February 2nd, 2010
Send for the task force
From Bloomberg on Tuesday evening:
Argentina’s Foreign Ministry summoned the U.K. ambassador over plans by Falkland Oil & Gas Ltd. to start drilling a well near the islands in the Atlantic Ocean.
[Galleon] Mr Wiretap
An unexpected twist in the Galleon insider trading case.
From Reuters on Tuesday evening:
- SEC FILES CIVIL INSIDER TRADING CHARGES AGAINST DAVID SLAINE, A FORMER HEDGE FUND PORTFOLIO MANAGER – NY COURT DOCUMENT
- SLAINE ALLEGEDLY USED INSIDE INFORMATION FROM MITCHEL GUTTENBERG,
Caveat venditor
This, apparently, is a story from Greek newspaper Kathimerini saying the country has uncovered €40bn of hidden debt:
The Google Translation reads something like this:
Hidden debt of 40 billion euros
The Committee on the reliability of the data set up by the Minister of Finance revealed hidden debt 40 billion.
Whoops!
This video (purportedly) shows a Macquarie Bank worker caught assessing certain non-bank assets, while his colleague talks Australian interest rates with 7 News:
Trivia of the Day: That’s reportedly Australian model Miranda Kerr he’s looking at.
Bank Grεεkery
Ignoring the possibility of Greece defaulting on its debt, or further credit rating downgrades making Greek government bonds ineligible for ECB liquidity operations, and you’re still left with potential problems for the Greek financial system.
Lunch Wrap
On FT Alphaville Tuesday morning,
- BP’s unsurprising refining surprise.
- Europe is Lehman-fied, again.
- Shadow bank losses.
- The RBA’s ‘shocker’ Down Under.
- A New Look?
- What are oil investors thinking?
- Day 1 of Indaba.
What on earth are oil investors thinking?
Over the last two trading sessions the two largest oil companies in the United States, Exxon and Chevron announced that in Q4 2009 they lost a combined $6.9 million day on turning crude oil into refined products.
Europe is Lehman-fied, part deux
So it’s not quite at the 10.25bps level hit when Lehman Brothers collapsed in September 2008, but the difference between the iTraxx Main and Financials Senior CDS indices (a basic indicator of how credit investors are viewing corporates versus financials) is getting close.
Markets Live transcript 2 Feb 2010
Markets Live chat transcript for the chat ending at 12:14 on 2 Feb 2010. Participants in this chat were: Neil Hume, FT Bryce Elder NHHi there NHits 11.03 am NHwhich means it is time for another edition of Markets Live
[Mining Indaba 2010] Reflections on Day 1
He may have been robbed but that hasn’t stopped FT Alphaville’s man on the ground at the Indaba mining conference in Cape Town from filing his thoughts on the opening day of the industry’s annual South African jamboree.
Korea’s NPS and the ‘overlap’ factor
One thing we know about the South Koreans — they have reversed course in recent years to become big spenders and poor savers. They have also become much bolder investors, after decades of adhering to a more cautious approach.
A New Look?
New Look has wheeled out the big guns for its proposed flotation on the London Stock Exchange. Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan Cazenove and Lazard are all on the ticket. (And that’s just the lead mangers – Barclays,
BP’s unsurprising refining surprise
That, for the record, is what happens when analysts don’t mysteriously “mind-meld” a couple of weeks ahead of your results.
As we reported on January 13, a number of analysts spookily cut their earnings forecasts on rival Shell — all at the same time.
Shadow bank losses
Alternative title: “How loan modifications distort bank results”.
Barclays Capital speculated last month that non-performing loans (NPLs) may peak in 2010. A few weeks on, and the bank is saying net-charge-offs (NCOs) may have peaked based on US banks’ recent fourth-quarter (2009) earnings.
The RBA’s ‘shocker’ Down Under
Australia’s central bankers had a bit of fun on Tuesday, confounding economists, shocking markets and driving down the Aussie dollar to its lowest level in six weeks by unexpectedly holding the country’s benchmark interest rate at 3.75 per cent,
Further reading
Elsewhere on Tuesday,
- Hank Paulson’s book, the birds and Bear Stearns.
- And some book-bashing.
- Goldman and the empty creditor.
- Zhu Min, a man worth listening to.
- Hedge funds in Hollywood.
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and other offerings from Tuesday’s FT,
Gideon Rachman: How the bottom fell out of ‘old’ Davos
Uneasily conscious of a shift of power to the east, western leaders are questioning ideas that used to underpin Davos,
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Tuesday,
- BP’s Q4 replacement cost profit rises 33 per cent to $3.4bn, versus an expected $4.6bn – statement.
- Nomura returns to profit in third quarter – statement.