Posts Tagged bond
Winfrey Hires a Star Manager
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Budget on May 20th, 2010
Oprah Winfrey has made a fortune in television, magazines and movies. Now she has hired someone to manage it.
Ms. Winfrey, one of the most powerful brands in media, has begun setting up a so-called family office to handle her personal investments, according to people familiar with the situation. Her first hire: Peter Adamson, a well-regarded investor who currently serves as chief investment officer for Eli Broad, the Los Angeles billionaire and philanthropist.
The move comes as Ms. Winfrey begins a new chapter in her professional life. In January she plans to launch her own channel, the Oprah Winfrey Network, a joint venture between Ms. Winfrey’s Harpo Inc. and Discovery Communications Inc. that aims to reach 80 million homes in the U.S.
A spokeswoman for Ms. Winfrey confirmed the hire but declined to elaborate. Mr. Adamson didn’t return emails and telephone calls seeking comment.
Ms. Winfrey historically has been private about her financial affairs, but this is believed to be the first time she has established a full investment organization around her fortune.
Wealthy investors typically hire managers at banks and brokerage firms to handle their financial affairs. A family office is considered a step up from such an arrangement, with a team of advisers working exclusively, and directly, for the client. Read the rest of this entry »
Greek Two-Year Notes Rise
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Fund Markets on April 19th, 2010
Greek two-year notes posted their first weekly advance since March after the European Union and the International Monetary Fund agreed to a 45 billion-euro ($61 billion) plan to help Greece avoid a default.
The two-year yield fell the most on record on April 12, a day after the accord was announced, before the notes pared gains on concern the aid will be delayed as national parliaments vote on the proposals. The securities recovered after Prime Minister George Papandreou moved closer to triggering the package by arranging a meeting with the European Commission, European Central Bank and IMF for April 19.
“Greece rallied on this news and will continue to do so with every positive step toward access to ongoing official support,” said Giles Gale, a fixed-income strategist at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc in London. “Every false step, the main risks lying in the European political process, will push yields higher.”
Two-year yields fell 27 basis points to 6.89 percent as of 5 p.m. in London yesterday, after rising 188 basis points the previous week. Greek 10-year yields rose for a third week, adding 26 basis points to 7.47 percent.
Greece’s budget deficit, at 12.9 percent of gross domestic product, is the largest in the EU. The country’s failure to convince investors it can narrow the gap helped send the yield premium for Greek 10-year bonds over similar-maturity German bunds, the region’s benchmark government securities, to 442 basis points on April 8, the most since the euro’s debut in 1999. Read the rest of this entry »
Five Lessons From Your ‘09 Tax Return
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Budget, Favourites on April 15th, 2010
Your 2009 taxes are done. Congratulations! But you’re not done yet. (Sorry.) While you have all your 2009 tax forms and documents handy, this is the perfect time to analyze last year’s finances and use those insights to lower your taxes in 2010 and beyond.
The sooner you get started, the more you can save. So, take a big breath and then take these five steps:
1. Avoid a Big Tax Refund
You think you love getting a tax refund. What’s not to like about found money? But a refund is really just the return of a year-long, interest-free loan that you extended to your spendthrift Uncle Sam.
You can do much smarter things with that money, like putting it into a retirement plan or a college savings fund. So if you will be receiving a 2009 refund of more than a few thousand dollars and you’re an employee, adjust your withholding at work. If you’re self-employed, lower your quarterly estimated tax paymentsaccordingly.
If your 2010 income will be less than $75,000 ($150,000 if you’re married and will file jointly), be sure your tax withholding has been properly adjusted for the new Making Work Pay Tax Credityou’re entitled to receive this year. This credit (up to $400 for singles and $800 for couples) should be reflected in the amount of taxes taken out of your paycheck. But you may need to submit a revised W-4, especially if you’re holding down multiple jobs or you’re married, since your employer wouldn’t know about your extra work or your spouse’s income. Read the rest of this entry »
Rates Rise as Fear Returns on Greece
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Trading Markets on April 7th, 2010
Greece’s financial crisis flared back into view on Tuesday as doubts about a rescue plan rattled the euro and sent the country’s bonds tumbling to their lowest levels since the problems began.
The selloff in the Greek bond market drove interest rates on Greek debt higher, putting more pressure on the embattled nation as it seeks to borrow billions of dollars this year.
It also intensifies pressure on other European Union nations to be more explicit about terms for any bailout of Greece should it be unable to find buyers for its bonds. The other 15 countries that use the euro have pledged to help, but the bloc remains divided over just where the threshold for aid lies.
The big market moves on Tuesday were a reaction to rumors and press reports, rather than to a significant change in the Greek financial situation. But if jittery bond investors become reluctant to buy new Greek bonds or demand still higher interest rates, European countries might be forced to strengthen their commitment to a bailout. Read the rest of this entry »
Sarkozy Says EU Must Back Greece
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Favourites, Trading Markets on March 8th, 2010
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the European Union must support Greece or risk destroying the euro as Prime Minister George Papandreou heads for Paris to lobby support for the debt-laden country.
“If we created the euro, we cannot let a country fall that is in the eurozone,” said Sarkozy, who hosts Papandreou in Paris tomorrow. “Otherwise there was no point in creating the euro. We must support Greece because they are making an effort.”
