July, 2011
Yell goes digital
About 10 years too late, Yell — the heavily indebted directories group — is going digital.
From Thursday’s strategic review announcement:
(Warning contains management speak.)
Following a rigorous six month strategic review,
Further reading
Elsewhere on Thursday,
- You won’t like Bill Gross when he’s angry, Washington.
- “If he [Murdoch] was a young, vigorous man, he might be able to get back on track…”
- Finance is a drag.
- Patent trolling eats itself.
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and other offerings from Thursday’s FT,
John Gapper: News Corp is all about the family
Rupert Murdoch is not strictly the founder of News Corp – it started life as News Limited,
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Thursday,
- UBS to axe 5,000 jobs – report.
- Yell announces new strategy (to provide a broad range of digital services to SMEs) — statement.
- Premier Foods appoints Kraft executive as new CEO — statement.
Further further reading
For the commute home,
- How PROTECT IP legislation would undermine entrepreneurship.
- The giant disconnect between Wall Street and Washington.
- Wall Street’s lineup of CROs.
- Marketplace has a new series on the Chinese economy.
The cost of being a global Sifi
Global Sifi buffers is both the likely new name of FT Alphaville’s pub trivia team and a hotly followed piece of financial regulation.
The Financial Stability Board is not due to formally announce its capital recommendations until November,
Risk on… wait, never mind
Remember when risk assets bounced on Bernanke’s testimony suggesting that QE3 was now under more serious consideration within the FOMC?
That was at 10am EST on Wednesday, but then the rally lost its legs.
Eurozone at breakpoint
We have been waiting for this – the RBS report on eurozone debt crisis, policy options and end game scenarios.
And it doesn’t disappoint.
The RBS team, lead by chief economist Jacques Cailloux, reckons the Euro area is at ‘breakpoint’,
How much is this plain vanilla derivative in the window?
Just to be totally clear we’re talking plain vanilla derivatives like, say, interest rate swaps a bank might arrange on behalf of a company. But it seems they’ve taken on a more exotic flavour, of late.
L’amore for sovereign credit indices
Generally a much quieter day in the bond and credit markets on Wednesday, after the week’s Italy panic. But we’re still wondering what on earth was moving credit indices during that time.
And what moves.
Search for the proverbial one-armed economist continues
On the one hand…
…the possibility remains that the recent economic weakness may prove more persistent than expected and that deflationary risks might reemerge, implying a need for additional policy support.
BSkyB deal OFF
… says, er. Sky News.
RTRS-NEWS CORP <NWSA.O> TO WITHDRAW BID FOR BSKYB <BSY.L>-SKY NEWS
Any chance of a statement, News Corp? Another PR disaster.
Update: 2.20 (London time)
8 minutes after the Sky revelation comes the RNS statement.
Great British contingent liabilities of the crisis
Government liabilities at 84.5 per cent of UK GDP, anyone?
Out on Wednesday — the government’s first ever attempt at WGA, (Whole of Government Accounting) applied to the 2009-2010 fiscal year in this case.
Markets Live transcript 13 Jul 2011
Markets Live chat transcript for the chat ending at 11:15 on 13 Jul 2011. Participants in this chat were: Neil Hume, FT bryce.elder NHHola markets Rabble NHwelcome to ML
A look ahead to that vital/key BTP auction…
… with Citigroup.
The story so far…
The last week has witnessed unprecedented contagion and volatility in tier 2 EMU markets. Liquidity is quickly evaporating and, without quick intervention of some kind,
Are USDA crop stats unreliable?
It’s almost like a scene from “Trading Places”, in which traders conspire to use and abuse the release of the US Department of Agriculture’s crop report.
Except this time it’s the reliability of the report which is being questioned.
The news gets worse for News
While you were away from your desk…
Now, the statement was released after market close in the US, so we must look to Australia for the price action in News Corp.
Not good.
Politico says that Senator Rockefeller’s statement came after an ethics watchdog,
Further reading
Elsewhere on Wednesday,
- A divided, not-doing-much FOMC.
- The equity-based guide to systemic European bank risk.
- The IMF sure picks its moments on Italy.
- “Who will buy Treasuries when the Fed doesn’t?”
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and other offerings from Wednesday’s FT,
Martin Wolf: From Italy to the US, utopia vs reality
In the eurozone, the fiscal crisis is lapping on Italy’s shores, writes FT columnist Martin Wolf.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Wednesday,
- Marks & Spencer holds full year guidance; food sales remain strong — statement.
- Supergroup says store roll-out programme on track; recent trading improves– statement.
A change in Pimco strategy?
Has Bill Gross ditched his “long-short-long position” on US Treasuries?
Pimco on Tuesday published the latest holdings of its flagship Total Return Fund. The statistics are accurate as of 30 June.
Further further reading
For the commute home,
- Four charts explaining the economic debacle.
- Eric Cantor’s debt ceiling slide deck.
- Why everyone else is biased.
- Swap spreads have hit a one year peak.
- Wall Street fiction.
Moody’s downgrades Ireland to Ba1 from Baa3
As goes Portugal, so goes Ireland, which is now in junk territory.
The ratings agency cites implementation risks to Ireland’s austerity programme but the main reason — like with its 6 July Portugal downgrade — is the presumed involvement of private creditors as a precondition to a second bailout.
FOMC minutes from the June 21-22 meeting
These minutes weren’t as interesting as those from the previous meeting, which preceded the first Fed press conference.
But there were a few semi-notable bits, which we list below.
The possibility of an explicit inflation objective,