Stacy-Marie Ishmael
Quick comment on the Volcker rule, banks and private equity
The final language of the long-awaited Dodd-Frank financial reform bill runs to a couple thousand pages, and we have short attention spans here on FT Alphaville. In other words, we’re grateful to those providing quick-fire summaries of relevant regulation.
Hugh Hendry: Soros has embraced socialism
On Thursday, George Soros penned an op-ed in the FT arguing that Germany needs to engage in a thought experiment, one involving withdrawing from the European single currency:
The restored Deutschemark would soar,
US CRE prices rise, but fundamentals weak
US commercial real estate prices increased 1.7 per cent in April, according to Moody’s’ proprietary benchmark. That represented the first monthly increase since January — good news, right?
Not quite.
Fed holds rates; says recovery proceeding at a ‘moderate pace’
Statement out from the Federal Open Market Committee on Wednesday, emphasis FT Alphaville’s:
Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in April suggests that the economic recovery is proceeding and that the labor market is improving gradually.
[MoneyTech] Google and Twitter v the investment banks
How do Wall Street’s lawyers and lobbyists find the time?
Somehow, while fending off the complaints of munis burnt by derivatives, contending with proposals to overhaul the US financial system and worrying about the SEC poking around,
When is a caja not a caja?
Moody’s Capital Markets Research group, a separate unit from the more well-known ratings division, published a note on Friday about the skepticism of credit market investors’ toward Spain’s savings banks.
[Abacus] Goldman’s shares hit 52-week low
On a day when the S&P 500 index closed 3 per cent higher, Goldman Sachs’ shares touched a 52-week low of $131.30, a level not seen since May 14 2009.
And as the YTD chart below (via Google Finance) illustrates,
SEC busts alleged $300m gilded Ponzi scheme
Fraudulent goldbugs?
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged four Canadian men and two others living in Florida with perpetrating a $300 million international Ponzi scheme on investors in a purportedly successful gold mining operation.
Japan’s no-playboy bonds
Presented without comment, from RBS on Thursday:
…our colleague Bill O’Donnell reports that a new Japanese Ministry of Finance advert says that Japanese women prefer men who invest in government bonds,
US market snapshot: Dow(n)
The rout in US equities continued apace going into the final 30 minutes of trade on Wall Street on Friday:
via Google Finance
Markets in everything, Madoff claims edition
*Cue cheesy infomercial music and voice-over narration*
Have you been burnt by by Bernard Madoff? Suddenly can’t afford your valet? Has your kid’s college fund disappeared along with your Centurion card? Never fear,
[MoneyTech] ‘Someone will always have the data first’
Financial blogger Kid Dynamite has weighed in on “latency arbitrage”: the fact that some investment firms have access to data — and are subsequently able to trade on such — before other market participants.
BNP Paribas: ‘Avoid Spanish banks for now’
Add the credit analysts at BNP Paribas to the growing list of those concerned about the robustness of the Spanish banks.
In a note published on Wednesday, analyst Olivia Frieser observed, in a comment on the findings of the June 2010 edition of the ECB’s Financial Stability Review,
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and other offerings from Friday’s FT,
Analysis: European banks – leaning lenders
There are good reasons why the failure of CajaSur not only added another ruined temple to the age-old city’s Roman remains but also sent tremors round the world,
Unusual economic indicators, Brazilian plastic surgery edition
Hollywood cheered when the Obama administration’s proposed ‘botox tax’ didn’t make it into the final version of the mammoth health care reform bill. On the other hand, those seeking a year-round golden glow may have been irked that a 10 per cent tax on tans delivered via tanning bed comes into force on July 1.
Dubai: It’s a ‘frontier market’ for a reason
Kudos to Zawya Dow Jones for keeping an eye on an evolving legal dispute between Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) and four businessmen.
Proponents and practitioners of Sharia-compliant finance are fond of trumpeting the safety,
Further reading
Elsewhere on Thursday,
- Knightian uncertainty, explained.
- Vladimir Putin, transaction cost economist.
- Harry Markopolos weighs in on the “new’ SEC.
- Data mining, 10TB of patents edition.
The commercial real estate-failed bank nexus
The warnings have become the reality. Back in October 2009, the NY Times cited an estimate by research firm Foresight Analytics that as many as 581 small banks were at risk of collapse by 2011, due in large part to their exposure to commercial real estate.
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and other offerings from Wednesday’s FT,
Martin Wolf: The grasshoppers and the ants – elucidating the fable
Fables seek to illuminate reality, says the FT’s Martin Wolf, who wishes to address two questions:
What’s the right amount to pay bankers? Less.
Dan “Predictably Irrational” Ariely is promoting his new book, and as part of his promotathon, has published a teaser over at the TEDBlog.
The subject: banker pay.
Ariely’s argument will not go down well with the likes of the Johns Mack and Stumpf,
‘The eurozone has failed,’ Czech president says
Václav Klaus, president of the Czech Republic since 2003, is not impressed with Europe’s single currency experiment. In fact, he thinks the eurozone is a failure.
As he put it in an essay in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday:
Finra probing subprime RMBS offerings
Finra, a regulator with an impressive track record of investigatory failures, is looking into the accuracy of disclosures linked to subprime RMBS offerings, according to a Reuters report on Thursday.
According to the Reuters report,
Market upheaval should not be the new black, SEC says
Volatility might be the new black, but regulators are none too impressed with market upheaval of the May 6 flash crash persuasion.
In a speech on May 24, SEC commissioner Luis Aguilar deplored “the perils of fragmented regulation”
Martin Wolf v Stephen Roach on US-China relations
Who’s more opinionated? Tough call, when it’s Morgan Stanley’s Stephen Roach up against the FT’s Martin “Two Brains” Wolf on the small matter of US-China relations and the outlook for China’s currency policy.
Governments just don’t understand…speculators
Reuters on Thursday published snippets of the discussions taking place at its Global Energy Summit, including some forthright commentary from the heads of various commodity exchanges.
The subject? Government and regulators v evil speculators.
Kerviel speaks: traders, know thyselves
Roguish trader turned novelist – ‘L’Engrenage, Mémoires d’un trader’ – Jérôme Kerviel has some advice for his peers on the all-important annual review.
In an extract from his book featured on eFinancialCareers on Thursday,
SEC Charges Pequot Capital and CEO Samberg with insider trading
It’s been a busy week for financial regulators, and a mixed one — at best — for hedge funds.
On Thursday, the SEC said it had charged Pequot Capital Management and its chairman and chief exec Arthur Samberg with insider trading in Microsoft shares.