capital-markets

What Crisis? IPO Market Red Hot

by The Huffington Post on April 2, 2012

Huffington Post…

The U.S. IPO market is in such a state of horrifying crisis that it just had what’s arguably its best quarter in years. The total number of U.S. initial public offerings jumped 50 percent in the first quarter from a year ago, outpacing the rest of the world, while venture capital-backed IPOs in the U.S. had their best first quarter in five years, according to new reports from market watchers. “It’s time to throw another shovelful of dirt on the notion of an ‘IPO crisis’ for emerging companies,” Fortune’s Dan Primack wrote on Friday. The idea of an IPO crisis was part of the justification for the JOBS Act that passed Congress last week. Oppressive regulations, the supporters moaned, were standing in the way of bringing the next wave of LinkedIns and Groupons to the stock market. The JOBS Act was designed in part to remedy that. The trouble is that the JOBS Act, in the process of clearing away the regulatory underbrush , also threw out some key investor protections . The Wall Street Journal dug one of those up today, pointing out that under the new law investors would have had to wait until after the IPO to find out about the tussle between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Groupon (which went public last year) over Groupon Inc.’s accounting. And now we find evidence that the IPO crisis has been perhaps a big false alarm, just as Primack has long suggested . Nineteen venture-backed IPOs hit the market in the first quarter, raising $1.5 billion, Reuters reported on Monday . Primack last week reported slightly bigger numbers — 20 VC-backed IPOs, raising $1.6 billion. More broadly, the broader U.S. IPO market saw 36 new companies go public in the quarter, up 50 percent from a year ago, The Wall Street Journal reported this weekend, citing data tracker Dealogic. Things only seem to be heating up. The last week in March was the busiest single week for U.S. IPOs since 2007, the WSJ reported separately , including organic food maker Annie’s Inc. , shares of which gained a decidedly non-crisis-like 89 percent on their first day of trading. The first quarter’s deals were all on the small side, but that will change with Facebook’s $5 billion IPO due soon, probably in May . There’s no doubt that regulatory requirements have kept some companies from going public, and the JOBS Act seems likely to set some of those IPOs free. What’s debatable is whether this amounts to the end of a “crisis,” as the business community has been complaining for many years. One much simpler explanation for the recent lack of IPOs could be the actual financial crisis, along with the stock-market crash and deep recession that accompanied it, which sent many potential IPOs into hiding. Now that the economy and financial markets are years into recovery, more deals are starting to pop up.

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What Crisis? IPO Market Red Hot

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Demand Drops For Durable Goods

by AP on May 25, 2011

Huffington Post…

WASHINGTON — Businesses cut back on their orders for heavy machinery, computers, autos and airplanes in April, reducing demand for long-lasting manufactured goods by the largest amount in six months. Orders for durable goods fell 3.6 percent, and a key category that serves as a proxy for business investment was down 2.8 percent, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. The weakness was widespread across a number of industries as the impact of supply disruptions stemming from the Japanese earthquake in March rippled through U.S. manufacturing. Demand for autos, auto parts, steel, computers and electronic equipment all fell, and those declines were attributed in part to difficulty in getting critical component parts from Japan, where manufacturing has been disrupted by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and nuclear plant disaster. Many analysts viewed the setbacks as temporary, but said they could dampen manufacturing for several months, until U.S. companies find alternative supply sources. “We think the disruptions from Japan will be temporary. Manufacturing will still be a bright spot for the economy this year,” said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor’s in New York. Jennifer Lee, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, said that the April durable goods report was just another sign that “the U.S. economy is encountering its fair share of speed bumps” at the moment. Strong demand domestically and overseas has kept U.S. factories humming, making manufacturing one of the strongest sectors of the economy since the recession ended in June 2009. The overseas demand has been supported by a weaker dollar, which makes U.S. products cheaper in foreign markets. U.S. factories have added 167,000 jobs over the past six months, the best stretch of hiring gains in manufacturing since 1997. The April decline left orders at $189.9 billion, still 22.5 percent below where orders were in December 2007, the month the recession began. However, the April level is 27.7 percent above the recession low hit in April 2009. The big drop last month came following a 4.4 percent increase in March, a gain that was revised up from a previously reported 2.9 percent increase. In addition to the weakness in autos, demand for commercial aircraft fell 30 percent in April. Analysts had expected a big drop in this highly volatile category because new orders at Boeing slowed sharply in April. Orders for nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft, a category viewed as a good indication of business investment plans, fell 2.6 percent in April after a big 5.4 percent rise in March. Despite the April drop, economists are forecasting strong gains in business capital spending for the rest of this year as companies boost purchases of equipment to take advantage of a one-year tax break that Congress passed in December. Excluding all transportation categories, orders would have been down 1.5 percent in April after rising 2.5 percent in March. Other industries seeing a drop in demand in April included primary metals such as steel, down 1.5 percent, and computers, down 4.4 percent. Demand for machinery fell 3.4 percent in April.

