Worries
of a Bank-Loan-ETF Exodus Mount - (online.wsj.com) Investors
have been pulling money out of exchange-traded funds backed by bank loans, once
again raising concerns about the ability of lightly traded financial markets to
handle a big exodus from ETFs. Leveraged-loan ETFs last month had three
consecutive weekly net withdrawals, together valued at $107.5 million, marking
the only such streak of investors pulling money out of the group since the
first bank-loan ETF was launched in 2011, according to Lipper. Recent outflows
are a reversal from the record inflows that loan funds soaked up last year. It
is a swing that is raising concerns about the impact that money flowing out of
the funds could have on the market for these loans, made to risky companies,
that underlie the ETFs. While an ETF's shares trade in real time, like regular
stocks, it is much harder for that ETF to buy or sell loans in the portfolio.
It can take weeks for a trade to be completed and, unlike in a traditional
mutual fund, an index-tracking ETF will have less discretion over which loans
to sell.
Questions
raised about notary signatures in foreclosure cases - (www.freep.com) Detroit
Legal News clerk Chris Fahgren’s notarized signature appeared on dozens of
legal documents required for posting public foreclosure notices in the
newspaper in late December 2009 and early 2010. But Fahgren was in a coma at
the time, following a Dec. 21, 2009, car accident. Even after she died on Jan.
4, 2010, her signature — dated and notarized — continued to show up in legal
documents for more than three weeks, including one dated Jan. 30, 2010. Fahgren
had pre-signed and notarized stacks of documents ahead of time and a co-worker
later added the appropriate date when it came time to publish a foreclosure ad,
according to testimony in a later lawsuit. It was an admittedly illegal, but
routine procedure, the co-worker testified, done to expedite the thousands of
foreclosure ads being published monthly during the height of the housing
crisis. Many of those ads came from the Farmington Hills law firm run by David
Trott, who had part ownership in Detroit Legal News Publishing and who at the
time was getting paid a $500,000 yearly consulting fee by the newspaper.
China’s
Casino-to-Internet Bust Deepens as ChiNext Sinks - (www.bloomberg.com) Chinese
stock investors are running out of places to hide. First, it was the Macau
casinos, which began tumbling in January after an average 217 percent rally in
the previous two years. Then came the selloff in Internet shares, which dragged
down Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Sina Corp. more than 15 percent since March. Small-cap
stocks were the latest to buckle, with the ChiNext Index entering a bear marketlast week. The few pockets of strength in the
$3.2 trillion stock market are disappearing as China’s weakening economy reduces investor appetite
for even the fastest-growing companies. All 10 industry groups in the CSI 300
Index of mainland-traded shares have retreated this year while just 1 percent
of the 170 Chinese stock funds tracked by Bloomberg recorded gains, versus more
than 70 percent last year.
China
confronts U.S. ambassador after accusations of cyberspying - (www.reuters.com) China summoned
the U.S. ambassador after the United States accused five Chinese military
officers of hacking into American companies to steal trade secrets, warning
Washington it could take further action, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday. The
U.S. Ambassador to China,
Max Baucus, met with Zheng Zeguang, assistant foreign minister, on Monday
shortly after the United States charged the five Chinese, accusing them of
hacking into American nuclear, metal and solar companies to steal trade
secrets. Zheng "protested" the actions by the United States, saying
the indictment had seriously harmed relations between both countries, the
foreign ministry said in a statement on its website.
Russia Close to $400 Billion Gas Pipeline Deal in Pivot to China - (www.bloomberg.com) Russia is close to signing a decades-long contract to supply natural gas to China at a price that would value the deal at about $400 billion, according to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. Medvedev’s boss Vladimir Putin arrives in Shanghai today to try and complete an agreement after more than 10 years of talks. The stumbling block has been price, but with Putin facing trade and financial sanctions from the U.S. and European Union after he annexed Crimea from Ukraine, a deal is seen as probable. “It’s time we reached an agreement with the Chinese on this issue,” Medvedev said in a Bloomberg Television interview in Moscow yesterday. “It is very likely that there will be a contract, which means long-term contracts.”
Russian
Army Starts Withdrawing as Medvedev Sees Cold War - (www.bloomberg.com)
China gives Putin a diplomatic boost - (finance.yahoo.com)
China gives Putin a diplomatic boost - (finance.yahoo.com)
Putin
yet to seal gas deal on China visit, wins support on Ukraine - (www.reuters.com)
U.K. Inflation Accelerates on Airfare Surge - (www.bloomberg.com)
U.K. Inflation Accelerates on Airfare Surge - (www.bloomberg.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment