May, 2011
Nasvan…
…couver.
This can’t end well. Nasdaq recently got the regulatory green light from the SEC to launch its new BX Venture Market.
The idea here is that BX will serve as a new listing alternative for early stage and smaller companies – bringing the gap between the over-the counter market and Nasdaq.
Et in Cushing ego
Wow. Turns out that in 2008 (into the mega rally time period) someone may have been “squeezing” oil after all.
As the FT reports:
The US commodities regulator has charged a trading house and two individuals with manipulating oil prices in 2008 by amassing dominant positions in the physical market that created the impression of a shortage.
The horror… the horror…
We’re slightly late to this, but nevertheless, Monday’s statement by Christian Noyer, governor of the Bank of France and a member of the European Central Bank’s governing council, on the ‘horror’ of a Greek debt restructuring is well worth a read.
Further reading
Elsewhere on Wednesday,
- Is it possible to have panic buying?
- Let’s not throw the securitisation baby out with the bathwater.
- The IPO market is heating up.
- A short on China is a short on Australia.
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and other offerings from Wednesday’s FT,
Martin Wolf: Europe should not control the IMF
The king is dead; long live the queen, says the FT’s Martin Wolf. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the French erstwhile managing director of the International Monetary Fund,
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Wednesday,
- Nationwide says underlying annual profits up 30 per cent, helped by lower bad debt charges — statement.
- Glencore shares fall 3 per cent on Hong Kong debut — report.
Further further reading
For the commute home,
- Why cities keep growing while companies eventually die (HT Stacy-Marie Ishmael).
- Sam Jones revealed the spying activities of Ikos in the FT on Saturday; now the company has issued a public statement in response.
What do you mean, CCPs might be thinly capitalised?
Via Bloomberg (H/T Chris Whittall):
Lawmakers in the [European] Parliament voted that clearinghouses should have to hold capital of at least 10 million euros ($14.1 million) to absorb possible losses…
A journey round Alpha Bank’s ECB collateral
Stunning disclosures on sovereign exposure and ECB collateral from Alpha Bank, one of Greece’s bigger lenders, on Tuesday. This is rare detail on the real pressure points that are arising from a Greek debt restructuring.
An insight into the real business of ETF trading
We’ve already written about how city veteran Terry Smith of the Fundsmith Equity Fund doesn’t like ETFs and why he’s worried about the extent to which they are shorted.
But what’s really interesting
What lies in Greek bank subsidiaries
We all remember the Vienna Initiative, right?
European banks promised to capitalise subsidiaries in emerging Europe in 2009. Governments didn’t collapse from bank runs. It turned out, in general, not bad at keeping some rubbish balance sheets ticking over.
Terry Smith doesn’t like ETFs
Uh oh.
Terry Smith, City veteran, pugnacious former director of Collins Stewart and manager of the Fundsmith Equity Fund, has turned a critical eye onto one of our favourite subjects — exchange traded funds.
Markets Live transcript 24 May 2011
Markets Live chat transcript for the chat ending at 11:27 on 24 May 2011. Participants in this chat were: Neil Hume, FT bryce.elder NHHola markets rabble NHand welcome to ML
You’ve been Dagonged — UK edition
BEIJING, May 24 (Xinhua) — China’s first domestic rating agency, Dagong Global Credit Rating Co. Ltd., on Tuesday downgraded the local and foreign currency long-term sovereign credit rating of the United Kingdom by one level to A+ from previous AA- with “negative”
And now Goldman says the commodities correction is over [updated]
Having been proven right about their prediction of a rather substantial correction in commodities earlier this month, Goldman Sachs is now out with a new view.
A bullish view.
As Jeffrey Currie and team wrote on Tuesday:
Goldman warns of significant China slowdown
More on those China slowdown fears, which played a part in Monday’s sell-off.
Goldman Sachs has cut its China GDP estimates for this year and next, citing concerns about weaker US growth, higher oil prices (more on that to follow — but the broker now sees Brent at $130 a barrel in 2012) and of course inflation:
Further reading
Elsewhere on Tuesday,
- A Mexican stand-off.
- Pitching the hedge fund masters.
- Why Jim Chanos is wrong about China.
- The Bank of England is failing its country.
- Econobrowsing.
- A losing bet:
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and other offerings from Tuesday’s FT,
Steven Rattner: Valley’s euphoria is tech bubble version 1.5 Here we go again, writes Rattner, former counsellor to the US Treasury secretary.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Tuesday,
- Moodys to review UK bank ratings — statement.
- Marks & Spencer lifts dividends by 13 per cent; cautious on outlook — statement.
- De La Rue announces corporate shake-up;
Further further reading
For the commute home,
- The recovery of world trade and industrial output
- Interactive graph showing public debt by country since 1992.
- The US has never defaulted on its debt (depending on your definition of default).
RMB rising
The past, present, and future of international currency dominance for Dummies:
Those slides come via the World Bank’s big report last week about the expected rise of the six largest emerging markets.
“The FX market has lost its anchor of reason”
Take everything you ever thought you knew about foreign exchange and bin it.
According to HSBC’s stellar FX guru David Bloom, currency markets are trading through the looking glass, and will continue to do so for some while.
Solving the EU debt cris–oh look, a rainbow!
To criticise this feels a bit like kicking a puppy (H/T Lorcan):
But: “EU institutions had tried to stop them…” — seriously? Still, we suppose “Time to stick to the rules” beats “We blame hedge funds”
The depressed market for Greek default recoveries
Or, will Greece eventually be the first sovereign default to leave private investors with nothing?
There’s another glitch in credit default swaps on Greece which is worth considering at the moment.
Beware the ‘Splash Crash’
Introducing ‘the splash crash’.
Like the flash crash but worse because it involves the “flash” spreading cross-asset class to everything from forex to commodities.
The idea springs from John Bates,
Markets Live transcript 23 May 2011
Markets Live chat transcript for the chat ending at 11:12 on 23 May 2011. Participants in this chat were: bryce.elder Joseph Cotterill, FT Izabella Kaminska BEGood morning everyone
Meanwhile, in the Spanish periphery…
Zapatero! Zapped!
The FT reports on Monday that initial results from the weekend’s Spanish regional elections show hefty losses for the ruling Socialist party — with the right-wing opposition making inroads into towns run by the Socialists since the 1970s.