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Demand Drops For Durable Goods

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Rising Dollar Could Mean Trouble For Stocks

May 23, 2011

NEW YORK (Walter Brandimarte) – Signs of a Wall Street sell-off are all over the place, but U.S. stocks might well survive another week relatively unscathed if investors keep betting on sectors less vulnerable to an economic downturn. Pressure for a correction in the stock market has been building up in the past few weeks as the euro and oil prices fell in tandem, knocking down shares of energy companies and dollar-sensitive multinationals. Still, investors have averted a broad sell-off by diving into shares of companies that are less vulnerable to the economic cycle, including well-known defensive sectors such as utilities and household products, but also large-cap companies with steady earnings performance. That strategy may hold the market afloat for a little longer. But with the end of the Federal Reserve’s easy money policies just around the corner, investors are becoming more sensitive to risk in general. “There is good reason for a pause, there is good reason to be conservative in here, and there is good reason to raise some cash ahead of a summer correction and a better buying opportunity,” said Richard Ross, global technical strategist with Auerbach Grayson in New York. The sharp sell-off in commodities markets earlier this month was seen by many as the first warning sign of a coming market correction. The U.S. dollar has been strengthening since then, in another sign that appetite for risk is dwindling. Next month’s end of the Fed’s massive bond-buying program, also known as quantitative easing, is expected to knock down the value of stocks, commodities and the euro, a recent Reuters poll of 64 analysts and fund managers found. CONSUMER STAPLES BACK IN STYLE Ross, who believes that a correction could come at any moment, warned that Wall Street remains close to multi-year highs as investors head into a traditional period of weak seasonality that stretches from May to November. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index .SPX has kept its year-to-date gain of 6 percent for the past two weeks, as defensive sectors such as utilities advanced while more volatile technology shares posted losses. Despite the rotation between sectors, the S&P 500 has been trading in a narrow range between 1,330 and 1,340, indicating Wall Street’s lack of direction. Most technical analysts agree that the market is poised to break out of that range soon — either with a sell-off or a rally. Robert Sluymer, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets, said there is no technical evidence that the current market cycle has peaked. He recommended investors keep building exposure to defensive themes, while getting out of cyclical stocks. Among the defensive sectors favored in the current environment, Standard & Poor’s Equity Strategy recommended the stocks in the S&P 500 Consumer Staples Index . For the week, this index was up 0.6 percent. With the earnings season coming to a close, Wall Street will have just a sprinkling of marquee names set to release quarterly results in the coming week. On tap are earnings from Campbell Soup, Costco Wholesale Corp and HJ Heinz Co, whose stocks are in the S&P 500 Consumer Staples Index. Preppies, take note: Polo Ralph Lauren Corp and Tiffany & Co are also set to release their results. These companies’ outlooks could shed light on the consumer’s mindset and headwinds facing the retail sector. As far as economic indicators are concerned, there’s no data with overwhelming star power. The calendar includes new home sales for April, a second look at first-quarter gross domestic product, personal income and consumption for April and the final reading for May on consumer sentiment from the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers. So investors could very well be at the mercy of the headlines from Europe, where fears about a possible debt restructuring by Greece are on the rise. With the euro, commodities and stocks trading with extraordinary correlation, investors should look at the euro-dollar trade for direction, said Ross of Auerbach Grayson. “If you continue to see the dollar strengthening,” he said, “it should provide a headwind for commodities and for the S&P.” (Editing by Jan Paschal) Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions .

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Cascade Microtech Appoints John (J.D.) Delafield to Board of Directors

May 19, 2011

BEAVERTON, OR–(Marketwire – May 19, 2011) – Cascade Microtech, Inc. ( NASDAQ : CSCD ), a leading expert at precision measurements at the wafer level, today announced it has elected John (J.D.) Delafield, Jr. to its Board of Directors effective May 13, 2011. “Mr. Delafield brings a significant knowledge of capital markets to our Board of Directors. J.D.’s addition will provide a perspective into technology-driven investments and an international viewpoint that will benefit our management team as we drive innovative test technology into new markets globally,” said Michael Burger, president and CEO of Cascade Microtech, Inc.

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Video: Cassidy Says Concern Over Bank Rules Weighing on Stocks

May 13, 2011

May 13 (Bloomberg) — Gerard Cassidy, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, talks about the performance of the banking industry and its impact on the broader stock market. Cassidy speaks with Matt Miller on Bloomberg Television’s “Street Smart.” (Source: Bloomberg)

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CoStar’s People of Note (May 1-7)

May 6, 2011

This week’s People of Note includes the following markets: Atlanta, Boston, Cleveland/Northern Ohio, New York City, Portland and San Francisco. BOSTON Cushman Promotes Duo in Capital Markets Group Cushman & Wakefield promoted two senior specialists in its capital markets group. Edward C. Maher Jr. (pictured, far left) was named executive vice president and David J. Pergola (left) was appointed executive director. Maher has worked for 26…

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ABN Newswire Launches Investorium.tv – Connecting Participants in the Capital Markets

April 30, 2011

ABN Newswire Launches Investorium.tv – Connecting Participants in the Capital Markets

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Video: Win Thin Doesn’t See U.S. `Unhappy’ With Weaker Dollar

April 29, 2011

April 29 (Bloomberg) — Win Thin, global head of emerging-market strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., and Michael Cloherty, head of U.S. rates strategy for fixed income and currencies at RBC Capital Markets, discuss investment strategy and the outlook for inflation. They speaks with Tom Keene on Bloomberg Television’s “Surveillance Midday.” (Source: Bloomberg)

