TODAY’S FAYRE –
Wednesday 14th November 2012
“April is the
cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the
dead land, mixing
Memory and desire,
stirring
Dull roots with
spring rain.
Winter kept us warm,
covering
Earth in forgetful
snow, feeding
A little life with
dried tubers.
Summer surprised us,
coming over the Starnbergersee
With a shower of
rain; we stopped in the colonnade,
And went on in
sunlight, into the Hofgarten,
And drank coffee, and
talked for an hour.
Bin gar keine Russin,
stamm' aus Litauen, echt deutsch.
And when we were
children, staying at the archduke's,
My cousin's, he took
me out on a sled,
And I was frightened.
He said, Marie,
Marie, hold on tight.
And down we went.
In the mountains,
there you feel free.
I read, much of the
night, and go south in the winter.
What are the roots
that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony
rubbish? Son of man,
You cannot say, or
guess, for you know only
A heap of broken
images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree
gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no
sound of water. Only
There is shadow under
this red rock,
(Come in under the
shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you
something different from either
Your shadow at
morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at
evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear
in a handful of dust.”
TS Eliot – poet &
author – 1888-1965
I absolutely love reading well written obituaries in the
Times or Telegraph. There was once such obituary on Monday – on Valerie
Fletcher, TS Eliot’s wife for 8 years in the twilight of his life, who started
out as his PA and ended up being his archiver and over-zealous guardian of his
literary legacy for the last 47 years. Despite the disparity in age this was a
very deep love affair. Every week, during their twelve year marriage, even
though they both lived under the same roof, Eliot took time out to write
Valerie a letter. If that isn’t
unrequited love, I’d like to know what is!
“If you can't convince them, confuse them!” - Harry S.
Truman – 33rd President of USA – 1884-1972 – The words of a true Democrat
President!
Yesterday was a very messy and rudderless session. It looked as though equities were going to
experience its 4th day of losses on the bounce.
Lack of clarity over the Greek bail-out – when the facility was going to
be available, the spat with the IMF on the two year extension requested and who
would pick up the tab in terms of any future hair-cuts, gave equities no
guidance, sent bond yields north and the Euro south. Then by mid-afternoon, rumours abounded that
Merkel and Schauble were comfortable in letting Greece have the entire €40
billion next week, if the austerity criteria and financial disciplines were
met. What that is supposed to mean,
Heaven only knows! We’ll leave the
deciphering of this message to the modern day Bletchley code breakers! This
Greek saga continues to reel around like ‘Widow Twanky on ice!’ Anyway from a
practical standpoint, equities took hold of the bit and erased the day’s
losses, with the FTSE 100 ending the session up 18 points. The ugly sights seen
of protestations concerning austerity measures in European cities is likely to
increase today with demonstrations expected in Barcelona, Madrid, Malta,
Lisbon, Athens, Sardinia and Brussels. The message is getting stronger.
UK Inflation numbers posted yesterday will be a thorn in the
side of the government and the BOE.
Inflation rose from 2.2% to 2.7% last month thanks to rising food prices
and tuition fees. Next month increases
in utility charges at an average of 9% may add 0.3% to inflation taking it to
3%. It will be interesting to hear
comments on the BOE’s quarterly inflation report due out this morning at
10.30am.
Yesterday, just as an aide de memoire, Vodafone posted
disappointing results as a result of a measurable drop in business in Italy and
Spain – stock down 2.4%. ITV posted
great numbers despite flat advertising revenues – shares up 7%. On the Street of Dreams the DOW closed down
59 points. After hours Cisco posted
quarterly numbers – The San Jose based networking giant said its net income
increased 18% to $2.1 billion in its fiscal first quarter. Results included one-time charges totalling
$500 million. Excluding these charges, Cisco earned 48 cents per share against
expectations of 46 cents. Sales rose
5.5% to $11.9 billion, topping analysts' forecasts of $11.8 billion.
Asia did not look like it would bring very much to the party
today apart from the Hang Seng adding 0.9% this morning and the fact that Intel
is rumoured to be considering a $400 million rescue investment in Sharpe. Also Xi and Li look like they will be appointed
the next head honchos in China early next week.
Australia saw its best Consumer Confidence number in 19 months. The housing market has improved and retail is
on the march thanks to falling interest rates. The Yen slumped today thanks in
the main to Noda-San, Japan’s deeply unpopular PM announcing that he may
dissolve the Dial and call an election on Friday. 64% of Japan disapproves of Noda-san’s
leadership.
The best news of the day came from BP. In the wake of the ongoing litigation in the
Gulf of Mexico, which is likely to cost the oil titan $20 billion plus, news
emerged from Russia that Bob Dudley’s board had settled its unpleasant row with
the 50% oligarch owned stake (AAR) in TNK-BP at a modest cost of $325 million. This has resulted in BP divesting itself from
its stake in TNK to Rosneft. BP will
have a 20% stake in Rosneft and a cheque for $24 billion. Let the party begin
in the Arctic. Also BP may partake in
Gazprom’s plans to build a pipeline from Russia to the UK.
BAT will continue its battle with HMRC to repatriate some £7
billion of excess tax. Tomorrow we should hear the names of the 208 members of
Barclays’ staff who may be embroiled in the LIBOR rate fixing allegations.
There is a strong feeling emanating from the US that the growth party in China,
Brazil and India may be coming to an abrupt end before too long. Talking of
growth the outgoing Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner chucked his ‘two-cents
worth’ over the proposed increase in taxation for the wealthy. He says it only affects 2% of the population
and they should swallow it and thus allowing growth to pick up. I think Mr G might forgets how influential
that 2% is. Watching the horse trading
to prevent the Fiscal cliff falling over should prove great theatre in the
weeks to come. However at the end of the
day, there will be a compromise to allow the gargantuan level of debt to be
cut.
J Sainsbury announced a 4% increase in sales for the 1st
half with like for like sales up by 1.7%. Cost cutting had contributed to a better
than expected profit of £405 million against expectations of £371m. Unlike E.on
yesterday RWE posted better than expected results. ICAP reports H1 profit falls
to £50m down 50% and states that it is not possible to predict the scope or
outcome of the Libor probe, and also does not expect an imminent market
improvement. Barratt Developments
reports that private forward sales have gained 21.1% to £768.5m and that it
sees significant profitability increase in 2013. WH Smith announces 10 week
sales fell 3% and that it is well positioned for continued profitable growth
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