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Latest eurozone downgrade…
That eurozone finance ministers meeting set for Wednesday…
You know, the one that represented the final, final deadline for Greece, dictating a weekend of rioting and a political crunch in Athens…
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and other offerings from Tuesday’s FT,
Gideon Rachman: Germany faces a machine from hell
The press review from around Europe does not make pleasant reading for the German foreign ministry these days.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Tuesday,
– Cairn Energy return-of-cash update – statement
– Lloyds’s of London puts Thai flood losses at $2.2bn – statement
– Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton step up investment in Chile’s Escondida copper facility – statement
Corporate:
Markets Live transcript 13 Feb 2012
Markets Live chat transcript for the chat ending at 12:01 on 13 Feb 2012. Participants in this chat were: Paul Murphy Bryce Elder/FT
PMMornin’
PMWelcome to Markets Live
PMFT Alphaville’s daily markets kick about
Further reading
Elsewhere on Monday,
- Best of the #FedValentines
- Juicy goings-on over at Maiden Lane, Goldman edition.
- ‘A battle of wits with a remarkably poorly-armed man’.
- The number of problem US banks is unchanged.
Pink picks
Comment and analysis from the FT on Monday…
Edward Luce: Recovery, but a cold and grey one
Good times are coming back to America. The Dow is flirting with pre-recession levels. US joblessness has fallen by more than 200,000 in each of the last two months,
FTfm on AV
Some highlights from Monday’s FTfm.
Jittery fund buyers go for brands
Confused fund buyers are looking to trusted brands rather than performance – recent poor performance and the increasing complexity
Further reading
Elsewhere on Friday,
– Alex, the leading indicator.
– Greek horror story du jour — superbug.
– …And the spread of the (peripheral debt) fever.
– Bear spotting.
– Time is money/misery…
Pink picks
Comment and analysis from the FT on Friday…
Philip Stephens: A veto worthy of the Brezhnev era
The other day l heard Sergei Lavrov explain Moscow’s backing for Bashar al-Assad’s murderous repression in Syria.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Friday,
– “Citizenship” from Barclays, along with year-end figures – statement
– De Beers reports, Anglo American updates – statement
– P&G plans to halt Pringles sale to Diamond Food – Bloomberg
– Move to take Alibaba.com private in Hong Kong — Reuters
Corporate:
Pink picks
Comment, analysis, and other offerings from Thursday’s FT,
John Gapper: Don’t put venture capital at risk
Venture capital is now on the same threshold that both banking and private equity crossed before,
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Thursday,
– Robust first half from Diageo – statement
– Credit Suisse moves into the red in Q4 – Bloomberg
– Strategy update from BG Group – statement – along with
Further reading
Elsewhere on Wednesday,
- Roubini is bullish; time to short everything!
- What on earth has Bill Gross been reading?
- Extreme optimism.
- New year, new CLO structures.
- Repackaging austerity.
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and more from Tuesday’s FT,
Martin Wolf: Crisis must not change India’s course
What do the financial and economic crises of the high-income countries mean for emerging and developing countries? I addressed this in New Delhi last week,
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Wednesday,
- Statoil raises 2012 capex, Q4 beats forecasts – statement.
- Supergroup sales growth slows in January – statement.
- SAS posts fresh loss, boosts cost-cut pace – statement.
Further further reading
For the commute home,
- “Deposits” with money market funds aren’t protected like those in banks, and the SEC is only just getting around to regulating them. Better late than never?
- The shortage of safe assets is both structural and cyclical.
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and more from Tuesday’s FT,
Jagdish Bhagwati: Shame on you, Mr Obama, for pandering on trade
President Barack Obama infamously killed the multilateral Doha Round last December by instructing his representative at the World Trade Organisation to be a “rejectionist” negotiator,
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Tuesday,
– Glencore offer for Xstrata pitched at a ratio of 2.8 – statement
– Year-end numbers from Xstrata – statement
– UBS reports 76 per cent drop in Q4 profits – Bloomberg and statement
– BP hails a return of operational momentum – statement
– “Resilience”
Markets Live transcript 6 Feb 2012
Markets Live chat transcript for the chat ending at 12:07 on 6 Feb 2012. Participants in this chat were: Paul Murphy Bryce Elder/FT
PMMORNING
PMMorning
PMsorry for shouting
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and other offerings from Monday’s FT,
Edward Luce: The reality of American decline
Something puzzling just happened in Washington: a liberal American president who opposed the invasion of Iraq endorsed one of its chief neoconservative advocates,
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Monday,
– Giants defeat Patriots – story
– Full year figures down 27 per cent at Julius Baer – Bloomberg
– China bans airlines from taking part in a European Union carbon-emissions system designed to curb pollution,
FTfm on AV
Some highlights from Monday’s FTfm.
Europe’s pensions flee hedge funds
In North America pension funds poured a net $9.8bn into hedge funds and absolute return vehicles during 2011 and $4bn into multi-asset and global tactical asset allocation funds,
Imagine no recoveries in bank senior debt
Seems kinda churlish to throw this out amidst the biggest bank bond rally since 2009. But…
We believe investors should assume a low (possibly 0%) recovery rate on most senior unsecured bank bonds
In practice,
Inflation targeting, back in the frame
We know who’s brought this on. It was Ben Bernanke, last week, with confirmation of the Fed’s 2 per cent inflation target. We suspect it’s one debate that is going to grow in intensity.
First to Bruce Corneil,
Pink picks
Comment, analysis, and other offerings from Thursday’s FT,
Philip Stephens: A telling tale of two Mitterrands
Some arguments do not go away. I was in Brussels this week when eurozone leaders signed up to Angela Merkel’s fiscal pact.
China to rescue the Eurozone? Maybe
That’s the euro mid-morning on Thursday, reversing earlier weakness in an instant. Here are the snaps from Reuters:
But don’t get too excited.
This is just Wen having a chat with Merkel.
Pink picks
Comment, analysis, and other offerings from Thursday’s FT,
Charles Goodhart: Longer-term forecasts are a step backwards
Neither central bankers, nor anyone else, have a good way of predicting future fluctuations in either output,
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Thursday,
– Glencore and Xstrata close to $80bn merger – FT report.
– Year-end figs from Smith & Nephew, Unilever, AstraZeneca, Shell, and Deutsche Bank
– Shell sets out “growth agenda”
Pink picks
Comment, analysis and more from Wednesday’s FT,
Martin Wolf: Europe is stuck on life support
Economic decision-makers are more optimistic than two months ago, mainly because of the ECB’s actions,