Article: FOCUS-Results tally up billions in profit from Texas freeze for gas and power sellers

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FOCUS-Results tally up billions in profit from Texas freeze for gas and power sellers

Devika Krishna Kumar, Scott DiSavino and Jessica Resnick-Ault, 06 May 2021

Natural gas suppliers, pipeline companies and banks that trade commodities have emerged as the biggest market winners from February’s U.S. winter blast that roiled gas and power markets, according to more than two dozen interviews and quarterly earnings reports.

The deep freeze caught Texas’s utilities off-guard, killed more than 100 people and left 4.5 million without power. Demand for heat pushed wholesale power costs to 400 times the usual amount and propelled natural gas prices to record highs, forcing utilities and consumers to pay exorbitant bills. Continue reading “Article: FOCUS-Results tally up billions in profit from Texas freeze for gas and power sellers”

Article: Hedge Funds Bet On Higher Oil Prices

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Hedge Funds Bet On Higher Oil Prices

Tsvetana Paraskova, 05 May 2021

Money managers intimate a growing confidence that oil prices have room to run higher this year, thanks to expectations of a robust economic rebound and rising global demand for crude.

Last week, hedge funds added the most bullish positions in the oil complex in more than two and a half months, with the net long in crude oil futures jumping to the highest in six weeks. Continue reading “Article: Hedge Funds Bet On Higher Oil Prices”

Article: UBS Joins Morgan Stanley With Surprise $861 Million Archegos Hit

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UBS Joins Morgan Stanley With Surprise $861 Million Archegos Hit

Marion Halftermeyer, 27 April 2021

UBS Group AG disclosed an $861 million hit from the implosion of Archegos Capital Management and vowed to improve risk management, joining Morgan Stanley in blindsiding investors who’d been kept in the dark for weeks about the size of the losses.

The loss, mostly booked in the first quarter, overshadowed a better-than-expected profit, with strong performance in the key wealth management business. Chief Executive Officer Ralph Hamers said while the bank will require more transparency from clients to prevent such losses in the future, he defended the business with hedge funds as “strategic” and said he had no plans to follow rival Credit Suisse Group AG in cutting back lending.

“Clearly, we are very disappointed at this situation,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. “We are reviewing the different prime brokerage relationships, as well as the GFO — the family office relationships.” Continue reading “Article: UBS Joins Morgan Stanley With Surprise $861 Million Archegos Hit”

Article: Banks Raise $34 Billion to Comply with SEC Rule, Effective Today

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Banks Raise $34 Billion to Comply with SEC Rule, Effective Today

Tim Fries, 22 April 2021

Having the collateral to cover stock trading is important to oil the market cogs. With margin trading, it is critical, a lesson learned the hard way from “Bill” Hwang last month. From today, the SEC will decide which brokerages failed to cover their securities trading, and what punishments it will dish out.

What is SEC Rule 15c3-3?
Even free market absolutists understand that rules of the playing field have to be followed to maintain the ecosystem. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is the final arbiter in this arena. Although this regulatory agency too suffers from the “revolving door” syndrome, on paper, the SEC is in charge of ensuring market participants play fairly. Continue reading “Article: Banks Raise $34 Billion to Comply with SEC Rule, Effective Today”

Article: Why China ‘Bad Bank’ Huarong’s Fall Is Big Bad News: QuickTake

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Why China ‘Bad Bank’ Huarong’s Fall Is Big Bad News: QuickTake

Rebecca Choong Wilkins, 18April 2021

What happens when a company set up by the Chinese government to help clean up toxic debt in the country’s banking system gets into trouble itself? We’re finding out now. Investors were spooked in April after China Huarong Asset Management Co., one of the country’s biggest distressed asset managers, failed to release financial statements in the wake of the execution of its former top executive for bribery. That raised questions about its financial health — and broader worries about whether China would let an institution backed by the central government fail. The ending of a presumed safety net that’s long been priced into Chinese bond values would mean a seismic shift for investors across emerging markets. Continue reading “Article: Why China ‘Bad Bank’ Huarong’s Fall Is Big Bad News: QuickTake”

Article: Pension Fund Drops Suit Against Tesla Over $1.8B Bond Offer

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Pension Fund Drops Suit Against Tesla Over $1.8B Bond Offer

Rachel Stone, 16 April 2021

A pension fund voluntarily ended its proposed class action against Tesla and its multibillionaire founder, Elon Musk, which claimed the automaker and a group of big banks acting as underwriters misled investors on a $1.8 billion bond offering.