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World Banks Face $3.6 Trillion "Wall Of Maturing Debt," IMF Warns

April 13, 2011

WASHINGTON (By Emily Kaiser) – The world’s banks face a $3.6 trillion “wall of maturing debt” in the next two years and must compete with debt-laden governments to secure financing, the IMF warned on Wednesday. Many European banks need bigger capital cushions to restore market confidence and assure they can borrow, and some weak players will need to be closed, the International Monetary Fund said in its Global Financial Stability Report. The debt rollover requirements are most acute for Irish and German banks, with as much as half of their outstanding debt coming due over the next two years, the fund said. “These bank funding needs coincide with higher sovereign refinancing requirements, heightening competition for scarce funding resources,” the IMF said. Overall, the IMF said global financial stability has improved over the past six months. The most pressing challenges in the coming months will be funding of banks and sovereigns, particularly in vulnerable euro area countries, it said. The IMF and European Union bailed out Greece and Ireland, and are in talks with Portugal on a lending program as sovereign borrowing costs surge. Many investors have questioned whether Spain can avoid a similar fate, but the IMF said Spanish authorities were taking the right steps to address the country’s debt problems. “The actions that have been taken in Spain recently have managed to decouple, in the views of markets, the fortunes of Spain relative to those of Portugal” and Ireland, said Jose Vinals, director of the IMF’s Monetary and Capital Markets Department. European banks hold large amounts of euro zone sovereign debt, making them vulnerable to losses if countries are forced to restructure. Vinals said lending programs in Greece and Ireland were built on the assumption there would be no such restructuring, and the programs needed time to work. Still, worries about bad debt exposure have heightened investor concerns about bank balance sheets, making it even more important for firms to shore up their capital. U.S. banks built up capital buffers in 2009, when regulators completed a set of stress tests that revealed some large holes. But European banks still need to raise a “significant amount of capital” to regain access to funding markets, the fund said. “It is … imperative that weak banks raise capital to avoid a pernicious cycle of deleveraging, weak credit growth, and falling asset prices,” it warned. LIVING DANGEROUSLY The European Central Bank’s upcoming stress tests provide a “golden opportunity” to improve bank balance sheet transparency and reduce market uncertainty about the quality of assets on banks’ books, the IMF said. European banks won’t be able to obtain all the necessary capital from markets, and public money may have to fill some of the gaps, it added. Banks could also cut dividends and retain a larger portion of earnings. “Overall, a comprehensive set of policies — including capital-raising, restructuring and where necessary resolution of weak banks, and increased transparency about banking risks — is needed to solve banking system vulnerabilities,” it said. “Without these reforms, downside risks will re-emerge.” The IMF said banks’ exposure to troubled sovereign debt is “uncertain,” which adds to the funding strains. It said government debt was generally high and on a worrying upward path in many advanced economies. It repeated its warning that the United States and Japan faced particularly dangerous debt dynamics. Advanced economies were “living dangerously” with high debt burdens, and faced the difficult task of trying to pare deficits without choking off the economic recovery. The fund said government interest bills would likely rise, although the burden should generally remain manageable provided countries proceed with deficit reduction plans. For 2011, Japan and the United States face the largest public debt rollovers of any advanced economy at 56 percent and 29 percent of gross domestic product, respectively. “While the United States and Japan continue to benefit from low current (borrowing) rates, both are very sensitive to a potential rise in funding costs,” it said. (Additional reporting by Pedro Nicolaci da Costa; Editing by Neil Stempleman) Copyright 2010 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions .

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SEC: Many Foreign Companies In U.S. Are ‘Vessels Of Fraud’

April 4, 2011

WASHINGTON (Sarah N. Lynch) – Federal securities regulators are probing Chinese and other foreign companies with questionable accounting practices that have used backdoor methods to access the U.S. capital markets, a top regulator said on Monday. “In recent years we have seen a spike of private companies merging with public shell companies,” said Luis Aguilar, a commissioner at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. “While it is Chinese companies that have grabbed recent headlines, the problems coming to the forefront were not necessarily limited to companies based in China,” he said. Aguilar added that while the majority of these may be legitimate businesses, “a growing number” of them are proving to have “significant” accounting issues or are “outright vessels of fraud.” Aguilar spoke before the Council of Institutional Investors on Monday about a growing trend that has caused alarm at the SEC and led to trading suspensions and other enforcement actions. At issue are moves by private foreign companies to merge with U.S. shell public companies to raise capital. Many of these companies have been Chinese. In some cases they have used a procedure known as a reverse merger to bypass the due diligence of an initial public offering. But many of these businesses often have problems with the quality of their accounting and the SEC has been on the prowl for deficiencies and for ensuring the accounting is in line with U.S. standards after some companies hired unknown auditing firms. Last week, the SEC suspended the trading of China Changjiang Mining & New Energy Co Ltd — a Nevada company with headquarters in China — amid questions about the accuracy of its public filings and the resignation of its auditor. In another case, the SEC launched a formal investigation against Chinese printing equipment maker Duoyuan Printing Inc on concerns it filed false documents, failed to maintain adequate financial records and deceived its external auditor, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. Since January 2007, Aguilar said there have been 600 backdoor registrations of this nature by foreign companies, 150 of which are based in China. He said there is concern that U.S. accounting firms are signing off on the companies’ statements without performing their own independent work and are relying instead on auditing firms in China. He noted the SEC has launched an internal task force to probe fraud by overseas companies listed on U.S. exchanges. “Our staff is committed to doing everything we can,” he said. “The SEC has already brought cases and will continue to do so.” (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Additional reporting by Dena Aubin in New York; Editing by Maureen Bavdek) Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions .

