At the beginning of a new election term, Argentina finds itself in another economic crisis. After Alberto Fernández, a centre-left opposition leader, defeated president Mauricio Macri in election primary this August, the Argentine peso lost 33% of its value in three days, hitting a new record low. But this was Read more…
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (BIT:FCA) – market cap as of 10/31/2019: €30.28bn Peugeot SA (EPA:UG) – market cap as of 10/31/2019: €26.22bn Introduction On the 31st of October 2019, France’s Groupe PSA and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles entered into an agreement to merge into the world’s 4th largest original equipment manufacturer Read more…
Introduction – NPL definition The term NPL stands for “nonperforming loans” and it is about loans whose collection by banks has become uncertain, not only for the total repayment but also for the interest portion. Non-performing loans are generally the result of an adverse economic situation, but often also of Read more…
Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. [NYSE: SPCE] – Market Cap as of 08/11/2019 $2.126bn Introduction On October 28th, 2019, Virgin Galactic started trading on the NYSE and became the first publicly traded commercial spaceflight company. It did so by merging with Social Capital Hedosophia, a special purpose acquisition company already listed Read more…
US The rally in the U.S. markets continued this week, sustained by the optimistic outlook on the resolution of the US-China trade disputes. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were both up 0.85% w-o-w, closing at 3,093.08 and 8,457.31, respectively. The Dow Jones Industrial Average recorded a weekly gain Read more…
Alphabet Inc. [GOOGL:NASDAQ] – Market Cap as of 09/11/2019 $903.46bn Fitbit Inc. [FIT:NYSE] – Market Cap as of 09/11/2019 $1.83bn Introduction On the 28th of October 2019 initial reports suggested the interest of the tech giant Alphabet, the parent company behind Google, in acquiring Fitbit, a wearable device company. Finally, Read more…
Introduction Over the past ten years, Germany has always been the leading European country in terms of economic growth. Notwithstanding a series of emergencies arising from Southern Europe, such as the Greek government-debt crisis and the Italian political instability, the federation was able to deliver an impressive economic performance, corroborated Read more…
Prologis Inc [PLD:NYSE] – Mkt cap as of 09/11/19: $55.01bn Liberty Property Trust [LPT:NYSE] – Mkt cap as of 09/11/19: $9.26bn Introduction The boom of e-commerce is rapidly pushing up demand for industrial real estate and thus driving warehouse giants to new pursuits. Accordingly, Prologis – the world’s leader in Read more…
“Inflation is when you pay fifteen dollars for the ten-dollar haircut you used to get for five dollars when you had hair” Sam Ewing Inflation is an elusive phenomenon which is sometimes dubbed a “hidden tax”, eroding purchasing power and returns. This article is the first in a series of Read more…
Cellnex Telecom SA [CLNX: BME] – Mkt cap as of 19/10/19: €12.24bn Arqiva – not listed Introduction On the 8th of October 2019, Arqiva announced the sale of its Telecoms business (TowerCo) to Cellnex for £2bn, which Arqiva will use to reduce its leverage, currently standing at a debt-to-equity ratio Read more…
In mid-September, there has been a liquidity crisis in the money market of secured overnight borrowing. We have analyzed this in an article published one month ago, headed “Liquidity Squeeze: What is the Repo-Scarcity Premium?”. Since then, the Federal Reserve proceeded to inject more than 230 billion over the period Read more…
The use of Copper and Gold Can commodities help us predict future interest rate movements? In this article, we will analyze the relationship between the spot prices of copper and gold and the ratio between them to predict future interest rates. Copper is used in the majority of industries such Read more…
Tokio Marine Holdings Inc [TKOMY: TYO] – Market Cap as of 18/10/2019: $36.95bn (¥4.05tn) Introduction Tokio Marine, Japan’s largest non-life insurance company, has agreed to acquire Pure Group: a US-based insurance group majority-owned by private equity players KKR and Stone Point. The deal, valuing Pure Group at $3.1bn, is expected Read more…
Introduction Historically, large institutional investors pursued purely financial strategies and kept a low profile in governance. This may no longer be the case. In a manner vaguely reminiscent of the corporate raiders of the 1980s, a new generation of activist shareholders is on the rise. The number of companies targeted Read more…
US U.S. markets were slightly higher last week as Q3 earnings season spurred some optimism, but global growth concerns limited it. The S&P 500 was up 0.4% w-o-w, closing at 2,986 points, while the DJIA fell 1%, ending at 26,770. The Nasdaq Composite decreased 67 points (0.8%) to 8,089. On Read more…