September, 2010
The increasing frequency of the Fed’s POMOs
Here’s a nice chart from Olivier Jakob at Petromatrix, who is taking an increasingly broad view of market goings-on in his bid to interpret the energy complex — oil, gas, the lot — on a daily basis:
It shows,
Eurozone M3 sharply on the rise
Here’s one for the inflation vs deflation debate.
According to the latest figures from the European Central Bank, there was an unexpectedly large bounce in eurozone M3 money supply in August.
This,
Markets Live transcript 27 Sep 2010
Markets Live chat transcript for the chat ending at 11:21 on 27 Sep 2010. Participants in this chat were: Bryce Elder Tony Tassell BEGood morning BEAnd welcome to Markets Live
Takefuji finally ‘sheds its skin’
It’s almost like old times, when Japanese financial institutions were crashing like sumo wrestlers on a bad day.
For keen observers of Japan’s troubled consumer finance sector, the only surprise about a Monday report in Japan’s Nikkei newspaper that lender Takefuji could file for bankruptcy protection,
Moody’s thwacks Anglo Irish bonds
More bad news for Anglo Irish creditors on Monday — Moody’s slashed its ratings of the bank’s senior unsecured and subordinated debt; the latter by six notches, no less, although Moody’s actions on the bank’s senior unsecured debt may be of more concern.
Further reading
Elsewhere on Monday, and at the weekend,
- Bearish on Wall Street, bullish on Goldman.
- “Structural unemployment is a fake problem.”
- The biggest losers of the financial crisis.
- Wall Street sequel:
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and other offerings from Monday’s FT,
Wolfgang Münchau: Could any country risk a eurozone bail-out?
I spent the best part of last week trying to figure out the mechanics of the eurozone’s €440bn bail-out fund,
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Monday,
- Unilever to acquire Alberto Culver for $3.7bn — statement.
- 3i to acquire Mizuho Investment Management for £18.3m — statement.
- Artemis Alpha Trust and Gartmore Growth Opportunities agree to merge assets — statement and statement.
FTfm on AV
Highlights from Monday’s FTfm.
Investors lose right to damages
Foreign investors in companies sued for corporate misbehaviour in the US could be penalised by a recent Supreme Court ruling that restricts compensation to those who bought shares in the US
Risk-free sovereign debt does not exist
Most believe Greece cannot survive without defaulting on its debts eventually,
Citi sued by Norwegian central bank
Inevitable, really. Though we wouldn’t have expected the staid Norwegian central bank to be the first (?) to take up legal arms.
After the US Securities and Exchange Commission exposed Citi’s super senior subprime slip — in which the bank misled investors over its subprime exposure between July and October 2007 — now come the lawsuits.
An intriguing pick-up in Treasury settlement fails
Some curious developments in the US Treasury market to report.
First, there’s been a relatively strong burst of settlement failures in the US Treasury repo market in the last week.
According to data compiled the New York Fed,
The price of bear insurance
One of the ways you could criticise many of the über-bears in the market is that — while they’re good at prognosticating doom — they just don’t explain well enough what investors should do to avoid it.
A loser’s nightmare in Europe’s debt auctions?
Did anyone else puzzle over the results of Ireland’s T-bill auction on Thursday?
The sale, after all, failed to secure the maximum amount sought, despite being extremely well covered:
Recent auctions for Portuguese bonds and Greek T-bills have also seen unusually high bid covers coincide with high yields.
Ireland fights pessimism. Leaves budget in peace.
Wandering around Dublin this Friday? Got a spare few hours and €55? Tired of all the doom and gloom surrounding Ireland’s economy, and proffered on sites such as this one?
Then you might be interested in the below:
Would you buy bonds from this man?
Presenting John Corrigan, head of the Irish National Treasury Management Agency:
RTRS-IRISH DEBT AGENCY CEO SAYS MKT CONCERN ABOUT FUNDING CHALLENGES OF IRISH BANKS IS LIKE EARLIER HYPE ABOUT “MILLENNIUM BUG”
Markets Live transcript 24 Sep 2010
Markets Live chat transcript for the chat ending at 11:10 on 24 Sep 2010. Participants in this chat were: Neil Hume, FT Bryce Elder NH NH NH NH
When Anglo Irish bonds are liability managing
This week, the prospect of an Anglo Irish debt ‘liability management’ exercise burst into the market’s consciousness.
Anglo Irish anguish
The term is fixed-income code for what would basically a tender or exchange offer for existing Anglo subordinated debt — about €1.7bn of Lower Tier 2 bonds — which sit further down in the nationalised bank’s capital structure than senior debt.
Yen intervention redux: did they or didn’t they?
The yen suddenly weakened again on Friday – after four days of fairly solid gains – igniting the FX intervention rumour mill (again):
This despite a rather curious form of denial by Japan’s vice finance minister Fumihiko Igarashi on Friday afternoon,
Further reading
Elsewhere on Friday,
- A September slowdown in trading.
- Trial of strength for currencies.
- IPOs raise lowest amount in decade.
- Volcker says the market is “broken”.
- Visualizing bubbles.
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and other offerings from Friday’s FT,
John Varley: Casino jibes do UK banks no justice
The subject of bank reform is topical, writes Varley, chief executive of Barclays. As the past days have shown,
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Friday,
- Independent Banking Commission says options include separating investment and retail banking — statement.
- KNOC declares offer for Dana wholly unconditional – statement.
Microsoft, debt/equity arb, and IG coupons
Have a look at this chart from Econompic Data that’s been making the rounds since Wednesday:
It shows the paltry coupons at which Microsoft has just issued debt — from the story in Bloomberg:
Dealing with disinflation
Plenty of pixels have been used here on the inflationista vs deflationista debate, but fewer about a third category that doesn’t get as much attention: the disinflationista.
Okay, no such thing. But we’ve previously discussed the work of the IMF’s André Meier,
Geoghegan, out
Now that there is actual news, here’s an update on the HSBC boardroom battle, since we know the suspense has been killing you.
From the FT:
Michael Geoghegan is poised to step down as chief executive of HSBC at the end of the year,