Airbus to get $6.5 billion
Paulson & Co, one of the world’s biggest hedge funds, has made a profit of at least £270m betting on a fall in the share price of Royal Bank of Scotland over the past four months. The New York-based fund, run by billionaire John Paulson, covered its “short” position in RBS on Friday, according to a regulatory filing, dropping below the 0.25% disclosure limit. The scale of the profit is likely to renew the debate over short selling, which recently led the UK’s FSA to ban additional shorting of banks for months. The issue is likely to feature in UK parliament on Tuesday when hedge funds testify to the Treasury select committee about the
FT Alphaville » Blog Archive » Paulson & Co reaps £270m shorting RBS
It seems it took them 5 minutes of analysis until they stamped AAA on trillions worth of toxic debt, but it takes them months to arrive at the conclusion GE might not be AAA?
Moody's may cut General Electric from top Aaa | Markets | Markets News | Reuters
NEW YORK, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Moody's Investors Service on Tuesday said it may cut its top ratings on General Electric Co (GE.N) and its finance arm, citing increased uncertainty over General Electric Capital Corp's (GECC) asset quality and future earnings performance.
General Electric Capital Services (GECS), GECC's parent unit, is also expected to post higher credit losses than previously expected, Moody's said in a statement.
"Moody's is concerned that deepening global economic weakness could further compromise GECS' asset quality, potentially jeopardizing its ability to meet earnings objectives while also maintaining high earnings quality," the rating agency said. (Reporting by Karen Brettell; Editing by Dan Grebler)
very good news for the economy written by an expert on seeking alpha. for you optimistic folks out there, you'll love this article
The Flip Side of Bad News: Still a 90% Employment Rate -- Seeking Alpha
...the fun continues.....
UBS eyes joint venture with Wachovia Securities-NY Post | Markets | Markets News | Reuters
UBS eyes joint venture with Wachovia Securities-NY Post
Tue Feb 3, 2009 5:35am EST
Feb 3 (Reuters) - Swiss bank UBS AG (UBSN.VX) (UBS.N) has held preliminary talks with Wells Fargo & Co's (WFC.N) Wachovia Securities about forging a joint venture of the pair's North American wealth-management units, the New York Post reported.
It is unclear at what stage the discussions are in, or exactly what form a joint venture might take, the paper said on Tuesday citing sources.
One source told the paper a deal might never materialize.
If an agreement is reached, it could enable UBS to cut costs at its U.S. wealth-management unit, the paper said.
A UBS spokesman declined to comment. Wachovia Securities could not be immediately reached for comment.
Wachovia, which was hobbled by mortgage-related losses and write-downs last year, was scooped up by Wells Fargo on Jan. 1. (Reporting by Ajay Kamalakaran in Bangalore; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)
FT.com / Companies / Automobiles - Out-of-work ships used as storage for unsold cars
Out-of-work ships used as storage for unsold cars
By Robert Wright in London
Published: February 4 2009 02:00 | Last updated: February 4 2009 02:00
Car manufacturers are increasingly using ships to store excess vehicles because ports' parking areas have become overwhelmed by the build-up of unsold vehicles.
The move is a rare positive development for operators of the world's fleet of 640 car carriers, which face sharp falls in traffic. At the same time, 70 new ships, mostly larger than their predecessors, are due for delivery this year alone.
Operators have been forced to slow ships down to absorb spare capacity and conserve fuel. Many are also simplifying distribution networks.
Some ports have run out of storage space as recently imported cars or vehicles awaiting export sit unsold following the sudden fall in demand.
Specialist car terminals' vast parking spaces are often the only point in supply chains with sufficient storage space for large numbers of cars.
One specialist car-carrier shipbroker said the number of under-employed car carriers was helping manufacturers to find vessels for storage.
Wallenius Wilhelmsen, the Scandinavian joint venture that operates the world's largest car-carrier fleet, confirmed that one of its vessels, the Morning Glory, had been chartered to store up to 2,500 Toyota cars in the port of Malmö, southern Sweden.
Another large operator, Oslo-based Höegh Autoliners, said it was working on a number of inquiries from manufacturers.
Other operators are known to be considering or to have taken on storage work.
Until the third quarter of last year, no operator would have had the capacity to spare ships for such work.
While there are no exact figures yet for the scale of the downturn, demand is known to have dropped off sharply since September.
The downturn is particularly affecting the operators of smaller ships that are used to ferry cars from main hub ports to smaller ports.
Operators are increasingly calling directly at smaller ports, thus avoiding the need to trans-ship on to smaller vessels.
The slump in car demand is encouraging operators for the first time in many years to compete harder for business moving large construction equipment, new trains and other large loads they had neglected because vessels were so full of cars.
Carl-Johan Hagman, chief executive of Höegh Autoliners, said that the past five to six years had seen unprecedented growth for the sector, which had now come to an end. "For the first time for many years now, our sales force has got to get out and bring the cargo into the ships," Mr Hagman said.
UPDATE 1-Goldman Sachs upgrades Baidu.com
Tue Dec 16, 2008 5:56am EST
Goldman Sachs upgraded Baidu.com Inc (BIDU.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) to "conviction buy" from "neutral" and said the top Chinese Internet search company was set to benefit from the growth in paid search in China.
Search spending is expected to climb at about 30 percent annually for several years and Baidu is expected to maintain query share with government help and consumer loyalty, the brokerage said in a note dated Dec. 15.
This will result in revenue and earnings per share growth of 30 percent per year for the company, it added.
Paid search will outgrow China's gross domestic product helped by current low penetration, rising query volumes on increasing broadband penetration and secular demand from consumer-facing companies, Goldman Sachs forecast.
The brokerage said it expected concerns that the Chinese government had targeted Baidu for punishment would diminish.
"We doubt the government seeks to disadvantage Baidu to the extent it loses substantial query share to foreign rivals," Goldman said.
The brokerage has a 6-month price target of $145 on Baidu stock. Baidu shares closed at $118.09 on Monday on Nasdaq. (Reporting by Amiteshwar Singh in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)
UPDATE 1-Goldman Sachs upgrades Baidu.com | Markets | Markets News | Reuters
bidu right at the multi-year bottom, right need an excuse for a rebounce. They are also buying back ($200mln) shares from today. See $140 today.
when will these companies run out of jobs to cut?
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PARIS (Reuters) - The French state plans to inject 5 billion euros ($6.5 billion) into banks with the aim of financing airplane purchases to help European planemaker Airbus (EAD.PA), a French government source said on Sunday.
"There is indeed a plan to lend 5 billion euros to the banks to finance Airbus contracts," the source said, confirming an earlier report in the business newspaper Les Echos.
France to support Airbus via banks: source | Reuters