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Analysts: Greenspan Derivatives Comments Shouldn’t Be Trusted

March 30, 2011

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill had the potential to become the “largest regulatory-induced market distortion” since 1971 in a Wednesday op-ed for the Financial Times , leaving some financial experts astounded. Greenspan took particular aim at the decision — currently under debate at the Treasury — to regulate the foreign exchange derivatives market. Doing so, Greenspan warned, could cause a large portion of the market to move overseas. Foreign exchange derivatives are used by financial entities to hedge and make bets on currency exchange rates. According to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency , trading in foreign-exchange contracts produced more revenue than any other type of derivative in 2010 — yielding $9 billion at the nation’s top five banks. Proponents of derivatives regulation have argued that foreign exchange derivatives — or forex — should be subject to the same transparency and accountability rules as other derivatives. “If this market is deregulated, it’s going to be the candidate for blowing the next hole in the economy,” said Michael Greenberger, a former director at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. “[Greenspan's] article reads like it’s written from another universe. And it essentially is playing with dice, because it assumes that we are out of all problems: that unemployment is fine, that people’s pensions are in place, that the housing market is stable and that everything is fine.” Dodd-Frank was intended in part to set regulations in place that will prevent the derivatives market — a notoriously opaque branch of the financial sector — from causing another financial crisis. Whether forex is granted an exemption will likely be determined by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who has said he will make a decision on the matter in the upcoming weeks. “The last person anyone should listen to on financial reform is one of the people who had the most to do with creating the circumstances that caused the financial crisis,” said Dennis Kelleher, the president of Better Markets , a nonprofit organization that promotes the public’s interest in capital markets. “Greenspan was a cheerleader for markets-know-best and governments-should-regulate-least. And that has cost the country and the world trillions of dollars, millions of jobs and untold financial losses to American families.” Walter Dolde, a finance professor at the University of Connecticut and an expert on derivatives, said he agrees with Greenspan that the threat of the forex market moving overseas could be real. He just isn’t as concerned. “Could some of the players get petulant and pick up their marbles and leave?” asked Dolde. “Yes, they could. Is that a bad thing? I don’t think so. Then they become some other country’s problem.”

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Video: Donohue Says Dodd-Frank Rulemaking Is `Challenging’

March 30, 2011

March 30 (Bloomberg) — U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue talks about the outlook for implementing the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory overhaul. Donohue, speaking with Erik Schatzker on Bloomberg Television’s “InsideTrack,” also discusses today’s conference on capital markets competitiveness hosted by the Chamber in Washington. (Source: Bloomberg)

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CoStar’s People of Note (March 13-19)

March 18, 2011

This week’s People of Note includes the following markets: Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York City, Portland and Washington, DC. DENVER Sullivan Joins Jones Lang LaSalle By Nina Thilert Mary Sullivan joined Jones Lang LaSalle as a senior managing director. Sullivan will work with Senior Managing Director John Jugl Jr. to expand the company’s capital markets platform, including investment sales, real estate investment…

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Video: Wieting Finds `Positives’ for Stocks Over Bonds in 2011

March 4, 2011

March 4 (Bloomberg) — Steven Wieting, managing director of economic and market analysis at Citigroup Global Markets Inc., and Michael Cloherty, head of U.S. rates strategy for fixed income and currencies at RBC Capital Markets Corp., talk about the Febuary U.S. employment report and the bond and equity markets. They talk with Tom Keene on Bloomberg Television’s “Surveillance Midday.” (Source: Bloomberg)

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Top Republican: ‘Senate May Approve’ Elizabeth Warren For CFPB

