November, 2011
The Papandreou plunge
Ten- and 30-year US Treasuries yield below two and three per cent, respectively…
The German 10-year now under 1.8 per cent…
And the Italian 10-year now trades below 90 cents on the euro with a 6.3 per cent yield.
FTSE asks the free float question
What is the minimum amount of a company’s shares that should be freely floated if that company is incorporated in the UK and wants to join the FTSE’s UK indices?
A simple question, but a contentious one.
What’s in a government debt number?
Remember the good old debt shenanigans? Where soon-to-be eurozone countries did everything they could to bring their debt figures down?
Every so often you’d read a story about a clever bit of financial engineering like an off-market swap that looked like debt,
It-never-ends-um [updated]
…The President of the Republic shall by decree proclaim a referendum on crucial national matters following a resolution voted by an absolute majority of the total number of Members of Parliament, taken upon proposal of the Cabinet.
Markets Live transcript 1 Nov 2011
Markets Live chat transcript for the chat ending at 12:31 on 1 Nov 2011. Participants in this chat were: Bryce Elder/FT Neil Hume, FT Izabella Kaminska BEGood morning BEAnd welcome to Tin Hat Live
A new shareholder for Nat’s coal curiosity
So, the billionaire Bakrie Brothers have sorted one of their debt issues.
They have struck a deal to sell half of their stake in Nat Rothschild’s cash shell curiosity, Bumi Plc, to an Indonesian businessman.
Bazooka with cheese
Where would financiers be without metaphors? Let’s take Citi as an example — although we are sure there are worse offenders.
In Tuesday’s FT, Citi’s chief economist, Willem Buiter, called for a bigger ‘bazooka’ to boost the firepower of the EFSF.
UK GDP – As good as it gets?
From the Office for National Statistics on Tuesday:
GDP growth of 0.5 per cent in third quarter. A reasonable pace?
Not really. In fact, there’s good reason for thinking this is as good as it gets for some time to come.
The central bank cannot, will not hold?
These prices (for the 10-year Italian benchmark bond) are after the ECB intervened on Tuesday:
Ten-year Bund yield is below 2 per cent at pixel time. Despite it all, clearly the ECB is buying in strength.
FT Alphaville Geneva drinks – November 17
To our Geneva-based readers…
It’s an open-invite, but an idea of numbers would be much appreciated (just for cheese rationing purposes).
RSVP: alphaville@ft.com or izabella.kaminska@ft.com.
Asian PMIs go ‘uh-oh’
There’s something for everyone in the Chinese PMIs for October:
BEIJING, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) — China’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) dropped to 50.4 percent in October after rising for two consecutive months,
Your time to evaluate this deal starts … now
This is interesting. Well, certainly more interesting than Tuesday’s official statement from G4S explaining its decision to abandon a £5.2bn bid for Danish company ISS.
It’s an employee Q&A that shows G4s tried to renegotiate the terms of the acquisition and selected,
Failing to Byzantium
Greek RMBS news that makes you go hmm (via Fitch, earlier):
Fitch Ratings-London-31 October 2011: Greek banks and RMBS transactions are at risk of losing interest payments because a Greek housing agency has delayed,
Further reading
Elsewhere on Tuesday,
- A complete guide to the MF Global bankruptcy.
- Did the European deal just collapse?
- I’m not a swap, get me out of here!
- Sometimes, as a CDS gets older, disturbing signs appear…
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and more from Tuesday’s FT,
Gideon Rachman: Transatlantic threat to Obama
The biggest danger that the president faces is that a black economic cloud will drift across the Atlantic over the next year and explode like a thunder-clap over the US,
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Tuesday,
- G4S abandons £5.2bn bid for ISS — statement.
- Bakrie Group sells half of its 47 per cent stake in Bumi to Indonesia Borneo investor for $1bn, or £10.91p a share.