Stocks surge on US toxic asset plan US stocks soared on Monday after Treasury secretary Tim Geithner detailed his proposals for public-private partnerships to deal with banks' toxic assets and prominent investors such as Pimco's Bill Gross and BlackRock's Larry Fink said they would participate. The S&P 500 rose more than 7%, the biggest one-day advance under the Obama administration, driven by financial stocks. Investors seemed particularly enthused by the government's proposal to arrange JV financing on generous terms. See the Treasury's fact sheet here. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/03/24/53926/stocks-surge-on-us-t
| Critics respond to US plan The Fed and US Treasury on Monday said the Fed will provide loans to investors willing to buy toxic "legacy" securities - including risky subprime mortgage-backed securities – under the Treasury's new plan. But critics including economist and NYT columnist Paul Krugman said the non-recourse government loans would hand private partners large profits if their bets went well, while leaving taxpayers with big losses if the bets went wrong. The FT's John Authers however says if the Treasury's plan works, "we may have seen the market's bottom". See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/03/24/53925/critics-respond-to-u
| Goldman works on iShares bid Goldman Sachs is working on a bid for iShares, the securities lending and exchange-traded funds business being auctioned by Barclays. Bids, due by Friday, could put a value ofup to $6.5bn on iShares. Goldman and at least three other parties have expressed interest in iShares including buy-out group Bain Capital and a consortium led by Hellman & Friedman. Fund manager Vanguard is also thought to be interested. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/03/24/53924/goldman-works-on-ish
| AIG staff to return $50m of bonuses US taxpayers are on course to recoup about half of the controversial $165m of bonuses paid by troubled insurer AIG, after some key recipients agreed to return the money, according to New York attorney-general Andrew Cuomo, who said Monday that 15 of the top 20 bonus recipients would return their bonuses in full, amounting to more than $50m. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/03/24/53923/aig-staff-to-return-
| ING urges staff to return bonuses ING, the Dutch banking and insurance group, made a "moral appeal" on Monday to its senior managers to return their bonuses for 2008, as the Dutch authorities looked to curtail pay at companies receiving state support. ING, the first Dutch bank to seek government aid, said it had asked its top 1,200 staff to voluntarily hand back last year's bonuses. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/03/24/53922/ing-urges-staff-to-r
| Moody's strips GE of AAA rating General Electric's financial health came under renewed focus on Monday as Moody's stripped the group of its long-held triple-A rating and questioned GE's pledge that its finance arm would be profitable this year. The move was expected after rival S&P recently lowered GE's rating by one notch to AA-plus. But Moody's went a step further, cutting GE's rating by two notches from triple A to Aa2, saying the financial crisis had increased the risks associated with GE Capital. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/03/24/53921/moodys-strips-ge-of-
| Goldman to cut ICBC stake Goldman Sachs is considering selling part of its 4.9% stake, valued at $7.5bn, in Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, a move that could raise more than $1bn, reports the WSJ. Goldman began talking to ICBC about selling 15% to 20% of its stake late last year. Any transaction would have to wait until late April, when a lockup on half the stake is set to expire. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/03/24/53920/goldman-to-cut-icbc-
| China urges new reserve currency China's central bank on Monday proposed replacing the US dollar as the international reserve currency with a new global system controlled by the IMF. In a post on the People's Bank of China's website, Zhou Xiaochuan, the central bank's governor, said the goal would be to create a reserve currency "that is disconnected from individual nations and is able to remain stable in the long run". See also FT Alphaville on the currency 'ugly contest'. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/03/24/53919/china-urges-new-rese
| Hedge funds to see record withdrawals Hedge fund investors believe the industry will see even bigger withdrawals this year than last, when record levels of cash left the sector. A survey of investors by Deutsche Bank found that a third expect withdrawals of more than $200bn, after a net $155bn was taken out last year, according to consultancy Hedge Fund Research. Only a quarter of investors expect net inflows into the industry, and 82% of the 1,000 respondents said redemptions were the biggest issue for hedge funds. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/03/24/53918/hedge-funds-to-see-r