March 1, 2011

WASHINGTON — A top Republican broke with what he called “conventional wisdom” Tuesday morning, saying that consumer watchdog Elizabeth Warren is “very persuasive” and may be confirmed by the Senate to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In an interview with CNBC, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) expressed skepticism about the new CFPB and consumer protection regulation in general. Early in the segment, he said he didn’t think Warren, currently in charge of setting up the nascent CFPB, could win Senate confirmation as its director. Asked again, however, Bachus seemed to change his mind. “The odds-on conventional wisdom is she would not, but that’s up for the Senate. And they would have hearings, and she would be in — she’s a very persuasive individual and she — she may — the Senate may approve her nomination,” Bachus said. That wouldn’t have mattered as much, however, if the House GOP had convinced the Senate to adopt its proposed short-term budget for the federal government, which would slash the agency’s funding nearly in half. That controversial budget bill is likely to die in favor of a separate, shorter-term plan that could pass the Senate and avoid a government shutdown. But the intensity of the GOP’s attack on the agency caught many by surprise, after cautiously positive statements about Warren from Republicans including Rep. Randy Neugebauer of Texas and major bank lobbyists like Financial Services Roundtable CEO Steve Bartlett. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal , Neugeubauer said he was open to having Warren placed in the permanent director position, calling her “intelligent” and “a good listener.” “She wouldn’t be my last choice” for the CFPB post, Neugebauer told the Journal . “I don’t know whether she’s my first choice, but she certainly wouldn’t be my last choice.” But Neugebauer has also helped lead the charge in cutting the CFPB’s budget, an effort to hamstring its ability to enforce rules on credit cards, mortgages and payday loans. Of course, neither Bachus nor Neugebauer will have a vote on the permanent director position, but some Senate Republicans also appear to be warming to Warren. Last month, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) hosted Warren at an event for small businesses, calling the consumer advocate “a key ally” in the debate over financial reform. Last fall, Obama appointed Warren to a special advisory post charged with setting up the new agency, but did not formally nominate her as director of the CFPB, a post which requires Senate confirmation. If a permanent director is not confirmed by July, the agency will lose jurisdiction over payday lenders and some mortgage companies. Bank lobbyists are pressing for a permanent director to be nominated. In a Tuesday conference call with reporters, Jess Sharp, executive director of the Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation’s preeminent business lobby, said he hoped that a permanent head would get through the Senate before July. If that was not possible, Sharp said, the CFPB should not enforce consumer protection laws until a permanent director is installed. Tuesday’s conference call was organized to promote a letter the Chamber sent to Congress, warning of what the lobby deemed “huge and ambiguous authority granted to the CFPB which can lead to overreach.” While it will likely be several months until the CFPB writes its own rules for credit cards, mortgages and other consumer loans, the new agency will inherit the authority to enforce existing consumer protection regulations from the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in July. Bachus previously expressed kind words for Warren in an interview with American Banker , saying, “She has tremendous charisma. She is a person you admire, you like. She has ability,” but cautioning that he didn’t know her “philosophy,” or that of the people she has hired at the CFPB.

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Commercial Lending Bounces Back In 2010

February 10, 2011

Powered by improving conditions in the real estate and capital markets, CRE loan originations rose by 36% in 2010 over the previous year, according to preliminary data released at this week’s Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) real estate finance convention in San Diego. In a separate report, the MBA also found that loan maturities continue to roll at a manageable level, with just 11% of the $1.4 trillion in outstanding commercial debt expected to…

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Video: Clarida Says U.S. Growth Will Slow to 2% in Second Half

February 4, 2011

Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) — Richard Clarida, global strategic advisor at Pacific Investment Management Co., and Tom Porcelli, a senior economist at RBC Capital Markets Corp., talk about the outlook for U.S. economy. Clarida and Porcelli also discuss the U.S. labor market. The jobless rate unexpectedly fell in January to the lowest level in 21 months, while payroll growth was depressed by winter storms. Clarida and Porcelli speak with Tom Keene on Bloomberg Television’s “Surveillance Midday.” (Source: Bloomberg)

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Video: FBR’s Miller Says BofA Shares Can Move Higher in 2011

January 21, 2011

Jan. 21 (Bloomberg) — Paul Miller, head of financial-services research at FBR Capital Markets, talks about Bank of America Corp.’s fourth-quarter loss and the outlook for the bank. The largest U.S. bank by assets reported a $1.24 billion loss as it boosted provisions tied to faulty loans and litigation and wrote down the value of its mortgage unit. Miller speaks with Margaret Brennan on Bloomberg Television’s “InBusiness.” (Source: Bloomberg)

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Video: FBR’s Miller Sees Higher Dividends, Buybacks at BofA

December 10, 2010

Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) — Paul Miller, managing director at FBR Capital Markets, talks about the outlook for higher dividends and stock buybacks at Bank of America Corp. Miller talks with Margaret Brennan on Bloomberg Television’s “InBusiness.” (Source: Bloomberg)

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Video: FBR’s Miller Sees Higher Dividends, Buybacks at BofA

December 10, 2010

Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) — Paul Miller, managing director at FBR Capital Markets, talks about the outlook for higher dividends and stock buybacks at Bank of America Corp. Miller talks with Margaret Brennan on Bloomberg Television’s “InBusiness.” (Source: Bloomberg)

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CoStar’s People of Note (Dec. 5-11)

December 10, 2010

This week’s People of Note includes the following markets: Atlanta, Indianapolis, Inland Empire, Los Angeles, New York City and Northern New Jersey. LOS ANGELES Younan Taps Zack as VP of Capital Markets Younan Properties’ Gregory Zack was appointed…

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Market Group Makes A Case For European Securitization

November 21, 2010

Rick Watson head of capital markets at the Association for Financial Markets in Europe says the economy on the continent will suffer unless policy makers learn to embrace securitization again reports GFSnews

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Video: Bank Says New Media Offers Disney `Lots of Opportunity’

November 12, 2010

Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) — David Bank, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, discusses Walt Disney Co.’s fourth-quarter profit reported yesterday. The world’s biggest media company said net income fell 6.7 percent to $835 million, or 43 cents a share, missing analysts’ estimates. (Source: Bloomberg)

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Rizwan Kanji, Debt Capital Markets and Sukuk Specialist, Joining King & Spalding

November 3, 2010

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES–(Marketwire – November 3, 2010) –  King & Spalding announced today that Rizwan Kanji, a leading debt capital markets practitioner, is joining the firm as a partner in its Dubai office. Kanji will have a leading role in King & Spalding’s debt capital markets and sukuk practice.

