Archive for November, 2015

Hedge Fund Agonies

Wednesday, November 18th, 2015

It ha been rough sledding for macro based hedge funds and another has bit the dust. Money manager BlackRock is closing its macro based fund which is down more than  percent this year. Via the FT: BlackRock has become the latest investment firm to call time on a macro hedge fund, underlining ...

Another Article on Bond Market Liquidity

Wednesday, November 18th, 2015

David Ader of CRT Capital sends along this article from the UK Telegraph: The world's multi-trillion dollar bond market is circling the drain From British MPs to bank chiefs in the US - everyone seems to be worried about the lack of liquidity in the global fixed income markets By Ben Wright, Group ...

Signs of Shakiness in Junk Market

Tuesday, November 17th, 2015

Via Bloomberg and a hat tip to my friend Steve Liddy: Carlyle’s Unwanted Debt Exposes Growing Problem on Wall Street 2015-11-18 01:19:13.577 GMT By Sridhar Natarajan and Christine Idzelis (Bloomberg) -- Investors who piled into anything and everything in the junk-debt market in recent years have begun to run in the other direction at the first ...

Corporate Savings Glut

Tuesday, November 17th, 2015

This is a very fascinating article on the reasons for the corporate savings glut and the consequences of that glut for the real economy. Via Martin Wolf at the FT:     The notion of a “savings glut” helps explain the ultra-low real interest rates we have seen since the global crisis of 2007-09. ...

More FX

Tuesday, November 17th, 2015

Via Kit Juckes at SocGen: Oil and copper prices are down, equity indies are up, the Euro’s weaker and the dollar by and large stronger. On the economic front, Norwegian GDP beat expectations at +1.8% overall and +0.2 for mainland GDP, while UK core CPI inflation edged up to 1.1% from ...

Africa on Borrowing Binge

Tuesday, November 17th, 2015

Via WSJ: By Matina Stevis Nov. 16, 2015 3:21 p.m. ET 68 COMMENTS NAIROBI, Kenya—Rock stars helped convince the international community to write off more than $100 billion of African government borrowings a decade ago. Now the big debts are back, and it’s getting tougher for countries to pay them off. Mozambique was one of ...

FX

Tuesday, November 17th, 2015

Via Marc Chandler at Brown Brothers Harriman: Euro Hits New Lows as Greenback Flexes Muscles - The prospect of the Fed rate hike next month while many other countries consider providing more stimulus continues to underpin the dollar - A tick up in the UK core CPI offset news of the second consecutive ...

Overnight

Tuesday, November 17th, 2015

Dealers report anemic flows in overnight trading. One dealer reports Asian real money buying the belly in small size. Other dealers reported that while there was business none of it was meaningful in terms of discerning client attitudes. The 10 year Bund versus the 10 year US Treasury has broken to ...

Quiescent Inflation in UK

Tuesday, November 17th, 2015

Via the FT: 43 minutes ago by: Emily Cadman Prices in the UK fell for the second month in a row in October as the country’s bout of negligible inflation stretched into autumn. Consumer prices fell by 0.1 per cent, the same decline as in the year to September, as lower food and energy ...

Sick Copper Needs a Doctor

Monday, November 16th, 2015

Via Bloomberg: Copper Extends Retreat to Six-Year Low Amid Weak Chinese Demand Martin Ritchie November 16, 2015 — 8:53 PM EST Copper extended its decline to the lowest level in more than six years on signs of weak demand in China, the biggest consumer, and as the dollar traded near the strongest level since ...