| Suncor buys Petro-Canada for $16bn Suncor Energy of Canada is to buy rival Petro-Canada for C$19.6bn ($15.9bn), in an agreed all-share deal – the largest in the oil and gas industry since 2006 - that will create North America's fifth biggest oil and gas producer and accelerate consolidation in the Alberta oil sands. Suncor's shareholders will own about 60% of the merged company, with Petro-Canada's holding 40%. Suncor's offer represents about a 25% premium on Petro-Canada's recent share price. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/03/24/53917/suncor-buys-petro-ca
| Ford doubles debt buy-back The finance arm of Ford Motor on Monday doubled to $1bn the amount it would spend to buy back loans following strong interest in the carmaker's debt restructuring. Ford's move comes as GM, its rival, struggles with a debt restructuring that is a condition of an emergency loan granted by the US government last year. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/03/24/53916/ford-doubles-debt-bu
| Arab states bail out Gulf bank Bahrain-based Gulf International Bank, one of the worst-hit financial institutions in the oil-rich Middle East, has sold $4.8bn of toxic assets to its shareholders, six Arab Gulf governments. GIB, an investment bank owned jointly by the six members of the Gulf Co-operation Council, invested heavily in complicated debt-based toxic assets. Due to heavy impairments and exposure to US banks such as Lehman Brothers, GIB has reported two years of losses totalling $1.1bn. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/03/24/53915/arab-states-bail-out
| Australia delays Oz Minerals deal Australia has extended its review of Beijing-based Minmetals' A$2.6bn ($1.8bn) cash takeover of Oz Minerals by up to 90 days, in a blow to the struggling zinc and copper mining group's efforts to secure a deal quickly. The decision by the Foreign Investment Review Board comes after the regulator also extended its review period of other Chinese investments in Australia, including Chinalco's planned $19.5bn capital injection into Rio Tinto, and Hunan Valin Iron and Steel's proposed A$1.2bn investment in Fortescue Metals. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/03/24/53914/australia-delays-oz-
| Stanford CFO co-operates in probe The chief financial officer of Stanford Financial Group, James Davis, is co-operating in fraud investigations of the group, reports the WSJ. Davis' co-operation in the federal criminal and civil investigations may help authorities who have struggled to get information from billionaire Texan financier Allen Stanford. The move marks a turnaround for Davis who, along with Stanford, had asserted his constitutional right to avoid self-incrimination. See also the latest in FT Alphaville's 'Stanford series'. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/03/24/53913/stanford-cfo-co-oper
| Lord Myners under cloud In Categories: People Posted at 04:33 by Gwen Robinson UK opposition politicians have questioned the role and business interests of Treasury minister Lord Myners, who is charged with clamping down on tax avoidance, amid reports of his involvement in two more businesses that controlled substantial offshore funds, reports The Times. The disclosures come a day after it emerged that the peer set up an offshore company, Aspen Insurance, in the tax haven of Bermuda of which he was part-time chairman and also chaired an offshore fund based in Jersey. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/03/24/53912/lord-myners-under-cl
| Obama fills key Treasury posts In Categories: People Posted at 04:30 by Gwen Robinson President Barack Obama Monday moved to fill the leadership vacuum at the US Treasury, tapping former Treasury official Neal Wolin as secretary Tim Geithner's number two, and former White House aide Lael Brainard for the top international job, reports Reuters. Obama also announced that Stuart Levey would stay on as Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, a position he has held since 2004. See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/03/24/53911/obama-fills-key-trea
| Overnight markets: Optimism Asian stocks rose on Tuesday, following big overnight gains in US and European stocks, extending a rally that has driven the MSCI World Index to a five-week high, amid optimism the US Treasury's plan to remove banks' toxic assets will revive economic growth. Futures on the S&P 500 lost 0.4% after the gauge soared 7.1% in New York, the biggest advance since Oct 28 and narrowing this year's loss to 8.9%.
Asian markets (Tues)
04:15am GMT
Nikkei up 119.49 (1.45%) at 8,335.02
Topix up 12.53 (1.58%) at 804.09
Hang Seng up 153.72 (1.14%) at 13,601.14 US markets (Mon)
DJIA up 497.48 (6.84%) at 7,775.86
Nasdaq up 98.50 (6.76%) at 1,555.77
S&P500 up 54.38 (7.08%) at 822.92 European markets (Mon)
FTSE100 up 109.96 (2.86%) at 3,952.81
Eurofirst 300 up 21.64 (3.01%) at 739.52 Currencies
04:20 GMT
€/$ 1.3661 (1.3665)
$/¥ 97.68 (96.30)
£/$ 1.4685 (1.4510) Commodities (updated)
04:18 GMT
Brent Crude (May09) down $0.17 at $53.30
Light Crude (May09) down $0.15 at $53.65
100 Oz Gold (Apr09) down $10.30 at $942.20
Copper (3M 24hr) down $70.00 at $4,030.00 10-year government bond yields (%)
US 2.66 (2.67)
UK 3.14 (3.01)
Germany 3.03 (2.98)
Japan 1.26 (1.27) Sources: FT, Reuters See this article online.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/03/24/53910/overnight-markets-op
| |
No comments:
Post a Comment