Braskem
Plunges After Report on Ties to Petrobras Scandal - (www.bloomberg.com) Braskem
SA, Latin America’s largest petrochemicals producer, sank the most in more than
20 years after a newspaper cited court testimony that linked the company to a
graft scandal at Petroleo Brasileiro SA. The shares tumbled as much as 21
percent, the biggest intraday drop since August, 1994, when Bloomberg records
began. The stock was down 19 percent to 11.18 reais at 3:16 p.m. in Sao Paulo.
Bonds due in 2024 declined 5.3 cents to 95.84 cents on the dollar, the lowest
since they were issued in January 2014. Braskem denied any irregularities in
its dealings with Petrobras. “All the payments and contracts between Braskem
and Petrobras followed the legal requirements and were approved in a transparent
manner in accordance with the governance rules of both companies,” Braskem said
Wednesday in an e-mail response to questions.
A
Company That Helicopters Oil Workers to Offshore Rigs Is Taking a
Beating - (www.bloomberg.com) Another company getting hit by the oil
collapse. One of the biggest downward movers today is Era Group, a company that offers transportation services
via helicopters. It's off more than 6 percent today and down about one-third
from its high of last April. ($20.28 vs. $30.60). The company announced fourth-quarter earnings on Tuesday night, March 10, and despite
record revenue in fiscal 2014, income was down over the previous quarter
and the same quarter last year. Why? Because ERA's biggest clients are oil and
gas companies, which use their helicopters to ferry workers and equipment to
offshore rigs. Oil has taken a huge drop over the past six months,
and companies are cutting back on drilling, so they don't need as many
helicopters.
Gunmakers
have been going gangbusters – (www.businessinsider.com)
So far, the big winners to come of lawmakers'
attempts to rein in gun violence are the makers of guns, themselves. Have
a look at this chart that Washington Post editor Chris Cillizza tweeted out Wednesday: It suggests that the gun
industry has benefited to the tune of $9 billion since President Barack Obama
took office in 2009, and, that firearms enthusiasts started loading up on guns
and ammo almost the moment he won the 2008 election. Lawmakers including
President Obama railed against the gun industry in the wake of the Newtown,
Connecticut, shooting that left more than two dozen students and staffers dead
at Sandy Hook Elementary School. But, so far, the biggest beneficiaries of
attempts to scale back on the availability and volume of guns and ammunition in
America have been the makers of firearms. The popular explanation is that
when anti-gun rhetoric amplifies, gun enthusiasts hoard guns.
Get
Ready for Oil Deals: Shale Is Going on Sale - (www.bloomberg.com) A decision
by Whiting Petroleum Corp., the largest producer in North Dakota’s Bakken shale
basin, to put itself up for sale looks to be the first tremor in a potential
wave of consolidation as $50-a-barrel prices undercut companies with heavy debt
and high costs. For the first time since wildcatters such as Harold Hamm of
Continental Resources Inc. began extracting significant amounts of oil from
shale formations, acquisition prospects from Texas to the Great Plains are
looking less expensive. Buyers are ultimately after reserves, the amount of oil
a company has in the ground based on its drilling acreage. The value of about
75 shale-focused U.S. producers based on their reserves fell by a median of 25
percent by the end of 2014 compared to 2013, according to data compiled by
Bloomberg. That’s opening up new opportunities for bigger companies with a
better handle on their debt, said William Arnold, a former executive at Royal
Dutch Shell Plc.
Bond
Trading Just Keeps Getting Worse as Treasury Prices Swing - (www.bloomberg.com) It’s
taking less and less these days to make the $12.5 trillion U.S. Treasury market
jump. And it’s been jumping a lot lately: The bonds gained 2.9 percent in
January, then plunged 1.7 percent the following month, according to Bank of
America Merrill Lynch’s U.S. Treasury index. That 4.6 percentage-point swing in
returns was the biggest to start any year since at least 1978. All of this has
happened as trading declined. In the first two months of the year, activity at
primary dealers dropped to an average $511 billion a day, down 1 percent from
the same period in 2014 and 7 percent from a year before that. Those declines
mean fewer trades are moving the needle on government rates that serve as
benchmarks for auto loans, corporate debt and mortgages.
The 'Fragile Five' Are Back And Brazil Leads The Pack - (www.forbes.com)
U.S. Oil-Storage Glut Expands for Ninth Straight Week - (www.bloomberg.com)
Oil Shock Leaves Gulf Arabs Ruing Missed Chance to End Addiction - (www.bloomberg.com)
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