July, 2011
Further reading
Elsewhere on Tuesday,
- Form, substance and ratings in the Greek crisis.
- “Reversing the robotic gigantism of banking ought to be the top priority for reform.”
- Greece, Portugal and lots of gold.
Pink picks
Comment, analysis, and other offerings from Tuesday’s FT,
Gideon Rachman: America and Europe sinking together
In Washington they are arguing about a debt ceiling; in Brussels they are staring into a debt abyss.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Tuesday,
- Persimmon says operating margins will show a further improvement in first half of year — statement.
- CSM, the world’s largest bakery products supplier, issues major profits warning;
Knight Vinke tries to set the record straight on Comet
Knight Vinke has responded to weekend reports that it wants the sale of Comet, the UK arm of Kesa Electricals, dropped with a rare public letter.
And that’s the issue here — obtaining an acceptable price.
Quantitative greasing of another kind?
Title shamelessly stolen from Chris Cook, who’s applied the term to the IEA’s “easing” of tight oil markets by releasing reserves.
What we refer to though is the direct depression of bond yields, via the sheer weight of petrodollars (for example Saudi Arabia’s gigantic foreign assets) recycled into buying those bonds.
Now you see it now you don’t – collateral transformation
It’s an answer — of sorts — to the $2,200bn dollar question.
Avid regulatory watchers will remember that the central clearing counterparties (CCPs) due to arrive under upcoming collateral reform will require billions worth of high-quality collateral to be posted by users of derivatives.
Shadow currencies lurking behind a new dollar smile
G3 currencies are just so … démodé.
Where once the US dollar, euro and yen indisputably dominated global currency trading, there are now alternatives. The S3 currencies. So says UBS strategist Syed Mansoor Mohi-uddin in a short note.
Markets Live transcript 4 Jul 2011
Markets Live chat transcript for the chat ending at 11:19 on 4 Jul 2011. Participants in this chat were: Neil Hume, FT bryce.elder
NHhola Rabble
NHHappy Independence Day
Sell in May and go away and come back on…
….. err Independence Day.
That seems to be the view at several big houses, which have either upgraded equities on Monday or urged their clients to buy in the wake of last weeks’ powerful rally.
Deutsche Bank:
The Sovys are here! The Sovys are here! [updated]
We speak of the market for sovereign yield spread futures (Sovys) — a product designed by CME Group and aimed squarely at the heart of cash bonds and credit default swaps, as a new way to trade sovereigns.
Further reading
Elsewhere on Monday,
- Munger’s parody.
- “U.S. $ will soon be worthless if the Fed keeps printing money!” tweets Lindsay Lohan.
- The economics of good and evil.
- Analysts, and ambiguous language.
Pink picks
Comment, analysis, and other offerings from Monday’s FT,
Giuliano Amato and Guy Verhofstadt: A plan to save the euro
Europe is losing a war between its elected governments and unelected rating agencies.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Monday,
- S&P says Greek rollover plan may put Greece in select default — report.
- Rak Petroleum and DNO International to merge assets ahead of London stock market listing — statement.
FTfm on AV
Some highlights from Monday’s FTfm.
Mifid may override UK’s retail distribution review
The UK financial regulator is wasting time and money on its new rules for toughening retail financial advice as it risks being overtaken by European regulation,
The weekender
This week on FT Alphaville,
- Greek politicians and French bondholders rolled over in different ways.
- While emerging Europe braced itself for renewed Greek exposure.
- Nomura said there was a CDO slap-bang in the middle of the eurozone.
When European interbank volatility is good for money funds
Where “good” = yield from a nice Eonia trade.
Quite frankly, this looks to us like picking up pennies in front of a steamroller.
But in a report on Friday, Moody’s pointed out an interesting money fund trade that takes advantage of current volatility in Eonia.
Goldman’s on top of the Dodd-Frank talks
A list of financial entities most panicked about upcoming Dodd-Frank rules.
Whoops! We mean a list of financial entities who are most concerned about educating regulators.
Goldman Sachs tops the list,
US Markets Live transcript 1 Jul 2011
Markets Live chat transcript for the chat ending at 15:06 on 1 Jul 2011. Participants in this chat were: Cardiff Garcia John McDermott Stacy-Marie Ishmael, FT CGGood morning! CGWho’s here?
Reminder: US Markets Live starts at 10am New York time
For the chronologically-challenged, that’s 3pm London time.
We’ve got our usual banter about all things markety, this week featuring thoughts on the end of QE2, Tim Geithner’s “mulling”, the debt ceiling,
The Sovereign’s Wealth Fund
Poor Queen.
The House of Saud controls the world’s largest oil reserves, and with them, a tidy annual revenue stream of about $200bn.
The House of Windsor gets an annual dividend from a stake in a glorified buy-to-let property fund,
Libor, repressed
From the annals of financial repression, we bring you Libor rates.
It’s a torrid tale of QE2, dollar funding and liquidity — and it’s one we thought we’d mention, given that the Federal Reserve’s second bout of quantitative easing has just come to an end.
The face of Ireland’s new bank
Yes, Anglo Irish and Irish Nationwide have been stitched together to make… the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation. It will take about a decade to ‘resolve’ them.
Although we’re sure readers can think of a better name.
Markets Live transcript 1 Jul 2011
Markets Live chat transcript for the chat ending at 11:18 on 1 Jul 2011. Participants in this chat were: Neil Hume, FT bryce.elder NHhola rabble NHwelcome to the final ML of the week
Li Ka-shing closes in on Northumbrian Water
Friday’s statement from takeover target Northumbrian Water is more interesting for what it doesn’t say, than for what it does.
Statement regarding possible offer
Further to the announcement by the Company on 27 June 2011,