KeNo's Housing and Economic Portal: Thursday January 12 Housing and Economic stories

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Thursday January 12 Housing and Economic stories

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MF Global sold assets to Goldman before collapse: sources - (www.reuters.com) MF Global unloaded hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of securities to Goldman Sachs in the days leading up to its collapse, according to two former MF Global employees with direct knowledge of the transactions. But it did not immediately receive payment from its clearing firm and lender, JPMorgan Chase & Co, one of the sources said. The sale of securities to Goldman occurred on October 27, just days before MF Global Holdings Ltd filed for bankruptcy on October 31, the ex-employees said. One of the employees said the transaction was cleared with JPMorgan Chase. At the same time MF Global, which was run by former Goldman Sachs head Jon Corzine, was selling securities to Goldman to raise badly needed cash, the futures firm was also drawing down a $1.2 billion revolving line of credit it had with JPMorgan, according to one of the former MF Global employees.

Report: SNB chief personally ordered dollar swaps - (finance.yahoo.com) A Swiss political weekly says Switzerland's central bank chief personally engaged in sensitive currency deals previously thought to have been conducted by his wife. Zurich-based Weltwoche said Wednesday it has obtained bank statements showing SNB President Philipp Hildebrand bought large amounts of U.S. dollars before selling them for profit after the central bank depressed the value of the franc. Weltwoche Deputy Editor Philipp Gut spoke to the Associated Press on the issue. Hildebrand's office couldn't immediately be reached for comment. The SNB has previously stated that "rumors" of wrongdoing by the 48-year-old were unfounded and its rules against insider trading weren't breached.

Refinancing Race Poised to Dominate Third Year of Debt Crisis: Euro Credit - (www.bloomberg.com) Germany sold 4.1 billion euros ($5.3 billion) of bonds today, kicking off a competition for finance that may determine whether euro-area leaders can preserve the 13-year-old single currency. Portugal, forced to seek an EU-led rescue in May, borrowed 1 billion euros selling bills repayable in April. Auctions from Greece, Italy and Spain follow later in the month as common currency members commence sales that may reach 262 billion euros in the first quarter and 865 billion euros in 2012, according to Deutsche Bank AG forecasts. Italy’s 10-year borrowing cost (GBTPGR10) is 6.95 percent, up from a 2011 average of 5.35 percent, while Spain’s 5.42 percent is down from 5.44 percent last year.

UniCredit Sets 43% Discount for Rights Offer - (www.bloomberg.com) UniCredit SpA (UCG) fell the most in two months in Milan after Italy’s biggest bank said it will sell 7.5 billion euros ($9.8 billion) of shares at 43 percent less than yesterday’s closing price, excluding the value of rights. UniCredit will sell shares at 1.943 euros each and offer two for every one held, the Milan-based lender said in a statement today. That exceeds the 30 percent discount offered by Commerzbank AG in its 5.3 billion-euro rights offer last May and the 39 percent discount when HSBC Holdings Plc raised about $17.7 billion in March 2009. “The discount is the highest seen in the European banking sector over the last few months,” Luigi Tramontana, an analyst at Banca Akros who has a hold recommendation on the stock, wrote in a note today. “We remain prudent on the stock.”

You Won't Believe Why One BofA Branch Refused To Let A New Bride Deposit A Check - (www.businessinsider.com) The PR nightmare continues. This time, the bank's gaffe hindered the personal life of a journalist—Pete Iorizzo, a reporter for the Albany Times-Union in Albany, New York. And Iorizzo did what any well-meaning journalist would do—write about it. [via Huffington Post] (See Iorizzo's post here.) In a blog post called "Pete vs. Bank of America," Iorizzo described how his new bride, Mrs. Iorizzo, had decided to keep her maiden name upon their recent marriage and ended up being refused at their local Bank of America branch when she tried to cash wedding gift checks made out to Mr. and Mrs. Iorizzo. Iorizzo had endorsed the check with his signature and the checks were made out for deposit only into their joint account and his wife offered to show the bank their marriage license, but the bank simply refused to let her deposit them.