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Daily Highlights: 9/18/09

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 12:41:24 GMT

Asian stocks fall as consumer finance firm Aiful seeks debt delay, Hong Kong warns of bank risks.EU officials press Obama on capping bank bonuses, tougher climate change.Euro-zone's surplus in its trade with the rest of the world hit a 7-year high in July.For the first time in nearly 2 years, American households grew a little wealthier in Q2.[More...]

Honesty Hurts Cries Timmy Geithner And The Federal Reserve

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:38:24 GMT

Crocodile Tears are flowing at the Federal Reserve and US Treasury after Manhattans district judge Loretta Preska’s August 24 decision to allow an audit of the Fed’s ballooning balance sheet. Under the freedom of information act, this would allow taxpayers who are unwilling investors in this racketeering game to see who has borrowed their money under the Fed’s new lending programs to enable zombie banks a new lease on a life they didn’t earn and don’t deserve.[More...]

Flash!

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 22:11:00 GMT

Another day, another bailout. This time it's on the east side of the Atlantic, where the UK authorities have organized another capital injection/loan guarantee program for (some of) Britain's troubled banks. Last Friday, the feel-good rally in equities and sterling was rudely interrupted by a late-session swoon by some of the UK banks deemed most vulnerable, a turn of events sufficiently troubling that "Flash" Gordon Brown and his Darling sidekick have organized another bailout. Flash Gordon may have saved the world with his earlier bailout, but he didn't manage to save RBS,[More...]

Royal Bank of Scotland, Kills Oversold Bounce

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 14:53:00 GMT

Well, that really really shortened the Oversold Bounce Time... It's a US holiday, but in Europe Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is down more than 65%.... Do not buy bank common shares for anything but a quick scalp or trade. The overnight gap or event risk is far too great. The banking system is insolvent. Discovering which individual banks are not is a very dangerous game to play. [More...]

Tough Times For Aussie Mining Sector As Prices Sink

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 21:31:00 GMT

First big commodity correction. They will surprise by staying strong even as the world slows. This commodity bull is secular and long term, but the next 12 months will be problematic...... For now, things are crook. "THE nation's mining industry has had one of its darkest weeks in years as the global economic crisis bit harder. More than 1000 workers were axed, or put on notice, and more than $US2 billion ($3 billion) of expansion shelved or slowed. Plummeting mineral demand has combined with the drying up of credit to force previously high-flying miners like Rio Tinto, OZ Minerals and Xstrata to take the knife to growth, production and workers. Since July, more than 5000 mining jobs, or 3.5 per cent of the nation's 140,000-strong mining workforce have been axed, with more job cuts to come in the next month. Miners, who as recently as[More...]

Satyam: The Short Story - First Global India

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 13:12:00 GMT

First Global India has a nice comment on SAY this morning: Let’s say one thing upfront: we think Ramalinga Raju is an amateur. He is not the first promoter in the world to have cooked the books. Nor will he be the last. But the weird mea culpa letter is something that is bizarre to say the least. This is not the way professional scamsters work. We doubt if there has ever been an instance of a promoter sending in a letter like this, right upfront. Jeff Skilling didn’t do it. Bernie Ebbers didn’t do it. So, Mr.Raju was neither a good promoter nor a good scamster. And that is the final writing on his epitaph. What happens to Satyam now? It’s history. The stock could go to zero or near-zero. After all, no US IT major[More...]

What a Difference a Year Makes!

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 18:55:00 GMT

This was forwarded in an email to us today and should give some perspective to what the financial services industry has been through in the last year or so. Admittedly, these figures are a few weeks old and some of these company’s market caps have grown significantly in that time, but you get the point. “A little more than 1 year ago Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) paid $100bn for ABN Amro (80% cash). For this amount today, RBS could buy: Citibank $22.5bn, Morgan Stanley $10.5bn, Goldman Sachs $21.0bn, Merrill Lynch $12.3bn, Deutsche Bank $13.0bn and Barclays $12.7bn, And still have $8bn change for an automaker or three ….” [More...]

Circuit City Closes 155 Stores, lays off 17% of Workforce

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 19:08:00 GMT

Let's check in on one of my favorite whipping boys: Circuit City; needless to say the news isn't particularly good: (From the FT): "Circuit City, the troubled US consumer electronics chain, is taking urgent steps to keep its business afloat even as the holiday shopping season gets under way, saying it will close 155 stores and cutting 17 per cent of its workforce. [More...]

Bail-out Or The Greatest Banking Consolidation In History?

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:10:00 GMT

Someone asked me the other day what I thought about Congress trying to curb executive compensation as part of the (now failed) bail-out package. I responded that I believe this is one of those classic misdirections put out by the government where the public focuses on one thing which, emotionally, is a nice hot-button topic to act as a smoke-screen for what truly is going on. Very slowly and very steadily, the greatest banking consolidation in history is happening right before our eyes with the government’s blessing and depending on your point of view, this is either one of the best or worse things to happen.I am not a big believer in conspiracies and shadowy men in shadowy rooms plotting our collective demise. The roots of the consolidation almost seems more accident than design. But, facts are facts. The early and clear winners in the credit crisis so far are (in no particular order): Bank of[More...]

What's The German Word For Schadenfreude?

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:07:00 GMT

Clink. Clink. Clink.That sound you hear is the pennies dropping in Europe. While yesterday saw what appears to be an anticlimactic agreement in Congress on the format for the TARP, the real weekend news came from this side of the pond. What's the German word for "schadenfreude"*?Where to begin? How about with Fortis, which last year decided it was a good idea to issue stock, which traded at a P/E of 9, to help finance its partial purchase of ABN Amro (a virtually identical company), at a P/E of 17. The remainder of the purchase was funded by short-term debt....not exactly the best idea at the beginning of a credit crunch. The outcome? A problem so big that it takes not one, not two, but three[More...]