EU leaders have so far refused to give financial aid to Greece and have ordered the government to cut its budget deficit, the EU’s highest, on its own. While Papandreou says steps taken this past week to slash the shortfall warrant more help from the EU, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said today that his country is “not going to write a blank check.”
Papandreou is touring Luxembourg, Berlin, Paris and Washington after his government passed a 4.8 billion euro ($6.5 billion) austerity package yesterday. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who met him yesterday, said the question of a bailout “absolutely doesn’t arise” and the steps taken to cut the deficit make her optimistic that a rescue won’t be needed. Read the rest of this entry »
Stocks Climb on Evidence Global Economy Recovering
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Fund Markets on December 23rd, 2009
Stocks rose around the world, driving Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index to a 14-month high, on evidence that the global economy is recovering from its recession. Oil and copper advanced.
The MSCI World Index of developed-nation shares climbed 0.3 percent at 9:41 a.m. in London. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.3 percent and the MSCI Asia Pacific Index increased 0.5 percent. Oil gained 0.6 percent in New York, while the dollar traded near a three-month high against the euro.
U.S. consumer spending probably rose in November for the sixth time in seven months as households took advantage of holiday discounting, economists said before reports today. China’s growth may surge to as much as 12 percent next year, according to Citic Securities Co., the nation’s biggest listed brokerage. Consumer confidence in Italy unexpectedly rose in December to the highest in more than seven years after Europe’s fourth-biggest economy emerged from a recession.
“The path of least resistance will continue to be to the upside,” Robert Doll, who helps oversee about $3.2 trillion as chief investment officer for global equities at New York-based BlackRock Inc., said in a Bloomberg Television interview. The economic recovery “means earnings should be somewhat better and liquidity should still be plentiful. That’s a recipe for equities moving higher,” Doll said. Read the rest of this entry »
Municipal bonds — still worthwhile
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Budget on July 28th, 2009
When veteran money managers are finding one of their favorite segments of the market is potentially more lucrative, it’s time for average investors to take heed. But they need to keep their eyes open to new complexities — especially when the pros are plowing more money into a market that will likely never be the same after the beating it’s taken.
That’s what’s happening with the $2.7 trillion municipal bond market, where state and local governments raise cash to build everything from sewers to schools to roads. It’s also a magnet for investors seeking modest and reliable tax-exempt returns of around 3 to 4 percent that in normal times rival those of Treasury bonds.
Until recently, comparing muni bonds was pretty simple. You assessed the maturity date when you could expect your principal back, weighed a bond’s price against its default risk rating, and determined if the bond was backed by insurance. But the tax-favored status munis enjoy was foremost — a big selling point for wealthier investors looking to ease their tax hit.
“People used to be able to shut their eyes and buy a muni bond as long as it had insurance, and they felt safe and secure,” said Marilyn Cohen, a longtime fixed-income manager whose Los Angeles-based firm, Envision Capital Management, invests most of the $195 million it manages in muni bond portfolios. Read the rest of this entry »
Russia to Raise Reserve Currency Issue at BRIC
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Currency on June 17th, 2009
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will raise the issue of a global reserve currency at a meeting with leaders of Brazil, India and China, the Kremlin economic aide, Arkady Dvorkovich, said on Tuesday.
“Dmitry Anatolyevich will raise the reserve currency issue at the BRIC summit,” Dvorkovich told Reuters on Tuesday.
The world’s biggest emerging market powers will seek to craft a united front on repairing the global financial system when they meet for the first formal BRIC summit on Tuesday.
The four BRIC nations — which account for 15 percent of the $60.7 trillion global economy — will focus on ways to reshape the financial system after the economic crisis.
But immediate agreement on practical steps among the members of this loose and untested bloc appears most unlikely. Read the rest of this entry »
Bond-market rout lifts mortgage cost
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Favourites, Fund Markets on June 12th, 2009
The Federal Reserve announced a $1.2 trillion plan three months ago designed to push down mortgage rates and breathe life into the housing market.
But this and other big government spending programs are turning out to have the opposite effect. Rates for mortgages and U.S. Treasury debt are now marching higher as nervous bond investors fret about a resurgence of inflation.
That’s the Catch-22 threatening to make an awful housing market potentially worse and keep the economy stuck in a funk. Kick-starting the economy requires higher spending, but rising rates mean fewer Americans will be able to refinance their home loans. And some potential buyers will be shut out of the market by higher monthly payments they won’t be able to afford.
To understand how this is all connected, you have to think like a bond trader. Inflation is their enemy because it means the purchasing power of the dollars they receive when bonds eventually are paid off will be diminished. The only question is by how much.
Yields on 10-year Treasury notes, a benchmark for home mortgages and other consumers loans, jumped from 2.5 percent in March around the time of the Fed announcement to as high as 3.7 percent in recent days as signs that efforts to stabilize the financial system and economy were starting to pay off. And 30-year mortgage rates jumped more than a quarter-point this week to 5.29 percent, the highest level since December, Freddie Mac reported. Read the rest of this entry »
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Stocks May Surprise By Year-End
5 July 2010
Is A Global Reserve Currency A Necessity?
28 June 2010
Deflation Comes To Europe
11 June 2010
Commodity-Linked Currencies Suffer Huge Losses
7 June 2010
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