Archive for June 2011

  • 15 Jun 2011 at 1:35 PM

Greek Prime Minister Papandreou Will Quit If You Want Him To

By Bess Levin

And certain assurances are made. Continue reading »

  • 15 Jun 2011 at 12:40 PM

You Don’t Need To Tell Barclays About Europe. Barclays Knows.

By Bess Levin

“The problems in Europe are significant, we all know that,” said Antony Jenkins, head of retail, when asked about the bank’s performance on the continent. “Our base case assumption is that those problems are not going to unwind themselves any time soon.” [Bloomberg]

  • 15 Jun 2011 at 12:19 PM

Barclays ‘Ambitious’ Revenue Targets Have Buzzkill To Contend With

By Bess Levin

Earlier today in London, Barclays announced some very exciting news- it “intends to generate additional revenue of as much as 6.4 billion pounds ($10.4 billion)” by 2013. Sounds great, right? Everyone else thought so too. Everyone except one analyst henceforth known as Debbie Downer, whose response suggested he’s of the belief you can’t just tell people your plan is to generate eleventy billion dollars of additional revenue by some random target date and have the market instantly absorb it as fact, propelling your stock to previously unseen heights. Continue reading »

  • 15 Jun 2011 at 10:39 AM

Twenty-Two Year Old Formula 1 Heiress Singlehandedly Saving California Housing Market

By Bess Levin

Petra and dad

As I’m sure many of you know, after 90210 creator Aaron Spelling died, his wife Candy decided to downsize. She put her house on the market and moved into a $35 million 15,555 square foot condo, figuring it wouldn’t be too long before the place sold. Unfortunately, at the end of 2008, not too many people were looking for homes that had names (“The Manor”), 57,000 square feet, rooms solely devoted to gift-wrapping and asking prices of $150 million. Though she was probably advised to knock a few zeros off, Candy, the little known inspiration for Heather Locklear’s Melrose Place character, held her ground and refuse to budge on the price. Recently it started looking like the house that shows about teenagers getting high and humping built would never get sold, until a little lady named Petra Ecclestone swooped in and saved the day. Continue reading »

  • 15 Jun 2011 at 9:43 AM

UBS To “Re-Establish Credibility And Professionalism” Via Jackets And Ties

By Bess Levin

The Swiss bank now has a dress code. Continue reading »

  • 15 Jun 2011 at 8:23 AM

Opening Bell: 06.15.11

By Sam Ro

Greece Bailout Prospects Darken as European Bickering Weakens Papandreou (Bloomberg)
An emergency session of euro finance chiefs in Brussels yesterday failed to break a deadlock on how to enroll investors in a second bailout without triggering a default, casting doubt on funds due from the International Monetary Fund next month.

Greece, Portugal, Ireland Hit Fresh Debt-Cost Highs (MarketBeat)
The cost of insuring Greek, Portuguese and Irish debt against default hit new, record highs Wednesday amid the lack of official consensus about what to do with Greece’s debt.

BNP Paribas, Societe Generale Ratings May Be Cut by Moody’s on Greek Debt (Bloomberg)
The reviews of Credit Agricole and BNP Paribas are unlikely to lead to downgrades of more than one level, Moody’s said. Societe Generale’s debt and deposit ratings may be cut as much as two grades because of the “uplift it receives from systemic support, which is currently higher than average for the French banking system,” it said.

Chinese Developers’ Outlook Cut at S&P as Government Curbs Housing Prices (Bloomberg)
Property sales may start to slow as the government’s policy “starts to bite,” leading to price cuts that may drive home prices 10 percent lower in the next 12 months, the credit rating company said. Hong Kong’s real estate market faces the risk of a “sharp correction,” S&P also said in the statement today.

White House wants business to aid in debt cap fight (Reuters)
Worried that Congress will not act in time to raise the country’s borrowing cap, the Obama administration is enlisting the business community to persuade lawmakers that a default will have dire consequences.

Wall Streets Need For Trading Speed: The Nanosecond Age (MarketBeat)
London-based trading technology company Fixnetix said Tuesday it has the world’s fastest trading application, a microchip that prepares a trade in 740 billionths of a second, or nanoseconds.

Roach Sees ‘Years’ of Growth Scares (Bloomberg)
“We had a growth scare last year about this time, we’re having another growth scare this year, and I think we will have growth scares for several years to come,” said Roach, non- executive chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia Ltd. Continue reading »

  • 14 Jun 2011 at 7:01 PM

Write-Offs: 06.14.11

By Sam Ro

$$$ Bernanke: Don’t play politics with debt limit (MarketWatch)

$$$ Bill Ackman’s $490 Million Profit on J.C. Penney (Deal Journal)

$$$ Sino-Forest Says Paulson Still ‘Supportive’ (Bloomberg)

$$$ Senator to Block SEC Nominees Until Stanford Ruling Issued (WSJ)

$$$ Carlyle Acquires 55% of Tiger-Backed Emerging-Market Hedge Fund (Bloomberg)

$$$ Rajaratnam’s Arrest Led Analyst To Destroy Data (Bloomberg)

$$$ FSA fines trader for manipulating spread bets (FT) Continue reading »