Inter-Local Pension Fund GCC/IBT has bowed out of its securities fraud suit in California federal court following a decision in the Ninth Circuit in March not to rehear a related case, according to a notice filed Thursday. Continue reading “Article: Pension Fund Drops Suit Against Tesla Over $1.8B Bond Offer”

Article: Morgan Stanley reveals nearly $1B loss from Archegos implosion

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Morgan Stanley reveals nearly $1B loss from Archegos implosion

Reuters, 16 April 2021

Morgan Stanley lost nearly $1 billion from the collapse of family office Archegos Capital Management, the bank said Friday, muddying its 150 percent jump in first-quarter profit that was powered by a boom in trading and deal-making.

Morgan Stanley was one of several banks that had exposure to Archegos, which defaulted on margin calls late last month and triggered a fire sale of stocks across Wall Street. Continue reading “Article: Morgan Stanley reveals nearly $1B loss from Archegos implosion”

Article: Senate Banking Chair Probes Banks Over Archegos Collapse

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Senate Banking Chair Probes Banks Over Archegos Collapse

Dean Seal, 08 April 2021

The chairman of the Senate Banking Committee is asking Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street giants that brokered for Bill Hwang’s Archegos Capital Management to explain their involvement in the fund’s high-profile collapse.

In letters released Thursday, Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, told higher-ups at the Swiss bank, Goldman, Morgan Stanley and Nomura that he was “troubled, but not surprised” that risky derivatives transactions between the banks and Hwang’s generally unregulated family office were connected to a shocking multibillion-dollar firesale on stocks in late March. Continue reading “Article: Senate Banking Chair Probes Banks Over Archegos Collapse”

Article: Can Credit Suisse Avoid Becoming The ‘Deutsche Bank’ Of Switzerland?

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Can Credit Suisse Avoid Becoming The ‘Deutsche Bank’ Of Switzerland?

TYLER DURDEN, 08 April 2021

Markets were shaken but unstirred by the collapse of Greensill and the Archegos unwind trades. Credit Suisse is the ultimate loser of the two scandals – reputationally damaged and holed below the water line. The bank is paying the price of years of flawed management, poor risk awareness. and its self-belief it was still a Tier 1 global player. Its’ challenge is to avoid becoming the Deutsche Bank of Switzerland – which it will struggle to do without a radical and unlikely shakeout. Continue reading “Article: Can Credit Suisse Avoid Becoming The ‘Deutsche Bank’ Of Switzerland?”

Article: Is Another Family Office Blowing Up: JPM Dumps 9MM Share Block Of ASO After Hours

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Is Another Family Office Blowing Up: JPM Dumps 9MM Share Block Of ASO After Hours

TYLER DURDEN, 07 April 2021

In the aftermath of the Archegos blow up, the biggest nightmare on Wall Street – where there is never just one cockroach – is that (many) more Archegos-style, highly levered “family office” blow ups are waiting just around the corner.

Well, in a transaction after the close that is sure to spark much heated controversy tonight and tomorrow morning, Bloomberg announced that JPMorgan was offering a 9 million block of Academy Sports and Outdoors (ASO) stock. Since this is virtually identical to what happened two Fridays ago when similar public BWICs by Goldman and other banks proceeded to unwind the Archegos portfolio, the immediate question on everyone’s lips is whether a second highly levered family office has blown up. Continue reading “Article: Is Another Family Office Blowing Up: JPM Dumps 9MM Share Block Of ASO After Hours”

Article: Goldman Bought $100M Of Deliveroo Shares During “Worst IPO Ever”…And Still Made Money

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Goldman Bought $100M Of Deliveroo Shares During “Worst IPO Ever”…And Still Made Money