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Video: Breza Says Microsoft’s Business Demand Growth to Rise

October 29, 2010

Oct. 29 (Bloomberg) — Robert Breza, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, discusses Microsoft Corp.’s first-quarter profit reported yesterday. The world’s largest software maker said net income rose 51 percent to $5.41 billion, or 62 cents a share, from $3.57 billion, or 40 cents, a year earlier, topping analysts’ estimates. Breza speaks with Erik Schatzker from Minneapolis on Bloomberg Television’s “InsideTrack.” (Source: Bloomberg)

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Video: RBC’s Cole Says Dollar in `Period Of Maximum Weakness’

October 25, 2010

Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) — Adam Cole, head of global currency strategy at RBC Capital Markets, talks about the outlook for the dollar and the yen after the Group of 20 finance ministers meetings in South Korea over the weekend. Cole speaks from London with Mark Barton on Bloomberg Television’s “Countdown.”

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Video: Miller Says Foreclosure Woes `Unquantifiable’ for Banks: Video

October 19, 2010

Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) — Paul Miller, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets, discusses Bank of America Corp.’s $7.3 billion third-quarter loss reported today and the potential impact of foreclosures on the company. Miller speaks from Arlington, Virginia, with Betty Liu on Bloomberg Television’s “In the Loop.” (Source: Bloomberg)

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Bank Of America Plans To Resume Some Foreclosures

October 18, 2010

WASHINGTON — The pace of U.S. home foreclosures may not slow much after all. Bank of America said Monday that it plans to resume seizing more than 100,000 homes in 23 states next week. It said it has a legal right to foreclose despite accusations that documents used in the process were flawed. Other major leaders have yet to say whether they will follow suit and resume foreclosures in the states that require a judge’s approval. But analysts expect the move by the nation’s biggest bank will give way to an industrywide effort to push ahead with a wave of foreclosures that have depressed the housing market. Banking analyst Nancy Bush of NAB Research said other lenders are likely to follow because foreclosure practices were similar from bank to bank. “We’ll be back to square one by the end of the year,” she said. The bank’s move could mean that the costs of the foreclosure document mess will wind up being less than some investors had feared just days ago. Bank shares sank last week after JPMorgan Chase & Co. said it set aside $1.3 billion in the third quarter to cover legal expenses that include the foreclosure problems. Bank of America Corp. says it’s confident of its foreclosure decisions in a majority of its questionable cases. The bank is still delaying foreclosures in the 27 other states, which don’t require a judge’s approval. Its move comes two weeks after the bank began halting foreclosures nationwide amid allegations that bank employees signed but didn’t read documents that may have contained errors. “The basis for our foreclosure decisions is accurate,” Dan Frahm, a Bank of America spokesman, said in announcing the bank’s new approach. The company said it plans to resubmit documents with new signatures in the 23 states that require a judge’s approval to restart the foreclosure process. It will delay fewer than 30,000 foreclosures. Bank of America was the only lender to halt foreclosures in all 50 states. Other companies, including Ally Financial Inc.’s GMAC Mortgage unit, PNC Financial Services Inc. and JPMorgan, have halted tens of thousands of foreclosures after similar practices became public. Shares of Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America had been flat earlier in the day but jumped on the news. They rose 36 cents, or 3 percent, to close at $12.34. Analysts at FBR Capital Markets said in a note to clients that the bank’s announcement demonstrates that the issue may be “overblown.” Still, more problems surfaced Monday that suggest the controversy may be far from over. A deposition released by the Florida attorney general’s office revealed that the office manager at a Florida law firm under investigation for fabricating foreclosure documents signed 1,000 files a day without reviewing them. The manager also would allow paralegals to sign her name for her when she got tired, the deposition said. Cheryl Salmons, office manager at the Law Offices of David Stern, would sign 500 files in the morning and another 500 files in the afternoon without reviewing them and with no witnesses, said former assistant Kelly Scott in a deposition released by the Florida attorney general’s office. Jeffrey Tew, an attorney for Stern’s firm, didn’t immediately return a phone call. Government-controlled mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have stopped referring foreclosures to Stern’s firm while they review the firm’s filings. In some states, lenders can foreclose quickly on delinquent mortgage borrowers. By contrast, the 23 states in which Bank of America is restarting foreclosures use a lengthy court process. They require documents to verify information on the mortgage, including who owns it. Those states are: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont and Wisconsin. ___ Associated Press Writer Mike Schneider contributed reporting from Orlando, Fla.

