Bloomberg:
- The cost of protecting corporate bonds from default fell after Korea Development Bank Chief Executive Officer Min Euoo Sung said the Seoul-based bank is in talks to buy a stake in Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.(LEH) Credit-default swaps on New York-based Lehman fell to the lowest in almost three weeks, and contracts on other securities firms dropped. The Markit iTraxx Financial index, a benchmark gauge of credit risk linked to 25 European banks and insurance companies, reached the lowest in two weeks.
- The US dollar rose to the highest level against the euro in almost seven months as crude oil fell and traders speculated that the Federal Reserve's monetary policy will help the U.S. economy outperform Europe and Asia. The pound fell to a two-year low versus the greenback on evidence a recession in the U.K. is looming. Australia's dollar declined to the weakest level in almost a year after the country's central bank cut interest rates for the first time since 2001 and said economic growth will slow. ``The dollar is in an uptrend,'' said Meg Browne, vice president of foreign-exchange research at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. in New York, in an interview on Bloomberg Radio. ``Growth and monetary-policy differentials are beginning to shift in favor of the U.S. dollar. The oil story certainly helps.''
- Crude oil led a decline in commodities as Hurricane Gustav spared the U.S. Gulf states the destruction caused by Katrina and Rita in 2005. Oil slid to a five-month low in New York and gasoline dropped 13 percent, easing concern that inflation will choke global economic growth and pushing copper, gold and soybeans lower. The dollar's rally to the highest in almost seven months against the euro hurt commodities priced in the U.S. currency. The S&P GSCI index of 24 commodity futures, down as much as 7 percent in two days, has fallen more than 25 percent from its July 3 all-time high. ``Gold's direction will be determined by the moves in crude oil, and barring currently unapparent damage to Gulf of Mexico production facilities or local refining operations, the downside appears vulnerable,'' John Reade, the head of metals strategy at UBS AG in London, wrote in a report.
- Corn plunged by the trading limit and soybeans tumbled as oil fell after Hurricane Gustav passed the U.S. Gulf Coast without causing major damage, driving the dollar up and reducing demand for the crops as an alternative investment.
- ArcelorMittal, the world's biggest steelmaker, fell the most in two months in Amsterdam trading after saying it will cut South African prices for the first time in a year. The company will lower prices for long products, used mainly in construction, by an average of 5.6 percent, Hennie Vermeulen, a spokesman for the company's ArcelorMittal South Africa Ltd. unit, said today in an interview. ``This is a very significant development,'' Charlie Dove- Edwin, an analyst at MF Global Securities based in London who as a ``sell'' recommendation on ArcelorMittal shares, said in a telephone interview. ``It's the start of prices falling around the world.''
- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke has gone from a dollar liability to an asset, sparking a rally that even bears say shows few signs of ending.
- Switzerland's Federal Banking Commission will go ahead with a plan to cap the amount of assets that UBS AG and Credit Suisse Group AG can accumulate in relation to their capital, Chairman Eugen Haltiner said. ``We are going ahead with the leverage ratio,'' Haltiner said in an interview at a conference in Zurich today.
- Citadel, SAC Capital Get Pick of Casualties as Hedge Fund Carnage Worsens.
- There was much talk about change last week at the Democratic convention. But are the Democrats really offering any substantive change? To find out, I pulled out John Kerry's 2004 Democratic national platform and compared its fiscal policy with that contained in today's Barack Obama-inspired missive. The documents are so similar it's creepy.
- Google Inc.(GOOG), owner of the most popular Internet search engine, plans to introduce a Web browser today to challenge Microsoft Corp.'s(MSFT) decade-long dominance of the market.
- Crude oil, down 27% from July’s record, may decline at a faster rate after the price of futures contracts fell below their 200-day moving average for the first time in more than a year. The decline “would indicate that a strong longer term-trend has been broken and we could be waiting a long time for the next bullish move,” said Hakan Kocayusufpasaoglu, director of commodity derivatives at Credit Suisse Group in
- Bank of America Corp.(BAC), the second- biggest U.S. bank, rose as much as 6.4 percent after getting a ``buy'' rating from Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which said the company won't have to issue common shares to raise capital.
Wall Street Journal:
- Ignore the Chauvinists. Palin Has Real Experience. In Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Sen. John McCain has found a fellow maverick to be his running mate -- one who can help bring the right kind of reform to Washington. Ms. Palin, like Mr. McCain, has a strong record of battling the status quo, restoring accountability and effectiveness to government, and working to secure energy independence, root out corruption and curb wasteful spending.
- John McCain's tax policies are designed to create jobs, increase wages and allow all Americans -- especially those in the hard-pressed middle class -- to keep more of what they earn. His plan achieves these goals in three important ways.
- Electronic Arts(ERTS) is betting on the release of “Spore” this week to raise revenue.
- Some of the biggest hedge funds are having their worst years, and the flood of new money going into funds has slowed. That is pressuring an industry bracing for investor withdrawals and worrying about how to survive without lucrative performance fees. Some investors willing to put new money in funds are even beginning to ask about better terms, a contrast to the situation just last year, when investors needed to beg to get into hot funds.
NY Times:
- Target(TGT) to Open Designer-Focuses Stores in New York.
- Running a Hedge Fund Is Causing Headaches.
LA Times:
- US Exports jump at LA, Long Beach ports, but imports falter.
Reuters:
- OPEC oil production rose for a fourth month in August as output increased in Iran, Nigeria and Angola. Production by OPEC climbed to 32.82 million barrels a day in August, from 32.59 million barrels a day a month earlier, citing a survey of oil companies, OPEC officials and analysts. OPEC is pumping almost 800,000 barrels a day more than its target, the agency said.
- Iran's oil minister said on Tuesday OPEC must discuss crude oversupply when it meets and again indicated the No. 2 OPEC producer wanted the cartel to defend oil from hitting $100 a barrel, IRNA news agency said.
- Global semiconductor sales rose 7.6 percent in July from the previous year, helped by strong growth in consumer electronics, personal computers and cell phones, an industry group said. "LCD TV units are projected to increase 32 percent this year, and digital set top boxes and digital still cameras will both be up around 20 percent," said SIA President George Scalise in a statement. He added that the industry is enjoying the benefits of the strong 3.3 percent second quarter gross domestic product growth in the U.S, and continued strength in world markets. Excluding memory products, semiconductor sales increased by 11.6 percent year-on-year and by 3.2 percent sequentially.
Financial Times:
- Individual ownership of US stocks has fallen to a record low, highlighting the growing importance of institutional investors in domestic equity markets, according to a report to be issued Tuesday. Retail investors owned 34% of all shares and 24% of stock in the top 1,000 US companies at end-2006, said the Conference Board, an industry group. Both numbers are record lows. By contrast, individual investors owned 94% of all stocks in 1950 and 63% of all shares in 1980. Institutions – defined as pension funds, investment companies, insurers, banks and foundations – held 76% of the shares in the top 1,000 companies, up from 61% in 2000, the group said. Overall, mutual funds have been the fastest-growing institutional investors, accounting for 26% of assets, compared with only 2.3% in 1980.
- US auditors have renewed calls to introduce legal limits to the liability they face and have warned that the risk they currently bear is the "single greatest threat" to the industry's survival.
Globe and Mail:
- Hedge funds face struggle for survival.
Interfax:
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La Nacion:
- Argentine vehicle sales fell 7.3% in August form the same month a year earlier. Sales in August had their biggest decline in more than five years, because of slowing economic activity, citing Dante Alvarez, president of the Association of Argentine Car Dealers.
Al-Mal:
- Steel prices in
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