Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (BMPS) Market cap (as of 31/10/14): €3.11bn Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS), Italy’s third largest lender and world’s oldest bank, has again become the center of discussion following the subpar results of European Central Bank’s stress tests released on October 26. MPS Read more…
US After turmoil in the recent weeks US equities are back to all-time highs. Very solid data on consumer confidence and a Q3 GDP growth rate print of 3.5%, above a lower forecast of 3%, propelled the S&P 500 to 2018.05. Not even the completion of tapering on Wednesday stopped Read more…
US Last week’s losses were followed by some more, as the S&P 500 lost 0.75% to close at 1967.9 and the NASDAQ Composite and DJIA went down 0.81% and 0.6% respectively from their values at the end of last week. Stocks took a beating on Tuesday and Wednesday especially as Read more…
US Equity markets in the US lost ground this week, ending short of the fresh highs touched in the previous one. Macroeconomic data came in mixed, as a solid manufacturing PMI and positive data on new home sales on Tuesday and Wednesday were confounded by disappointing durable goods orders and Read more…
Lately, there has been increasing speculation regarding the results of the AQR (Asset Quality Review), which will be published by the ECB in about a month time. The AQR is a central part of the “comprehensive assessment” investigation that the ECB is leading on European banks balance sheets. Working in Read more…
On May 18, Deutsche Bank has announced a plan to raise € 8bn ($ 11bn) in new capital. The increase will consist of € 6.3bn in a rights issue and a further € 1.75bn from the Qatari royal family. The capital increase will be the second largest ever launched by Read more…
As we write this, the EUR/USD exchange rate has fallen to $1.3713 from about ~$1.4 when Draghi first gave his speech at the regular board meeting more than a week ago. The market seems to be pricing in possible monetary easing to be announced by the ECB in June at Read more…
Two days ago, during its regular policy meeting, the ECB left interest rates unchanged and Mario Draghi said the “council was comfortable acting next time.” He signaled that there was a unanimous belief that the current inflation rate of 0.7% is unacceptable. He also stated that the strength of the Read more…
The main rationale for the trade is a possible positive surprise of the European economy by the end of the year. The periphery has performed well and the recent resolution of the Berlusconi’s issue has reduced the political risk of the area. Moreover, the economic performances outline the beginning of Read more…
Object: €3.0 billion issuance of Obrigações do Tesouro (OT) (fixed rate bonds), interest rate 5.65%, annual coupons On May 6th the Republic of Portugal issued its first new government bonds since requesting an international bailout two years ago, in a heavily-oversubscribed offer of 10-year debt that raised €3bn. The bonds Read more…
This week was dominated by the US and European central bankers speeches. They both confirmed their accommodative monetary policy. However the FED just confirmed its commitment to the bond buying program until the economy would have showed sign of improvement. The ECB, on the other side, decided to take really Read more…
How big is Cyprus’ economy? GDP of €18.0bn as of 2011 (latest official figure) Why does Cyprus need a bailout? Did Cyprus have an irresponsible/spendthrift Government? No, it is its banks that are the problem. Cyprus’ Debt/GDP ratio stood at 49% in 2008 and rose to 71% by 2011 Read more…