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Video: Cantor’s Parpart Says Greece, Ireland at Risk of Default: Video

October 15, 2010

Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) — Uwe Parpart, chief strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald Hong Kong Capital Markets, talks about the European debt crisis. Christina Romer, former chairman of President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, said budget woes in Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain are “something to worry about” as the U.S. economy continues its climb out of recession. Parpart, who also discusses the outlook for the euro and U.S. dollar, speaks with Linzie Janis on Bloomberg Television’s “Global Connection.” (Source: Bloomberg)

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Video: Gero Likes Copper, Silver, Says to Be Careful With Gold: Video

October 7, 2010

Oct. 7 (Bloomberg) — George Gero, senior vice president at RBC Capital Markets, talks about the outlook for commodity prices. Gero speaks with Pimm Fox on Bloomberg Television’s “Taking Stock.” (Source: Bloomberg)

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Video: Vinals Says Fed Policy Should Protect Against Double Dip: Video

October 6, 2010

Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) — Jose Vinals, director of the International Monetary Fund’s monetary and capital markets department, talks about Federal Reserve monetary policy and the U.S. economy. Vinals also discusses the outlook for the global economy and financial markets, and Bank of Japan and European Central Bank monetary policies. He speaks with Susan Li on Bloomberg Television’s “First Up.” (Source: Bloomberg)

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Video: Mier Says Odds for Bailout of U.S. States Are `Very Low’: Video

October 1, 2010

Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) — Christopher Mier, municipal strategist and managing director at Loop Capital Markets LLC, talks about analyst Meredith Whitney’s report that the U.S. government may have to bailout some struggling states in the next 12 months. Mier says the odds of such a bailout are “very, very low.” He talks with Betty Liu on Bloomberg Television’s “In The Loop.” (Source: Bloomberg)

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Video: Papandreou Says Greek Debt Default Would Be a `Tragedy’: Video

September 20, 2010

Sept. 20 (Bloomberg) — Greece’s Prime Minister George Papandreou talks with Bloomberg’s Betty Liu about the country’s economy and sovereign debt crisis. Papandreou says Greece ruled out any plans to restructure debt and repeated that the country plans to return international capital markets as soon as possible. Papandreou also discusses Greece’s austerity program. Bloomberg’s Matt Miller also speaks. (Source: Bloomberg)

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Video: Miller Says Banks Are `Afraid’ of Warren, Consumer Board: Video

September 17, 2010

Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) — Paul Miller, analyst at FBR Capital Markets, talks about the naming of Elizabeth Warren’s as an adviser to help create the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. President Barack Obama will name Warren this afternoon as an assistant to the president and a special adviser to Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, according to a statement posted on the White House website. Miller speaks with Margaret Brennan on Bloomberg Television’s “InBusiness.” (Source: Bloomberg)

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Video: Breza Says Oracle Helped by New License Revenue Growth: Video

September 17, 2010

Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) — Robert Breza, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets Corp., discusses Oracle Corp.’s first-quarter results and effects of the company’s acquisition of Sun Microsystems Inc. this year. Oracle, the second-largest software maker, said excluding acquisition costs and other expenses, earnings climbed to 42 cents a share last quarter, beating the 37-cent average of analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Breza talks with Deirdre Bolton on Bloomberg Television’s “InsideTrack.” (Source: Bloomberg)

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Video: RBC’s Breza Says Hurd Could Succeed Ellison at Oracle: Video

September 8, 2010

Sept. 8 (Bloomberg) — Robert Breza, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets Corp., discusses the appointment of former Hewlett-Packard Co. Chief Executive Mark Hurd as co-president at Oracle Corp. and HP’s lawsuit seeking to block the hiring. Hurd resigned from HP last month over ethics violations. Breza speaks with Deirdre Bolton on Bloomberg Television’s “InsideTrack.” (Source: Bloomberg)

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Deep Yellow Limited (ASX:DYL) Appoints RBC Capital Markets as Global Lead Broker

August 30, 2010

Deep Yellow Limited (ASX:DYL) Appoints RBC Capital Markets as Global Lead Broker

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Video: RBC’s Cole Sees 23% Chance of Japan Moving to Weaken Yen

August 23, 2010

Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) — Adam Cole, head of global currency strategy at RBC Capital Markets, talks about the prospects for the yen and the likelihood Japan’s central bank will intervene to stem the currency’s gains. He speaks with Francine Lacqua on Bloomberg Television’s “Countdown.”

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Top Dems Break With Treasury Over Fannie, Freddie Losses

