From The Business Insider, Feb. 26, 2010: Existing home sales plummeted to 5.05 million units in January compared to 5.44 million in December.This is solidly below the 5.5 million units that economists had been expecting.
Money manager Neil Hennessy says a new bull market is emerging from our nascent recovery. (Click here for his first discussion with Aaron on his macro view.)So what now for investors? Think dividends, says Hennessy, chief investment officer for
Neil Hennessy is a fund manager with a bullish bent. Robert Prechter is a veteran market watcher with a decidedly dour outlook.The two pundits are opposed on just about everything, but agree on one thing: There’s a lot of risk in fixed-income.Echoing
If “it’s different this time” are the most dangerous words on Wall Street, “I don’t know?” are probably the ones most rarely heard. There’s no shortage of hubris and declarative statements on Wall Street, especially among the pundits a
After a year of “reflation” in the economy and financial markets, the tide seems to be turning on the whole inflation vs. deflation debate.Recent data on U.S. durable goods, consumer confidence and new homes sales, along with uncertainty over Eu
After the extraordinary market collapse and recovery in the past two years, we had a few months of calm. But now, with the market alternately plunging and soaring, volatility has returned. …
With the notable exception of Wal-Mart, the past week has brought a string of stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter results from major retailers. Stores such as Saks, Target, Sears, TJX and Macy’s reported sharp year-over-year profit increases. The result
In his semi-annual monetary report to Congress Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke reiterated the Fed’s plans to keep interest rates low “for an extended period.”
Investors responded by buying stocks: the Dow rose 0.9% Wednesday
Barry Ritholtz, CEO of Fusion IQ, describes himself as one of the “bigger housing bears around,” but isn’t too concerned about today’s record low new home sales data.Ritholtz, author of The Big Picture blog and Bailout Nation, says too much is b
In late February last year, Robert Prechter of Elliott Wave International said “cover your shorts” and predicted a sharp rally that would take the S&P into the 1000 to 1100 range. That prediction came to pass. Prechter then urged investors t
Highlights from the Thomson Reuters Investment Banking Scorecard:
“Food and beverage accounts for 10% of M&A
Coca Cola’s $12.1 billion offer to purchase Coca Cola Enterprises, an Atlanta-based producer and wholesaler of bottled beverages, brings the total of M&A activity in the food and beverage sector to $32.4 billion, an increase of 257% compared to the same period in 2009.
Deals in the food and beverage industry account for nearly 10% of all global activity this year and are second only to activity in the oil and gas sector. Credit Suisse, an advisor to Coca Cola Enterprises, ranks as the top advisor in the food and beverage industry with $26.7 billion from 11 deals for year-to-date 2010.
European issuers power agency and sovereign debt market
This week’s $6.2 billion sovereign debt offering from the United Kingdom bolsters Europe’s stronghold in this market. For year-to-date 2010, European countries have issued nearly 78% of all sovereign and supranational debt with 285 issues and proceeds of $206.5 billion. The Americas region follows in second place with $23.3 billion from 52 issues. This week’s offering is the largest debt issue in the United Kingdom this year and the seventh largest agency and sovereign offering in Europe.
Japanese issuers lead follow-on offerings
Japanese companies account for the top three equity and equity-related offerings for the week, with proceeds of $1.1 billion from follow-on and convertible offerings. The two secondary offerings this week from Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd and Pioneer Corp, raising just over $770 million, pushed Japan into the top position globally for follow-on issues in 2010, with a total of $12.96 billion. Issuers from the United States have raised $12.3 billion via follow-on offerings, the second largest total for the year-to-date period.”
The weekly Investment Banking Scorecard is produced by the Deals Intelligence team, part of the Investment Advisory division of Thomson Reuters. The scorecard highlights the year’s trends in M&A, capital markets and loan issuance.
Friday’s highlights:
* Giant private equity firm Blackstone Group LP (BX.N) posts better-than-expected earnings on Thursday and says that lending for deals has returned, although exiting investments by IPO has been bumpy.
* Huatai Securities’ (601688.SS) modest gains on debut fell short of expectations after it raised $2.3 billion in China’s largest IPO this year, and could set a trend of lower pricing in upcoming share listings.
* Rob Cox of Reuters Breakingviews says Coca-Cola Chief Executive Muhtar Kent’s strategic about-face with a takeover of Coca-Cola Enterprises’ North American bottling operations “doesn’t mean the decision isn’t financially and strategically sound” — but “Kent looks like a charlatan for so recently dismissing the idea after Pepsi beat him to it”.
For more on these stories, and the rest of the latest deal-related news from Reuters, click here.
Top stories from elsewhere (some external links may require subscriptions):
* General Electric Co is in talks with Spanish Banco Santander to sell its 20.85 percent stake in Turkish lender Garanti Bank, Turkish media reports said. Reuters story here.
* Music company EMI has appointed Peter Williams to the board of one of its holding companies, as its buyout house Terra Firma tries to sort out the loss-making record label’s finances, The Daily Telegraph reports.
* General Motors Co is considering two offers for its Hummer brand after plans to sell it to China’s Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery failed, according to the Wall Street Journal.
* A group of ex- regulators and bankers, led by William Isaac, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp’s former chairman, are planning to raise $1 billion to buy failed lenders in the U.S. southeast, Bloomberg said, citing people with knowledge of the plan.
* And the New York Times says curling, the “slow-poke game, which originated in 16th-century Scotland, has captivated the Type-A world of Wall Street almost by accident.”