- Closely Watched Buffett Recalculating His Bets
- LSE welcomes high-frequency traders as source of liquidity
- Gold Rallies to 18-Month High on Dollar’s Weakness, Inflation
- Greenspan Says Capital Requirements Must Be Raised
- Allan Sloan: A Year After Lehman, Wall Street’s Acting Like Wall Street Again
- Eurotunnel Says Goldman Fund Becomes Biggest Investor
- Swiss Deal With I.R.S. May Hide Some Tax Cheats
- Martin Feldstein op ed: ObamaCare’s Crippling Deficits
- Barclays Fined $4 Million by FSA for Report Failures
- Kraft to Pursue Spurned $16.7 Billion Bid for Cadbury
- Kraft’s $16.7 Billion Cadbury Bid May Thaw Mergers
- Packer May Target U.S. Casino Assets, Citigroup Says
- AOL, Seeking to Revitalize Its Internet Role, Turns to a Candid Ex-Yahoo Executive
Closely Watched Buffett Recalculating His Bets – NY Times
…….If Mr. Buffett picked well — and, so far, it looks as if he did — his payoff could be enormous. But now, only a year after the crisis struck, he seems to be worrying that the broader stock market might falter again. After boldly buying when so many were selling assets, his conglomerate, Berkshire Hathaway, is pulling back, buying fewer stocks while investing in corporate and government debt. And Mr. Buffett is warning that the economy, though on the mend, remains deeply troubled.
“We are not out of problems yet,” Mr. Buffett said last week in an interview, in which he reflected on the lessons of the last 12 months. “We have got to get the sputtering economy back so it is functioning as it should be.”……
LSE welcomes high-frequency traders as source of liquidity – Financial Times
High-frequency traders, the controversial market participants that have come under regulatory scrutiny in the US, were backed yesterday by the London Stock Exchange.
Xavier Rolet, LSE chief executive, said highfrequency traders were a necessary source of liquidity for exchanges.
“We welcome them. They are a source of liquidity and we do not rank any particular source of liquidity higher than any other. You need diversity in the types of liquidity,” Mr Rolet said….
Gold Rallies to 18-Month High on Dollar’s Weakness, Inflation – Bloomberg
Gold rose to the highest price since March 2008, passing $1,000 an ounce, while silver climbed to a 13-month high as a weaker dollar and concern that inflation may accelerate boosted the appeal of precious metals.
Bullion for immediate delivery surged to $1,007.70 in London, taking this year’s increase to 14 percent. Gold, which reached a record $1,032.70 in March 2008, is set for a ninth yearly gain. Crude-oil futures and all six industrial metals on the London Metal Exchange rallied as the Dollar Index lost as much as 0.8 percent. Raw materials typically move inversely to the U.S. currency…..
Greenspan Says Capital Requirements Must Be Raised – Bloomberg
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said banks should be forced to hold more capital on their balance sheets, reinforcing a weekend push by finance chiefs from the Group of 20 nations.
“Capital requirements even during non-crisis periods have to have a larger buffer,” the 83-year-old former policy maker said today via teleconference to the Antique India Markets Conference in Mumbai. “We do need significant changes.”….
A Year After Lehman, Wall Street’s Acting Like Wall Street Again - Washington Post
It’s been 12 months since Lehman Brothers failed, setting off a chain reaction that came horrifyingly close to destroying the world’s financial system. That anniversary makes this a convenient time to take a deep breath, look back at l’affaire Lehman and see what we can learn from the past turbulent year. How has Wall Street changed since Lehman went broke last Sept. 15? What are the lessons? And what does it all mean to those of us who aren’t directly involved?
Even though some once-iconic names have vanished and others are shadows of their former selves, Wall Street hasn’t changed all that much…..
Eurotunnel Says Goldman Fund Becomes Biggest Investor – Bloomberg
Groupe Eurotunnel SA, operator of the Channel Tunnel rail link between England and France, said a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. fund will become its biggest shareholder by swapping deferred equity securities for stock.
Eurotunnel rose the most in a month in Paris trading after the company, which is based in the French capital, said that the U.S. bank’s infrastructure fund will exercise all of its certificates to take a 21.2 percent stake…..
Swiss Deal With I.R.S. May Hide Some Tax Cheats – NY Times
When the Internal Revenue Service announced a deal last month that would force Switzerland to reveal the names of thousands of Americans suspected of offshore tax evasion, the agency called it a major step forward. But tax lawyers and former government officials have begun to question whether the deal might allow some large tax cheats to remain in hiding……
Martin Feldstein op ed: ObamaCare’s Crippling Deficits – Wall Street Journal
While the deficits caused by the fiscal stimulus package will end in 2011 and will help to sustain a fragile recovery in 2010, the deficits projected for the longer term are a threat to our economic future. The starting point for controlling those future deficits is for Congress to abandon the administration’s health-care plan—a plan that will cost more than $1 trillion…..
Barclays Fined $4 Million by FSA for Report Failures – Bloomberg
Barclays Plc, the U.K.’s second- biggest bank, and its investment-banking unit were fined 2.45 million pounds ($4.06 million) for failing to report tens of millions of trades that could have indicated market abuse.
The Financial Services Authority said today that it discovered London-based Barclays and its Barclays Capital Securities unit had “serious weaknesses” in transaction reporting during a 2008 probe into suspected insider dealing by an unidentified third party. The fine is the biggest the FSA has given over the issue…..
Kraft to Pursue Spurned $16.7 Billion Bid for Cadbury – Bloomberg
Kraft Foods Inc., the second-largest food company, said it will pursue a takeover of Cadbury Plc after the British maker of Trident gum and Dairy Milk chocolate rejected a 10.2 billion-pound ($16.7 billion) bid.
Cadbury shares soared 38 percent, pushing its market value above the bid price. Kraft’s 745 pence-a-share proposal may trigger rival offers from Nestle SA and Hershey Co., forcing Kraft to raise its bid, analysts said…..
Kraft’s $16.7 Billion Cadbury Bid May Thaw Mergers – Bloomberg
Kraft Foods Inc.’s 10.2 billion- pound ($16.7 billion) bid for Cadbury Plc may be a sign that Europe’s frozen takeover market is beginning to thaw after the slowest August in five years…..
Packer May Target U.S. Casino Assets, Citigroup Says – Bloomberg
Australian billionaire James Packer may seek new U.S. casino acquisitions after raising almost A$900 million ($769 million) selling private assets, according to an analyst at Citigroup Inc.
Consolidated Press Holdings, the Packer family company, is “unlikely” to use the cash to bid for the 64 percent of casino owner Crown Ltd. it doesn’t already own, Jenny Owen, a Citigroup analyst in Sydney, said in a note to clients today….
AOL, Seeking to Revitalize Its Internet Role, Turns to a Candid Ex-Yahoo Executive – NY Times
Brad Garlinghouse, a former Yahoo executive who was credited with highlighting the deep problems at the Internet company, was named president of Internet and mobile communications at AOL, the company announced early on Tuesday……
Tags: Barclays, Casinos, Eurotunnel, Gold, Goldman Sachs, Healthcare, IRS, Lehman Brothers, LSE, M&A, Politics, Warren Buffett
