February 3rd, 2010
The contagion spreads
Iberian stock markets look to have seen a ghost on Wednesday afternoon:
With financials the hardest hit:
Now, there are plenty of rumours doing the rounds to explain the sell-off; an imminent downgrade of Spain’s credit ratings is one of them.
Boxing bankers, timewarp du jour
In early 2007 Bloomberg published this little story:
Boxing Bankers Pummel Each Other for Fun at London Fight Club
By Julia Werdigier
Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) — David Peters, a Swiss-franc swap broker at Tullett Prebon,
Paying for Cadbury
Just a day after its offer for the British chocolatier was declared unconditional, Kraft is looking to refinance the £7.1bn bridge loan it took on to fund the £11.7bn cash-and-scrip bid.
The US food company is planning a “jumbo”
Ambac inches closer to the inevitable
Ambac, the bond insurer that warned in November it was rapidly running out of cash, has brought in Blackstone to advise on a restructuring strategy, according to Reuters.
The news agency, citing sources,
SEC staff keep close tabs on seedy markets
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has been roundly and rightly criticised for its failure to investigate Bernard Madoff’s fund-turned-Ponzi; a story in the Washington Times on Tuesday suggested the regulator’s staff may have spent more time keeping an eye on other,
The erstwhile openess of emerging markets, chart du jour
Courtesy of Moody’s, a reminder of the financial crisis’ impact on emerging economies:
Related link:
Blowing emerging bubbles – FT Alphaville
The other European deficit problem
The European Commission’s position on Greece may have been the key focus of market attention on Wednesday, but there was another country that also managed to draw some criticism from Brussels.
That country was Poland:
BBVA, an exercise in Spanish banking losses
Remember BBVA?
The Spanish bank surprised markets last week with an earnings miss, causing its shares to fall about 6 per cent on the day.
In addition to revaluing some of its US business, the bank also “reassessed”
Lunch Wrap
On FT Alphaville Wednesday morning,
- Central bank DeathMatch!
- The Greek deficit goes un-Noticed.
- But more EC words = more problems.
- So who’s next to the sovereign trough?
- Faber lashes out (again).
More EC words, more problems
The European Commission’s just-released review of Greece’s Stability Programme may have approved the country’s plan to cut its deficit, but it did not do so in few words:
Indeed, the review looks to have come in at a whopping word-count of 1,224.
Markets Live transcript 3 Feb 2010
Markets Live chat transcript for the chat ending at 12:14 on 3 Feb 2010. Participants in this chat were: Neil Hume, FT Bryce Elder NHone NHtwo NHthree NHfour
The un-Noticed Greek deficit
The European Commission has just published its review of Greece’s Stability Programme.
Reuters headlines are below:
RTRS-EU COMMISSION SAYS ENDORSES GREEK FISCAL CONSOLIDATION PROGRAM
10:43 03Feb10 RTRS-EU COMMISSION GIVES GREECE UNTIL END-2012 TO CUT BUDGET GAP BELOW 3 PCT/GDP,
How to say ‘more please’ in Chinese
For a prime example of investor chutzpah, look no further than China Investment Corp, the country’s mega sovereign wealth fund, which has just done a deal with Apax to invest €685m (£599m) in the UK private equity group’s €11.2bn buy-out fund.
[Mining Indaba 2010] Day II
By Matthew Kennard.
To mangle Karl Marx: A spectre is haunting Indaba – the spectre of China. I know I keep banging on it but its everywhere. It’s strange I haven’t seen too many Chinese operators – probably because while the rest of us are sinking drinks on the party circuit they are sitting in their hotels colouring different African countries in pink.
A Thai SWF? More if than when.
Back in December, Thai prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told attendees at a conference in Bangkok that the country’s central bank has been considering setting up a sovereign wealth fund.
According to a report in AsianInvestor,
Next to the trough…
These little PIIGS eurozone countries issued a lot of short-term debt:
The chart is from the latest issue of the National Institute Economic Review, in which NIESR’s Nathan Foley-Fisher notes that:
Faber lashes out — again
After his recent and widely disseminated quip on CNBC that “Obama makes Bush look like a genius”, Marc Faber is now offering some insights into how the US can get out of its “debt trap”.
In his latest GloomBoomDoom market commentary,
Further reading
Elsewhere on Wednesday,
- “The bear isn’t there yet.”
- A year into Citi’s confused breakup.
- The economics of superstardom.
- A few thoughts on the Burlington acquisition.
- Credit card cleverness.
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and other offerings from Wednesday’s FT,
Martin Wolf: Sustaining the world’s convalescence
We have a globalised economy, but politics remains local. In times of crisis, the pressure to look after the former dominates the latter.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Wednesday,
- Autonomy full-year adjusted EPS rises 42 per cent – statement.
- Evolution Group confirms departure of Andrew Umbers, head of its securities division – statement.