TOP
STORIES:
Analysis: Stuck in reverse, Detroit edges closer to bankruptcy
- (www.reuters.com) The story of Detroit's decline is decades old: Its tax revenue and
population have shrunk and labor costs have remained out of whack. But the
city's budget problems have deepened to such an extent that it could run out of
cash in a matter of weeks or months and ultimately be forced into what would be
the largest-ever Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy filing in
the United States. Frustrated by the lack of concrete progress, Michigan
Governor Rick Snyder, a Republican, last month appointed a team to scour the
city's books. The audit could result in a state takeover of Detroit's finances
through the appointment of an emergency financial manager. Such a manager, who
would seize control of the city's checkbook, could then propose federal
bankruptcy court as the best option. Snyder, who has called the situation
"a crisis in terms of financial affairs," said the team would deliver
its report in February. "Detroit is teetering on the verge of bankruptcy
after the City Council has failed to make the necessary cuts to deal with
having a smaller population," said Rick Jones, chairman of the Republican
majority caucus in the state Senate.
Monte Paschi seeks new investor as scandal deepens - (www.reuters.com) Monte dei
Paschi di Siena said on Sunday it was seeking a financial investor as the
political storm over a derivatives scandal at the ailing bank intensified ahead
of next month's Italian election. Italy's
third-biggest lender, which needs state loans to stay afloat, this week
revealed opaque derivatives trades, conducted between 2006 and 2009, that could
cost it some 720 million euros. The scandal has turned the spotlight on Monte
Paschi's close political ties with the centre left and on possible oversight
failings by the Bank of Italy (BOI), then led
by current European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi. "I would like to have
a long-term financial investor," Monte Paschi Chairman Alessandro Profumo
told Italian business daily Il Sole
24 Ore on Sunday. "Nationality is not a problem. The important thing is
that it believes in our project".
Italian Consumer Confidence Declines to 17-Year Low - (www.bloomberg.com) Italian consumer
confidence unexpectedly declined this month to the lowest in at
least 17 years as the country’s fourth recession since 2001 damped optimism. The
confidence index dropped to 84.6, the lowest since the series began in 1996,
from 85.7 percent in December, the Italian statistics office Istat said in Rome today. Economists had predicted an increase to 86,
according to the median of 12 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey. “Cautious
household spending will serve as a major obstacle to any recovery in economic
activity” this year and the next, Raj Badiani, an economist at IHS Global
Insight in London, said in an e-mailed
note to clients. The Bank of Italy said on
Jan. 18 it expects households’ spending to decline 1.9 percent this year.
Analysis: Scandal of Italy's Monte Paschi means questions for
Draghi - (www.reuters.com) Just as he prepares to take responsibility for regulating the banking
system of the entire euro zone, Mario Draghi
faces questions dating back to his leadership of the Bank of Italy over its
oversight of the world's oldest bank. Turmoil at Italy's third largest lender,
540-year-old Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, has rocked the Italian financial
establishment and raised questions in the middle of an election campaign for
the government and the Bank of Italy. Monte dei Paschi is
accused of having overpaid for a 9 billion euro purchase of a rival in 2007,
and also of having made risky derivatives trades in 2006-2009 aimed at
massaging accounts, which will book it a loss of 720 million euros.
Tripling in Debt to $1.7 Trillion Drags on Economy
- (www.bloomberg.com) Chinese companies are spending more than ever to service debt after
their borrowing almost tripled over five years, prompting strategists to warn
of rising default risk and a threat to economic growth. Total short- and
long-term borrowing by 3,895 publicly traded non-financial companies rose to
almost $1.7 trillion in their latest filings, from $604 billion at the end of
2007, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Financing costs, including interest, on
all forms of debt climbed to the highest level as a percentage of gross
domestic product last year, according to Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Bernstein
says that means less cash for investment to fuel the world’s second-largest
economy, while Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc says the threat of defaults
will hold back interest- rate liberalization. The average 10-year yield for top-rated
company bonds is near a 13-month high at 5.27 percent, compared with the 2.6
percent yield in a Bank of America Merrill Lynch global corporate index.
No comments:
Post a Comment