TYLER DURDEN, 07 April 2021

Goldman Sachs managed to avoid billions of dollars in potential losses from the implosion of highly levered hedge fund Archegos Capital Management by breaking ranks with other syndicate banks to dump large blocks of shares representing Archegos’s exposure to a coterie of tech and media names. When the dust settled, the bank told shareholders any losses would be insignificant, while Credit Suisse, the bank with perhaps the biggest exposure, said Tuesday it has booked a nearly $5 billion loss. Continue reading “Article: Goldman Bought $100M Of Deliveroo Shares During “Worst IPO Ever”…And Still Made Money”

Article: “A Gigantic Clusterf**k”: How Morgan Stanley Avoided $10BN In Archegos Losses By Selling First

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“A Gigantic Clusterf**k”: How Morgan Stanley Avoided $10BN In Archegos Losses By Selling First

TYLER DURDEN, 07 April 2021

One week ago, in our initial take on the biggest hedge fund collapse since LTCM, we explained that – in our view – the catalyst for the failure of the Archegos hedge fund, which had as much as 10x leverage allowing it to hold some $100BN in positions, was Morgan Stanley and Goldman breaking ranks with their fellow prime brokers, and sparking the biggest margin call since Lehman and AIG.

Turns out we were right. Continue reading “Article: “A Gigantic Clusterf**k”: How Morgan Stanley Avoided $10BN In Archegos Losses By Selling First”

Article: Crypto Lobby Forms to Shake Reputation as Criminals’ Currency

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Crypto Lobby Forms to Shake Reputation as Criminals’ Currency

Joe Light, 06 April 2021

Even as cryptocurrencies steadily gain support on Wall Street, they’re still regarded by regulators as a tool for criminals to conceal shady transactions — posing a challenge to the nascent industry as it seeks to win wider respect.

That’s creating a potentially lucrative opportunity for new groups in Washington advocating for digital currencies. Some prominent crypto lobbying organizations say they’ve increased their membership and raised millions of dollars to help improve the industry’s image. Continue reading “Article: Crypto Lobby Forms to Shake Reputation as Criminals’ Currency”

Article: Man Group Dials Up Short Bets as Turkey Stirs Fragile Five Fears

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Man Group Dials Up Short Bets as Turkey Stirs Fragile Five Fears

Ben Bartenstein, 03 April 2021

The market meltdown following Turkey’s central-bank shakeup is reviving a longtime debate among the world’s largest money managers and Ivy League economists over the vulnerability of developing nations.

Doomsayers including Man Group Plc, the world’s biggest publicly listed hedge-fund firm, and the Institute of International Finance’s chief economist Robin Brooks warn that the turmoil battering Turkish securities could ripple across emerging markets in a repeat of the 2013 taper tantrum. Yet that gloomy scenario isn’t the dominant narrative in the hallways of Pacific Investment Management Co., BlackRock Inc. and Ashmore Group Plc, which have some of the largest exposures to the nations that might be next in the crosshairs. Continue reading “Article: Man Group Dials Up Short Bets as Turkey Stirs Fragile Five Fears”

Article: Deliveroo Debut Declared “Worst IPO In London’s History”, Sign Of Amsterdam’s Growing Dominance

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Deliveroo Debut Declared “Worst IPO In London’s History”, Sign Of Amsterdam’s Growing Dominance

TYLER DURDEN, 02 April 2021

It’s official: the Financial Times (citing an informal polling of anonymous bankers) has declared Deliveroo’s botched London offering the “worst IPO in London’s history.”

As we reported yesterday, shares of the food-delivery competitor, which is struggling to grow market share at all costs in a battle for survival with Uber Eats and “Just Eat Takeaway”, tanked in their public-markets debut, sliding 31% after pricing at the bottom of their range. Bankers immediately started complaining to reporters about being misled by Deliveroo’s bankers, who had initially bragged that the company would price at the high end of the range. The debut, marketed as a major coup for the LSE and London markets, which are struggling for European supremacy with Euronext Amsterdam, more generally, has turned into a major embarrassment for the industry. Continue reading “Article: Deliveroo Debut Declared “Worst IPO In London’s History”, Sign Of Amsterdam’s Growing Dominance”

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