Daily Mail, London, Market Report Column

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:47:00 GMT

Aug. 20--Serves them right for going short.
Bears must have been devastated to see London and New York's muted reaction to China's overnight decline, which saw the Shanghai Composite index drop a further 5pc to stand 20pc off its high of only two weeks ago.
After an early mark-down, share prices bounced back in the absence of any significant selling and were helped by the August Merrill Lynch Fund Manager Survey, which found optimism at its highest since 2003.

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Fla. Approves Community Bank Sale

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 07:46:00 GMT

Jul. 30--BRADENTON -- Individual investors were approved by state regulators to purchase Community Bank of Manatee.
Community Bank, which has five branches in Manatee and Hillsborough counties, will receive $10 million in new equity capital through a stock sale to Marcelo Lima and Trevor Burgess who formed CBM Florida Holdings for the acquisition.
Bill Sedgeman, chairman of Community Bank, said the sale will make the bank stronger financially thanks to the added capital.

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Daily Mail, London, Market Report Column

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 18:48:00 GMT

Jun. 12--David Ross, the flamboyant entrepreneur and co-founder of Carphone Warehouse, added a further £75m to his massive fortune yesterday when he sold his entire 9pc shareholding in storage group Big Yellow (25p down at 313p) for around £36m.
Sources close to Ross said the sales were for "strictly personal reasons" but that didn't stop conspiracy theorists spreading nasty rumours.
They suggested that Ross needed the cash in a hurry to help refinance a substantial interest in the struggling commercial property market.

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Don't Blame Me, but I Did Do My Bit: With Asset Prices Rising, Tetsuya Ishikawa Couldn't Lose. Then the Finance Bubble Burst.

Sun, 31 May 2009 14:46:00 GMT

May 31--Born a son of a Japanese trading- company executive, and exclusively educated in Britain, Tetsuya Ishikawa got his first taste of life in the financial industry in the summer of 1998.
That was during his pre-university "gap year," when he worked on the foreign-exchange trading floor at the Tokyo branch of Chase Manhattan Bank, which is now a part of JPMorgan Chase.
But when the bubble burst, shock waves quickly spread worldwide.

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Citizens Bank Owner Loses $1.29B but Still Not Selling

Sat, 09 May 2009 07:46:00 GMT

May 9--The Royal Bank of Scotland, the troubled grandparent of Citizens Bank, has no intention of selling the Pennsylvania bank as RBS restructures back to profitability, said the U.K. bank's chief executive on Friday.
But I can clearly say we are not currently considering selling any of our Citizens businesses," CEO Stephen Hester answered the Tribune-Review in a conference call with reporters.
RBS owns Citizens Financial Group, Providence, R.I., which owns Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania, the third-largest in the Pittsburgh region by deposits and second-most in branches with 128.

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INDIA-EU FTA: Should Delhi Open Up Its Banking Sector?

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 14:46:00 GMT

Apr. 11--Since 2007, India and the European Union (EU) have been negotiating a free trade agreement (FTA).
The EU as a bloc is India's largest trading partner, accounting for 23 percent of India's total trade in 2007.
Services are an emerging area of EU-India trade.

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High Prices Lift Banpu Profit

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 19:54:00 GMT

Feb. 27--Banpu Plc, the country's biggest coal miner, said its net profit last year rose 39 percent to a record 9.23 billion baht because of higher prices for coal.
Banpu, which has mines in China, Indonesia and Thailand, last year benefited from locking in contracts for coal as prices surged to a record in July before the global recession sapped energy demand.
The company plans to increase output at its Chinese mines.

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Daily Mail, London, Alex Brummer Column - Feb 20 2009 1:02PM

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 16:57:00 GMT

Feb. 19--The Monetary Policy Committee crossed a rubicon at its meeting earlier this month when it resolved to move ahead with quantitative easing.
The Bank of England will be fighting the battle to restore credit conditions on two separate fronts.
It is already seeking to improve the cash position of the corporate sector by directly offering to buy commercial paper and corporate bonds.

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Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton Column - Feb 19 2009 2:21PM

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 18:16:00 GMT

Feb. 17--Every year, three senior academics at the London Business School, Elroy Dimson, Paul Marsh and Mike Staunton, produce an analysis of long-term investment trends covering the world's major stock markets.
It was sponsored by ABN Amro but has proved more resilient than the bank, and now comes courtesy of Credit Suisse.
There is nothing quite like it because, while its unrivalled long-term statistics make the case for equity investment in comparison to the returns from other asset classes, the analysis also makes clear just how uncertain equity returns are and how difficult it is to capture them.

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AME Info, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Banking Briefs - Jan 20 2009 12:55PM

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:50:00 GMT

Jan. 20--BURGAN BANK CANCELS SHARE SALE: Kuwait's Burgan Bank has cancelled a plan to sell 200 million shares to boost its capital by 20 million dinars ($69.7m).
Burgan said in a statement that it was unable to obtain regulatory approval in the form of a royal decree to sell the shares to the Bahrain-based United Gulf Bank.
UK BANKS GET NEW RESCUE: Britain gave its troubled banks their second multi-billion pound bailout in three months on Monday.

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ABN AMRO and First Data Team Up to Provide Global Payment Processing

Wed, 05 Apr 2006 15:17:00 GMT

Global merchants can now benefit from a one-stop solution for card transactions in international markets and major currencies, thanks to a five-year merchant acquiring and processing relationship between ABN AMRO and First Data Corp. .[More...]