TODAY’S FAYRE – Tuesday, 8th January 2013
“Woman much missed, how you call to me, call to me,
Saying that now you are not as you were
When you had changed from the one who was all to
me,
But as at first, when our day was fair.
Can it be you that I hear? Let me view you, then,
Standing as when I drew near to the town
Where you would wait for me: yes, as I knew you
then,
Even to the original air-blue gown!
Or is it only the breeze, in its listlessness
Travelling across the wet mead1
to me here,
You being ever dissolved to wan wistlessness,
Heard no more again far or near?”
Woman much missed, how you call to me,
call to me,
Saying that now you are not as you were
When you had changed from the one who
was all to me,
But as at first, when our day was fair.
Can it be you that I hear? Let me view
you, then,
Standing as when I drew near to the town
Where you would wait for me: yes, as I
knew you then,
Even to the original air-blue gown!
Or is it only the breeze, in its
listlessness
Travelling across the wet mead to me
here,
You being ever dissolved to wan
wistlessness,
Heard no more again far or near?
Thus
I; faltering forward,
Leaves
around me falling,
Wind oozing thin through the thorn from
norward,
And
the woman calling.
Woman much missed, how you call to me,
call to me,
Saying that now you are not as you were
When you had changed from the one who
was all to me,
But as at first, when our day was fair.
Can it be you that I hear? Let me view
you, then,
Standing as when I drew near to the town
Where you would wait for me: yes, as I
knew you then,
Even to the original air-blue gown!
Or is it only the breeze, in its
listlessness
Travelling across the wet mead to me
here,
You being ever dissolved to wan
wistlessness,
Heard no more again far or near?
Thus
I; faltering forward,
Leaves
around me falling,
Wind oozing thin through the thorn from
norward,
And
the woman calling.
Thomas Hardy – poet & author – 1840-1928
Whilst we wait to see if John Kerry is proposed and confirmed as the new
Secretary of State to replace Hillary Rodham-Clinton, President Obama has not
wasted any time by staying in the controversial limelight in naming Ex-Senator
Chuck Hagel to succeed Leon Panatta as Defence Secretary. Hagel is a 66
year old Republican who is often accused by his co-GOP members for being tough
on Israel and weak on Iran. It is unlikely that the GOP will challenge
Hagel’s nomination, but he will find his critics including John McCain waiting
in the wings to challenge his authority. John Brennan’s likely
appointment as head of the CIA will also have his adversaries. Mr Brennan
has supposedly been a fierce advocate of interrogation techniques. Again he is
not expected to be officially opposed.
The Cameron/Clegg Circus upgraded its plans for the future with pithy
panache – still very little in the way of ‘meat-on-the-bone!’ They both
get dix points for presentational skills, but the electorate is still none the
wiser as to what the coalition stands for apart from rather obvious platitudes,
which most members of the human race would have empathy with. With just 30
months to go until the general election both leaders will need to start
focusing on their respective party’s policies.
It is not very surprising that Sir Mervyn King attempted to grab the
headlines with news of the first ever global agreement on minimum liquidity
requirements for banks courtesy of the Basel 111 agreement. The banks
themselves were given plenty of concessions only having to meet 60% of the
criteria by 2015 – the rest to follow in 2019. This seemed a very sensible
accord, hopefully providing some stimulus for the economic recovery whilst
mildly watering down the inevitable draconian cost to the banking sector, which
will of course get passed on to the consumer! Make no mistake the cost will be
considerable! Also the Central banks will eventually be taken out of the
firing line as the market’s main supplier of liquidity, leaving them there as
the lender of last resort – its regular function!
Yesterday the FTSE 100 eased by 25 points to 6064. It might well
have been more but for the news on bank liquidity. Much of it was already
in the market, but Barclays, the only recognised UK bank with exposure to
investment banking saw its share price rise like the proverbial grilse – up 10%
to 287p and up 98% since July last year 148p! Lloyds added 1.2%. Forget
HSBC in these calculations as its liquidity requirements are not acute for
it. They get bundles of deposits from all over the world. National
Grid and Centrica both lost 2% yesterday. Centrica’s drop coincided with
the CEO Sam Laidlaw’s spat with BG’s CEO Philip Bentley, which resulted in the
latter leaving. Mr Laidlaw was very unhappy with the manner in which BG
has raised prices for the consumer in the last 5 years – up 84% on average gas
and electricity bill from £735 to £1353.
The Street of Dreams had a neutral session last night with the DOW and
S&P 500 easing by 0.3% and the NASDAQ by 0.1%. Yum
Brands! Dropped by 5% after hours as it announced that sales in China are down
by 6% in Q4 from the previous time (-4%). The US banks have finally settled
their litigation on mortgages with Fannie Mae and clients to the tune of $20
billion for misrepresentation and cutting corners on foreclosures. Bank
of America’s share is $11 billion. Wells Fargo, JP Morgan and Citigroup
were also involved. The news had already been priced in; in fact BOA share
price rose a tad! Today the following companies post numbers - Alcoa Inc,
Monsanto Co, Apollo Group Inc.
The most interesting piece of corporate news this morning was the
appointment of Mark Cutifani of Goldfields Ashanti as CEO of Anglo-American
replacing Cynthia Carroll. On the face of it this strikes me as a first
class appointment. Though an Australian by birth, he has spent many years
in Africa and is well acquainted with South African politicians and is aware of
the sensitive nature of the poor labour relations. He also passes muster
with Public Investment Corporation, which is Anglo’s largest shareholder. Anglo
American controls 40% of the world’s production of platinum as well as being
prominent in gold and iron ore.
Anglo-American has been accused of being behind the curve in comparison
to BHP and Rio Tinto. Perhaps is not unreasonable to suggest that it was a bit
of a mongrel in terms of focus. However having IPO’d Mondi and sold off
its share of Tarmac to Arcelor Mittal and having acquired the balance of De Beers
diamonds last year for $5.1 billion perhaps the company will be in a position
to concentrate on mining and expand its base further than South Africa and
Brazil. Though Aaron Regent of Barrick Gold, Chris Griffiths, head of platinum
at AAL and Chip Goodyear were all touted for this prestigious position,
Cutifani seems to be the inspired selection.
NEWS IN BRIEF –
VODAFONE – Rumours abound that Verizon is considering a deal to buy out
its stake. The ADR market in New York had its chain rattled last night –
PURE RUMOUR
Samsung announces Q4 earnings ahead of the expectations and up to a
fresh record as sales of its smart phones continued to gain strongly, despite
the launch of the iPhone 5. Despite the quality of the earnings, profit
takers strode in to the ring.
Debenhams states that it has posted its highest ever December sales,
with 18 week Like-for-like sales up 2.9% ahead of the forecasts, and that
online sales are ahead of the expectations
Balfour Beatty details that it is budgeting for tough market conditions
and that trading has been in line. Ian Tyler will be handing over as CEO to
Andrew McNaughton
Domino’s Pizza announces 53 week system sales gained 12.7% and that its
full year profit is seen coming in line, and details it opened 69 stores in the
full year
Persimmon announces that its CEO is to retire as 2012 revenues gained
12% to £1.72bn, and that average home prices gained 6% in 2012
Interserve is confident of its ability to make progress in 2013
Rexam announces a return of cash to shareholders,
around £395m in total, 45p/share
Economic data -
UK BRC Sales Like-For-Like y/y, 0.4% previous
10:00 Euro-Zone Consumer Confidence, -26.6 exp.
-26.6 previous
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