Gillian Tett, the blog’s favourite financial journalist, highlights today the rampant speculative behaviour in financial markets around the world. Quoting a senior banker, she notes that “highly leveraged short-term trades are back in vogue“. She adds that “traders feel stupid if they don’t leverage up“. The basis for the speculation is that “central bankers have […]
Chemicals and the Economy
G-20 moves on financial regulation
Last April’s G-20 Summit brought together the leaders of the major world economies. Yet in terms of their announced goals for the Summit, financial regulation seemed to be the only one that gained traction. That impression is confirmed by the weekend’s meeting of Finance Ministers, in preparation for the next Summit in Pittsburgh later this […]
V-shaped sellers meet L-shaped buyers
Picture: www.businessoffashion.com A senior figure in the investment community told the blog recently that companies’ views on the outlook for the economy seemed to vary according to their own financial position: “the stronger the balance sheet, the more realistic (and worse) the view on the economy”. This analysis was confirmed at an interesting M&A Round […]
Dow Chemical moves to Plan B
A month ago, after the collapse of the K-Dow deal, the blog suggested that Dow would need to move quickly to a Plan B. It added that “nobody would be very surprised if it now sought to renegotiate the proposed Rohm & Haas acquisition”. This now seems to be underway, judging by two pieces of […]
INEOS, Georgia Gulf, Chemtura bond prices plunge
Bond markets are a good place to look if you want to understand the outlook for major companies in the chemical industry. A key market is in ‘credit default swaps’ (CDS), which offer insurance against the possibility that a company might default. The way they work is that the owner of a bond, or a […]
Moody’s worries about the chemical industry
Moody’s, the global ratings agency, is today forecasting a 70% chance of a U-shaped recession, and a 15% chance of either a V or L-shaped downturn. This broadly agrees with the blog’s own view, set out a month ago. Moody’s also singles out the chemical industry as being one of those most at risk from […]
Soros on leverage
George Soros is one of the most successful investors in recent decades. The blog came across today a report of Soros’ graphic description of the dangers of having too much debt in a business, or personally: “Leverage was like driving along a straight, clear freeway with a sharp spike pointing from the centre of the […]
‘The price of all assets will go down’
‘Deleveraging’ is an ugly word, and it has ugly implications. Bill Gross of Pimco, who manages the world’s largest bond fund, has done us all a favour by trying to explain its impact, and why it is likely to continue for some time to come. He notes that all financial institutions are now reducing the […]
INEOS’ Grangemouth plants on strike
Ineos’ 200,000bpd Grangemouth refinery in Scotland is on strike today and tomorrow, over a pension dispute. This will presumably cost the workers 2 days pay. The costs for INEOS and the UK are enormous in comparison. BP, for example, has had to shut down a pipeline that carries 40% of the UK’s oil production, because […]
‘Too big to rescue’
Readers will know that I am a great admirer of Gillian Tett’s analyses of banking issues in the Financial Times. Today, she has another thought-provoking article, this time on the emergence of Iceland as ‘the world’s first country run like a hedge fund’. The article is worth reading in itself, but also for the question […]
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