August 20, 2010

Congressman Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, sent a letter to the White House Friday, demanding the Federal Housing Finance Administration [FHFA] use all the powers at its disposal to recover some of the roughly $150 billion taxpayers lost to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac through bad loans purchased from private banks. The missive to President Obama comes just a week after Frank told HuffPost Hill the mortgage giants are all but obsolete: “A year from now, there won’t be a Fannie and Freddie. There won’t be those hybrids. But you will have the home loan banks. You’ll have the FHA [Federal Housing Administration], you’ll have Ginnie Mae, you’ll have some other types.” As HuffPost Hill first reported , on August 13 Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.) circulated a letter among colleagues in support of Ed DeMarco, the acting director of the FHFA, who has led the charge in subpoening banks for passing bad mortgages off onto Fannie and Freddie, and by extension, taxpayers. Reps. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.), chairman of the Subcommittee on Capital Markets, and Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) joined Miller in requesting that taxpayer funds be recovered to the greatest extent possible. Now Frank too is stepping forward. With the President set to nominate a new FHFA director, Frank and his colleagues are emphatic that the next FHFA pick follow in DeMarco’s footsteps, pursuing all legal paths to limit taxpayer losses. Frank writes in his letter to Obama: The losses suffered by Fannie and Freddie have created great cost for the taxpayers–almost $150 billion to date. These losses largely result from business decisions during the bubble years that were honest but flawed. Taxpayers have continued to suffer anew for poor underwriting by these companies during the bubble years. However, some of these losses result from deception. Private companies sold Fannie and Freddie loans or securities based on fraudulent documents. These transactions created private profits at public expense, and they should be fought with every tool at the companies’ and the agency’s disposal. These deals must not be allowed to get lost in the shuffle. I have been pleased at the steps both the FHFA and the companies have taken so far, but it must continue. The extraordinary measures taken to stabilize the financial system over the last two years were done for the benefit of ordinary Americans. We owe it to them to make every effort to make sure that the money is not diverted instead into the pockets of others. I hope you will continue to keep this in mind as you chart the future of FHFA and these companies. This message puts Frank and other top Democrats at odds with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. This week Geithner told attendees of a housing finance conference that it is no use crying over spilled milk; the government should focus on fixing the system to prevent a future financial crisis. “There is nothing we can do to decrease the significant losses Fannie and Freddie incurred ahead of this crisis,” Geithner told his audience Tuesday . “All we can do is to minimize the risk that they get worse.” Based on the current U.S. Census Bureau population estimates , what Geithner describes as unrecoverable ” losses ” break down to $483 for every man, woman and child in the country.

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Video: Nomura’s Darby Discusses Access to China Capital Markets: Video

August 17, 2010

Aug. 18 (Bloomberg) — Sean Darby, chief Asian equity strategist at Nomura Holdings Inc. in Hong Kong, talks about foreign investment in China’s capital market. China may be on the cusp of a “big bang” as it allows foreign investors increased access to its domestic capital markets, according to Nomura. The People’s Bank of China said yesterday overseas financial institutions will be allowed to invest yuan holdings in the nation’s interbank bond market in a pilot program to spur currency flows from abroad. Darby speaks with Linzie Janis on Bloomberg Television’s “Global Connection”. (Source: Bloomberg)

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Video: Craighead Likes Newcrest, Equinox, Atlas, Perseus Mining: Video

August 15, 2010

Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) — Grant Craighead, managing director and co-founder of Sydney-based research company Stock Resource, talks about Australian mining stocks. Global gold mining takeovers set a record this year with “chest-beating” miners chasing deals as the price of the metal surged, boosting fees at advisory banks BMO Capital Markets, HSBC Bank Plc and Merrill Lynch. (Source: Bloomberg)

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Video: Chick Says Events, Promotions Driving Consumer Spending: Video

August 13, 2010

Aug. 13 (Bloomberg) — Stephen Chick, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets & Co., talks with Bloomberg’s Julie Hyman about U.S. consumer spending trends and a recent Gallup poll that finds back-to-school sales have yet to increase this year. (Source: Bloomberg)

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Video: Miller Says Bank Stock Selloff `Overdone,’ Favors PNC: Video

August 13, 2010

Aug. 13 (Bloomberg) — Paul Miller, managing director at FBR Capital Markets, talks about the outlook for banking stocks, including Bank of America Corp. and PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Miller speaks with Erik Schatzker on Bloomberg Television’s “InsideTrack.” (Source: Bloomberg)

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Video: RBC’s Bank Likes Both News Corp., Time Warner Stock: Video

August 4, 2010

Aug. 5 (Bloomberg) — David Bank, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, talks with Bloomberg’s Rishaad Salamat about Time Warner Inc. and News Corp.’s financial results. News Corp., the owner of Fox News, reported a fourth-quarter profit of $875 million following a year-ago loss when the company wrote down the value of its Internet unit. Time Warner, owner of the TNT television channel and Time Inc., reported second-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates after cable-television and magazine advertising increased. (Source: Bloomberg)

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Video: Parpart Says `Lacklustre’ Economy Hurting Banks’ Revenue: Video

August 3, 2010

Aug. 4 (Bloomberg) — Uwe Parpart, chief economist and strategist for Asia at Cantor Fitzgerald HK Capital Markets, talks with Bloomberg’s Linzie Janis about the outlook for the global banking industry. Parpart, speaking from Hong Kong, also discusses HSBC Holdings Plc and Standard Chartered Plc’s financial performance. (Source: Bloomberg)

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Video: IMF’s Towe Sees `Wall’ of Maturing Debt for U.S. Banks: Video

July 30, 2010

July 30 (Bloomberg) — Christopher Towe, deputy director of monetary and capital markets at the International Monetary Fund, discusses the outlook for the U.S. financial system. The U.S. financial system remains fragile and banks subjected to additional economic stress might need as much as $76 billion in capital, according to the results of IMF stress tests. The findings, released today as part of a broader IMF report on the U.S. financial system, suggested that while the nation’s banking system is stable, it remains vulnerable. (Source: Bloomberg)

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Video: Illinois’s Vaught, Sinsheimer Discuss Tax-Increase Plans

July 30, 2010

July 30 (Bloomberg) — David Vaught, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn’s budget director, and John Sinsheimer, Quinn’s director of capital markets, spoke with Bloomberg’s Darrell Preston, Flynn McRoberts and Ken Kohn on July 28 about the state’s plan to increase individual and corporate income-tax rates. (Source: Bloomberg)

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