December, 2011
So much for a grand settlement [updated]
On Thursday the Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley sued five US banks for alleged illegal mortgage practices, further destroying hopes of a grand 50-state settlement between state lawyers and banks. This was expected but it’s still a potentially damaging blow to Bank of America,
Draghi’s fiscal compact
Mario Draghi’s speech to the European parliament on Thursday wasn’t just notable for what he had to say about the scarcity of eligible collateral and the impaired transmission mechanism for monetary policy.
BoE charts, UK banks’ gloom
Banks are being asked to not choke off the real economy and strengthen their capital levels at the same time.
They are, however, finding it rather difficult to get funding from anywhere except central banks,
BoE governor asks the impossible
From Financial Stability Report, December 2011.
Bolster your balance sheets banks, but keep lending.
Oh, and if you wouldn’t mind disclosing leverage ratios in a year’s time that would be appreciated.
Strong demand for Spanish debt [updated]
No, really there is.
Via Reuters on Thursday.
RTRS-SPAIN 2015 BOND AVERAGE YIELD 5.187 PCT (LAST AUCTION 3.639 PCT)
RTRS-SPAIN 2016 BOND AVERAGE YIELD 5.276 PCT
RTRS-SPAIN 2017 BOND AVERAGE YIELD
Markets Live transcript 1 Dec 2011
Markets Live chat transcript for the chat ending at 12:25 on 1 Dec 2011. Participants in this chat were: Tony Tassell Neil Hume, FT TTGood morning all… TTjust starting off this session while Neil wraps a post for the blog
Keeping it liquid Eurozone
An interesting data point in the wake of this week’s SMP sterlization fail.
The amount of cash on overnight deposit at the ECB has breached the ‘psychologically important’ €300bn for the first time since June 2010.
The PBoC and that RRR decision
Did you wonder what was behind this?
Via Xinhua:
BEIJING — The People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, said Wednesday it will lower banks’ reserve requirement ratio (RRR) by 50 basis points for the first time in three years in order to replenish liquidity in the country’s banking system as inflation eases.
Draghi: “We are aware of the scarcity of eligible collateral”
The ECB’s Mario Draghi gave a speech to the European Parliament on Thursday, making some of the following key points:
RTRS – DRAGHI-DOWNSIDE RISKS TO ECONOMIC OUTLOOK HAVE INCREASED
RTRS – DRAGHI-ECB TEMPORARY MEASURES ONLY LIMITED
RTRS – DRAGHI-ECB AWARE OF CONTINUING DIFFICULTIES ON BANKS
RTRS – DRAGHI-AWARE OF MATURITY MISMATCHES,
Further reading
Elsewhere on Thursday,
- Swap lines are not a panacea.
- Why does a NYC taxi medallion cost $1m?
- On the velocity of collateral.
- Some thoughts on PBOC easing.
- Is it to late for the ECB to target yields?
- Where are the Enron protaganists now?
- Not all Chinese banks are created equal.
Pick pinks
Comment, analysis and more from Thursday’s FT,
John Gapper: Judge Rakoff is just doing his job
The US justice system is an unlovely affair of frantic litigation by too many lawyers in too many courts,
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Thursday,
- UBS removes chief risk officer after less than a year in the job — statement.
- Kingfisher reports better than expected Q3 results; sells more BBQs in one week in September than in the whole of June – statement and fact sheet.