September, 2010
Goldman urges the Fed to take the big bang option
As should now be obvious, Goldman Sachs is very keen on the idea of QE2. In fact, barely a day goes by when it is not discussed by the bank.
Already this week, Goldman’s chief US economist Jan Hatzius has told the world why a further $1,000bn of QE is justified,
Check – or is that, checkmate, Dana
We’re gonna miss these catty RNS statements.
Korean National Oil Corp. responded to Dana Petroleum’s value-based defence with a rather deadpan refusal to shift its 1800p share offer on Thursday. From KNOC’s statement:
Further reading
Elsewhere on Thursday,
- The power and serendipity of Google Instant.
- Paying for an Olympic ghost town.
- The WSJ takes on the NYT – Taiwan News style.
- Should you buy a house now?
- The,
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and other offerings from Thursday’s FT,
John Gapper: A Diamond in a rough business
The appointment of Bob Diamond as the next chief executive of Barclays, and a reshuffle at the top of HSBC that could lead to the ascension of Stuart Gulliver,
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Thursday,
- KNOC makes full and final 1800p offer for Dana Petroleum — statement.
- Morrisons profit up 14 per cent to £410m — statement.
- HMV like-for-like sales drop 14.9 per cent,
Goldman fined, again
Our FT colleagues reported the news on Wednesday:
Goldman Sachs is facing a fine thought to be near £20m from the UK’s financial regulator following a five-month investigation into the investment bank’s international business initiated in the wake of fraud charges against the company in the US.
Highlights (and lowlights) from the Beige Book
Just as the US was turning its weary eyes to Barack Obama’s speech on the economy on Wednesday, the Federal Reserve Board released the sixth Beige Book report of the year. This most recent edition covers activity in the last half of July and all of August.
CEBS says the stress tests were JUST FINE
We weren’t that taken aback by the WSJ’s recent, ah, exposé revealing that Europe’s recent stress tests were – shock! – perhaps less than helpful on the actual exposure of banks to risky sovereign debt.
Adventures in FX intervention
Now, even by Japanese central banking standards, this… is weird.
Via Citigroup’s FX wire on Wednesday:
Apparently, the BoJ has been carrying out what a colleague calls “mock dry runs/drills in intervention”
Hi Ho Silver Lining
Noel Gallager, Sid Waddell, Anna Wintour, hemlines, and cartels — just some of the subjects covered in the latest Thunder Road report from market analyst Paul Mylchreest.
But what has caught the attention of traders are Mylchreest’s thoughts on silver.
Anglo Irish candour, at last? (updated)
Score one for the Irish bond (and CDS) vigilantes? Ireland’s government announced that severely troubled bank Anglo Irish would be split up on Wednesday — statement via the Irish finance ministry:
The Government decided that Anglo Irish Bank will be split into a Funding Bank and an Asset Recovery Bank.
The return of the WTI super contango
The WTI super contango is back — which means time to prepare for price distortions, offshore tanker storage buildup and the general return of evil hoarding oil spivs.
Mwa ha ha.
Okay, to be less sensationalist about it,
A Portuguese canary
A quick reminder of a wise old quote on writing plays:
If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don’t put it there.
—Anton Chekhov, Reminiscences,
It was the cement’s fault
BP has published its internal investigation report into the Deepwater Horizon rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico on 20 April 2010.
The conclusion?
Largely, that it was the well cement’s fault, and thus Halliburton’s a little bit,
FX intervention day?
Moves on different sides of the globe suggest something could be afoot in currency markets.
The yen resumed its climb, advancing on Wednesday to a fresh 15-year high against the dollar of Y83.32. Meanwhile,
Markets Live transcript 8 Sep 2010
Markets Live chat transcript for the chat ending at 11:23 on 8 Sep 2010. Participants in this chat were: Neil Hume, FT Bryce Elder NHHola market fans NHIt’s 11.03am NHand time of Markets Live
Connaught and super-absorbent moppets
This is a packet of super-absorbent Spontex thick moppets, which retail at around £1.80.
And this is a snapshot of the Connaught share register at the start of the month:
Based on that spreadsheet,
More Greek haircut jitters
It’s not just the Greek banks that have been spooked by National Bank of Greece’s cash call and attendant fears of government debt restructuring.
French banks Société Générale and Credit Agricole,
NBG’s Greek debt warning
The most denied cash call of recent times has finally happened. Late on Tuesday night National Bank of Greece announced a €2.8bn ‘Comprehensive Capital Strengthening Plan:
Successful completion of
High frequency traders do ‘risk’ better
Perhaps it’s not too astounding a finding…
But a Federal Reserve staff working paper by Dobrislav P. Dobrev and Pawel J. Szerszen has found that using historical high frequency data to forecast equity returns is far more effective than using general daily or monthly data.
Further reading
Elsewhere on Wednesday,
- Those bond markets and Irish debt.
- On the value of Treasuries.
- The new normal in oil and natural gas prices.
- Comparing historical bond yields to the S&P composite earnings yields.
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and other things from Wednesday’s FT,
Martin Wolf: The eurozone is good for Germans
Which country is the biggest gainer from the creation of the eurozone? Wolf’s answer would be Germany.
So much for “better than expected”
As if we hadn’t already rained on the expectations-beating parade of recent economic news, along comes this new chart from the Conference Board:
The key points:
The Conference Board Employment Trends Index™ (ETI) decreased in August for the second time in the past four months.