Bundesbank: CDS did not cause crisis December 20, 2010 GERMANY’S central bank said yesterday that speculative trading in sovereign credit default swaps (CDS) was not to blame for the Eurozone debt crisis. In its December report, the Bundesbank said that a spike in the cost of insuring sovereign debt using CDS was not down to excessive speculation by traders. Instead, movements in CDS prices for [...]
City warns over rights issue rip off December 13, 2010 INVESTMENT banks have been slammed by the City’s top institutional investors for charging unfairly high fees to companies raising capital through rights issues. An inquiry commissioned by the Institutional Investor Council, backed by the Association of British Insurers and the National Association of Pension Funds, lashes out at investment banks today for charging underwriting fees [...]
HEDGIES FORK OUT FOR CHARITY AS LORD ARCHER HOSTS THE AUCTION December 13, 2010 HEDGE fund philanthropists had one of their biggest galas of the year this past weekend, thanks to a fundraiser by Hedge Fund Care, a fund chaired by Robert Mirsky that makes grants to charities fighting child abuse and neglect. 400 or so of the industry’s finest donned their finest blacktie and arrived for a three-course [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 9, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES BP DELAYS LIBYA DEEP WATER PLAN BP has delayed its plans to explore in the deep water off the coast of Libya until next year after deciding not to use its original drilling rig “for operational reasons”. The UK oil group said that it was still in the process of ensuring any safety [...]
Official: CDS didn’t cause Greek tragedy December 7, 2010 AN EU investigation revealed yesterday that trading in sovereign credit default swaps did not cause a spike in borrowing costs for states such as Greece this year. The report, commissioned by EU finance ministers in March, found “no conclusive evidence” that developments in the CDS market affected the cost of state borrowing. It praised the [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 5, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES IRISH BANKS FACE LOANS SELL OFF Ireland will have to accelerate the shrinking of its troubled banks’ balance sheets in return for gaining continued access to emergency European funding. According to people briefed on the details of Ireland’s €85bn (£72bn) bail-out by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, the banks will [...]
Spreading risk is crucial if you want to build a stable portfolio December 1, 2010 ONE traditional rule of investing is quite simple. Take your age, subtract it from 100 and invest that percentage of your portfolio in equities and the rest in bonds. When you are young, you have more of your money in stocks, which traditionally perform better over time. As you get older, you move more into [...]
DEBT CRISIS: ALL EYES ON PORTUGUESE November 30, 2010 EUROZONE yields soared again yesterday as Portugal’s hopes of avoiding a bailout appeared to fade. Investors fled from Portuguese, Italian and Spanish debt, sending yields rocketing to their highest levels since the euro started. The yields on Italian and Spanish 10-year bonds also hit record levels against so-called safe-haven German debt. Pressure mounted on Portugal, [...]
MARKETS REJECT IRELAND BAILOUT November 29, 2010 MARKETS rejected the €85bn (£71.6bn) bailout of Ireland yesterday, as traders turned their attention to those countries they think could be next: Portugal, Spain and Italy. EU finance ministers had hoped the deal would inspire confidence, but the FTSE closed down two per cent to its lowest level in two months, while the US’ Dow [...]
Irish insurers in ratings warning November 25, 2010 Five insurers in Ireland have been warned they face downgrades to their credit ratings by Standard & Poor’s following its decision to downgrade Ireland’s sovereign debt. The units are Allianz’s Irish general insurance business and its Worldwide Care business, along with Aviva Insurance Europe, Irish Life Assurance and finally RSA Insurance Ireland. The Irish-based insurers [...]