Archive for February, 2015
Tuesday, February 17th, 2015
Via Kit Juckes at SocGen:
The latest round of Greek bailout talks have broken down with recriminations on both sides. The Eurogroup Finance Ministers appear to have scuppered attempts by the Commission to broker a compromise, insisting that Greece request an extension of the current programme rather than offering a different ...
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Greece
Tuesday, February 17th, 2015
Via Marc Chandler at Brown Brothers Harriman:
Euro Recoups Yesterday's Losses, But Brinkmanship Continues
- The focus remains on Greece and its negotiations with the other euro area finance ministers
- While the risk of a Grexit would appear to have risen, the framing of the issue in terms of brinkmanship tactics ...
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on FX
Tuesday, February 17th, 2015
Via CNBC:
China new home prices drop at record pace
10 Hours AgoCNBC.com
China new home prices registered their fifth month of annual drops in January, as tepid demand dragged on sentiment despite moves by the government to encourage buying.
New home prices fell in 69 of 70 cities by an average of 5.1 ...
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Property Prices in China Tumble
Tuesday, February 17th, 2015
Via Bloomberg:
IG CREDIT: Volume Falls; SUMIBK to Price 2-Part Deal
2015-02-17 10:37:56.484 GMT
By Robert Elson
(Bloomberg) -- Secondary IG trading ended with a Trace
count of $13.1b Friday vs $17.3b Thursday, $17b the previous
Friday. 10-DMA $18.0b
* 4-wk moving avg was $17.1b Friday, 3rd highest since Jan.
2005
* 144a trading added $1.5b of IG volume ...
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Secondary Market Corporate Bond Trading
Monday, February 16th, 2015
Via Jon Hilsenrath at the WSJ:
By
Jon Hilsenrath
Feb. 16, 2015 3:22 p.m. ET
Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester is joining a chorus of central-bank officials who want to take a tentative step toward raising short-term interest rates at midyear by altering their pledge to be “patient” before making a move.
Dropping that language ...
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Hilsenrath Article
Monday, February 16th, 2015
Interesting article from Barron's on global currency wars, weak global GDP and S and P earnings in Q4. On that point the story notes that S and P 500 profits increased 4 percent in Q4 but if one extracts Apple from the mix then the gain is a paltry 2 ...
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Barron’s Musings
Monday, February 16th, 2015
If you enjoy the horse race aspect of observing political campaigns the you should find this National Journal article interesting. It cites research by academics who have developed models which show that it will be a tight race in November 2016 and there is nothing inevitable about the outcome. The ...
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Monday, February 16th, 2015
The NYTimes reports that a meeting of Eurozone finance ministers on the topic of Greek debt broke up in what the Times described as "acrimony". The FT used that same Latin rooted word in its headline on that same topic.
Via the NYTimes:
BRUSSELS — A meeting of eurozone finance ministers on ...
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Greek Debt Agonies
Sunday, February 15th, 2015
This is an interesting research piece from the Quants at SocGen on strategies for trading Treasury auctions.
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Trading Treasury Auctions
Sunday, February 15th, 2015
Insurance companies and pension funds and others driven to hedge liabilities with interest paying assets face a problem in Europe as rates dive below zero.
Via the FT:
February 15, 2015 1:46 pm
Negative rates to shake up financial system, say experts
Ralph Atkins and Elaine Moore in London
Falls in European interest rates into ...
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Impact of Negative Rates