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Frontrunning: March 1

Tyler Durden's picture




 
  • China’s Holdings of Treasuries Dropped in ’11 (BusinessWeek)
  • Bundesbank at Odds With ECB Over Loans (FT)
  • Euro zone puts Greece's efforts under microscope (Reuters)
  • Bank of America Considers a Revamp That Would Affect Millions of Customers (WSJ)
  • In Days Leading Up to MF Global's Collapse, $165 Million Transfer OK'd in a Flash (WSJ)
  • Greece Approves Welfare Cuts for 2nd Bailout (Bloomberg)
  • Irish Minister Pushes to Cut Bail-Out Cost (FT)
  • China to Support Tech Sectors (China Daily)
  • Spanish Bond Yields Fall in Debt Auction After ECB (Reuters)
  • China to Expand Cross-Border RMB Businesses (China Daily)
  • U.S. Was Net Oil-Product Exporter in 2011 (Bloomberg)
  • North Korea agrees to nuclear moratorium, IAEA inspections (Reuters)

Overnight press summary

WSJ

* Bank of America is working on sweeping changes that would require many users of basic checking accounts to pay a monthly fee unless they agree to bank online, buy more products or maintain certain balances.

* Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress that despite some good news on the job front, the recovery has been "uneven and modest."

* New York securities firms will pay employees $19.7 billion in cash bonuses for 2011, down sharply from 2010, and cut 4,300 jobs in the last nine months of the year.

* Around the world, mobile carriers are testing new plans that slice up the Web into limited offerings and exclusive deals they hope will bring marketing advantages or higher profits.

* A former security chief convicted of lying to investigators about the April 2010 explosion that killed 29 men at a southern West Virginia coal mine has been sentenced to three years in prison.

* The European Central Bank handed out 529.5 billion euros ($712.81 billion) in cheap, three-year loans to 800 lenders, the central bank's latest effort to arrest a financial crisis now entering its third year.

FT

BLACKSTONE FOUNDER TOPS PRIVATE EQUITY PAY LEAGUE

Stephen Schwarzman, the Blackstone chief executive, took home $213.5 million in pay and dividends in 2011, a third more than the year before and topping the scale for a select group of the founders of listed private equity companies. http://link.reuters.com/tah86s

BERNANKE STRIKES DOWNBEAT TONE

Ben Bernanke struck a downbeat tone on the health of the U.S. economy - in spite of an upward revision of growth in the fourth quarter of 2011 - leaving it unclear whether the Federal Reserve would further ease monetary policy. http://link.reuters.com/vah86s

IAG HEAD URGES RETHINK ON THIRD RUNWAY AT HEATHROW

The head of International Airlines Group, parent of British Airways, has challenged ministers to have the "political balls" to reconsider the case for allowing a third runway at Heathrow airport. http://link.reuters.com/wah86s

BANKS TURN TO ECB FOR BILLIONS IN LOANS

The European Central Bank has injected an additional 529.5 billion euros ($708.31 billion) into the euro zone financial system, taking the total supplied to banks under the new three-year loan programme beyond the 1 trillion euro mark. http://link.reuters.com/xah86s

ATTARA CAPITAL TO LIQUIDATE OPERATIONS

Attara Capital, the hedge fund co-chaired and founded by Nat Rothschild and the successor to the now-defunct activist fund Atticus Capital, is to liquidate its operations. http://link.reuters.com/zah86s

VERRAZZANO AIMS FOR $1 BILLION LAUNCH

Verrazzano Capital, the hedge fund manager set up in Paris last year by the former Gartmore star Guillaume Rambourg, is set to launch its first funds on Thursday. http://link.reuters.com/beh86s

EU GROUPS TO PUSH FOR MORE WOMEN IN TOP ROLES

Some of Europe's biggest companies will on Thursday respond to political pressure by publishing their targets for increasing the number of women in senior corporate roles and launch a database of female board candidates. http://link.reuters.com/ceh86s

TERRA FIRMA SEEKS $1.34 BILLION FROM SOVEREIGN FUND

Terra Firma Capital has dropped plans to start fundraising this spring. The private equity group, run by British financier Guy Hands, is seeking instead to collect about 1 billion euros from a single sovereign wealth fund to keep doing deals. http://link.reuters.com/deh86s

NYT

* With no clear end to tensions with Iran and Syria and rising demand from countries like China, gas prices are already at record highs for the winter months -- averaging $4.32 in California and $3.73 a gallon nationally on Wednesday, according to AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report. As summer approaches, demand for gasoline rises, typically pushing prices up around 20 cents a gallon.

* The Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, said on Wednesday that the central bank retained its modest expectations for the American economy this year, despite some recent signs of stronger growth.

* In their new operating systems, Windows 8 and Mountain Lion, Microsoft and Apple are heading up the effort to make computers more like mobile devices.

* It is apparently going to take more than shrinking bank profits to put a big dent in Wall Street bonuses. The total payout to security industry workers in New York is forecast to drop only 14 percent during this bonus season, according to a report issued on Wednesday by the state comptroller, Thomas DiNapoli. By comparison, profits last year plunged 51 percent.

* Facebook's hundreds of millions of users could soon be faced with a lot more advertising -- in their newsfeed, on their mobile devices and even when they log off. On Wednesday, the company announced a new suite of advertising products intended to insert more ads into Facebook's traditionally clean interface and to take more advantage of mobile ads, where the company has struggled. The announcement was made at its first marketing conference, held at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan.

European Economic Commentary

  • France ILO Unemployment Rate 9.8%. Previous 9.7%.
  • Switzerland GDP 0.1% q/q 1.3% y/y – higher than expected. Consensus -0.1% q/q 1.0% y/y. Previous 0.2% q/q 1.3% y/y. Revised 0.3% q/q 1.6% y/y.
  • Hungary PMI 50.5. Previous 49.8.
  • Norway PMI 56.9 – higher than expected. Consensus 53.8. Previous 54.9. Revised 54.7.
  • Sweden Current Account (Kronor) 50.1B. Previous 76.1B. Revised 73.3B.
  • Switzerland PMI Manufacturing 49.0 – higher than expected. Consensus 48.5. Previous 47.3.
  • Italy PMI Manufacturing 47.8 – higher than expected. Consensus 47.1. Previous 46.8.
  • France PMI Manufacturing 50.0 – lower than expected. Consensus 50.2. Previous 50.2.
  • Germany PMI Manufacturing 50.2 – higher than expected. Consensus 50.1. Previous 50.1.
  • Euro Zone PMI Manufacturing 49.0 – in line with expectations. Consensus 49.0. Previous 49.0.
  • Euro Zone CPI Estimate 2.7% y/y – higher than expected. Consensus 2.6%. Previous 2.7%.
  • Euro Zone Unemployment Rate 10.7% - in line with expectations. Consensus 10.7%. Previous 10.4%. Revised 10.6%.
  • Italy CPI – EU Harmonized 0.2% m/m 3.4% y/y – in line with expectations. Consensus 0.2% m/m 3.4% y/y. Previous -1.8% m/m 3.4% y/y.
 

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Thu, 03/01/2012 - 09:25 | 2212032 Snidley Whipsnae
Snidley Whipsnae's picture

RE: "China's holdings of treasuries dropped in 2011" Businessweek...

.....................................

The article mentions that Luxembourg, Switzerland and Belgium have aquired more treasuries, but fails to mention Great Britian's holdings.

Disambiguating MSM... Or, How we deciphered the news in Pravda.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/02/satyajit-das-pravda-the-economist%e2%80%99s-take-on-financial-innovation.html

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!