, is hanging up his boots after more than 25 years on Wall Street. Or at least his widely read RateLab strategy note is going on “indefinite hiatus.”
Doppel-dip?
Related links:
German gloom – Money Supply
German GDP contracts 5% in 2009 – FT
Is there a double dip risk in Fermany? – A Fistful of Euros
One Search Platform To Rule The Middle Kingdom? (updated)
It didn’t take long for Wall Street to figure out which company stands to benefit from Google’s decision to end the controversial censorship of its search service in China.
Baidu, the Chinese-language Internet search provider.
Crunch TV – FCIC in Washington
Tune in now…
“It is our hope that together we can rebuild the American people’s belief in a financial system that puts Americans to work, fulfills their dreams and provides the foundation for a new era of broadly shared prosperity.”