Good morning New York,
FT ALPHAVILLE
A Co-op mess: Moody’s cut Co-operative Bank’s credit rating late on Friday, notes Joseph. The downgrade was a whole six notches (senior debt rating slashed from A3 to Ba3; the “baseline credit assessment” is now B1 from Baa1). It’s a mess for the Co-op Group and for the regulators, sure — but that warning of taxpayer support must be egg on the face for all those in Westminster who praised “biodiversity” in UK banks.
It’s not finance, it’s Cy-fi: Izzy highlights a paper from Tom Lin of the University of Florida in which he argues that it’s no coincidence that “modern finance is becoming an industry in which the main players are no longer entirely human. Instead, the key players are now cyborgs: part machine, part human. Modern finance is transforming into what this Article calls cyborg finance.”
Frantastic? Cardiff notes there was big news early Thursday morning when Fannie Mae announced that it will be paying the Treasury a whopping $59.4bn dividend, just a day after Freddie Mac announced a more modest but still welcome $7bn payment. The big payout is mainly a result of Fannie’s recognition that it will be profitable enough in the future to possibly use some $50bn in deferred tax assets.
NEWS
Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management have teamed up on a new offer to challenge the proposed $24.4bn management-led buyout of Dell, according to people familiar with the matter. In a letter put to a special committee of Dell’s board on Thursday night, Mr Icahn and Southeastern — two of the personal computer maker’s largest shareholders — proposed offering $12 a share in either cash or newly issued stock, the people said. (Financial Times)
ArcelorMittal surprised the market on Friday as it reported higher underlying profits, lower debt exposure and a strong outlook for an industry that has suffered deeply during the global economic slowdown. The world’s largest steelmaker by sales saw its shares rise 6.2 per cent to €10.30 in early trading in Amsterdam. (Financial Times)
Google has launched YouTube subscriptions, entering a market dominated by cable and satellite television. The announcement, first revealed this week by the Financial Times, will give owners of popular channels an additional revenue stream to supplement income from advertising. The subscription service will be available in 10 countries, with channels varying from children’s programming, such as Sesame Street and The Jim Henson Company, to comedy from The Laugh Factory and sports, such as UFC. Prices start at 99 cents a month, with channel owners able to set their own rates. (Financial Times)
Apple’s much-anticipated music streaming service has hit a stumbling block as label owners are split over the terms for what industry executives have dubbed “iRadio”. Despite signing up Universal Music, the largest of the record label majors, the iPhone maker is still negotiating terms with Sony Music, the second-largest recorded music group, while it is close to reaching agreement with Warner Music, according to people with knowledge of the discussions. (Financial Times)
The billionaire telecoms moguls fighting for control of Sprint Nextel continued their public spat on Thursday, with Charlie Ergen of Dish and Masayoshi Son of SoftBank pleading their case to shareholders. Both men are jostling to control Sprint, the third-largest US wireless carrier, as the US mobile phone industry undergoes a massive round of upheaval, with old rivals partnering up and new entrants looking for seats at the table. (Financial Times)
The court-appointed examiner into the bankruptcy of Residential Capital is expected to criticise the timing of the mortgage unit’s Chapter 11 filing and its relationship with its parent company, Ally Financial, the former financing arm of General Motors, people familiar with the matter say. The report, which could be issued as early as Friday, could influence whether Ally ends up paying $750m to ResCap’s creditors. If a settlement is not reached on that matter, the creditors have indicated they could file suit, seeking as much as $25bn. (Financial Times)
Markets: Tokyo’s stock market surged to a fresh five-year high as the dollar’s move above Y100 triggered expectations of further yen weakness, fuelling hopes for improving Japanese corporate earnings. Elsewhere, the mood is also positive, though less ebullient, with some investors perhaps wary of chasing the recent global equity rally that this week took the FTSE All-World index to its best level since June 2008 and delivered a record close of 1,633 for Wall Street’s S&P 500.
