Is the Italian asset management industry entering its roaring years? In this report we try to analyze the current situation and to find an answer to this question. First, we focus our attention on the typical financial portfolio of Italian households. We will see how it can be broken down Read more…
In 2014 oil prices crashed. In June 2014, the price of Western Texas Intermediate[1] oil was $115.12 while in December it was $53.77. There are several reasons for abrupt decline in price. The main cause was the rapid supply growth which overwhelmed moderate demand. The political turmoil in Iraq and Read more…
After weeks of firm bull sentiment, major equity markets (especially European ones) have experienced a fast correction that, although small compared to the incredible year-to-date performance, has started to disturb the overall view of investors. Such a movement has coincided with a rebound on the EUR/USD, which postponed the breakout Read more…
US It was a busy week for many economies around the world and especially the US had its share of important monthly data coming in. US equity and bond markets were driven primarily by monthly US non-farm payroll (NFP) and unemployment rate. Economists’ average forecasts were for a net 224,000 Read more…
Telecity; Market Cap (as of 8/5/2015): £2.22bn Interxion; Market Cap (as of8/5/2015): $2.05bn Equinix; Market Cap (as of 8/5/2015): $15.17bn Digital Reality; Market Cap (as of 8/5/2015): $8.3bn Introduction On May 8, Telecity, a British data center operator, received a cash and stock offer of £2.3bn from its US Read more…
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc.; market cap (as of 09/05/2015): $32.54bn Synageva Biopharma Corp.; market cap (as of 09/05/2015): $7.91bn Introduction On May 6, 2015, Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ALXN), the manufacturer of the world’s single most expensive prescription drug Soliris, and Synageva BioPharma Corp. (NASDAQ:GEVA) have entered into a definitive agreement Read more…
The Move. The PBoC has recently cut the Required Reserve Ratio (RRR) to 18.5%. The RRR represents the portion of cash that banks must deposit with the central bank. The size of the cut has been 100 basis point, double the expected 0.50%. A cut of the RRR represents a Read more…
US US equities failed to push through record territory and retreated from last Friday’s all-time high driven down by disappointing earnings reports and poor economic data. On Friday, the S&P 500 closed down at 2,108.29 from its Monday record peak of 2,125. Nasdaq Composite, the tech-heavy index, fell to 5,005.39 Read more…
After our last week’s report on the NASDAQ, we further analyse PE ratios, their meaning and the factors that drive them this week Researchers from the NY Fed have raised the point that the Equity Risk Premium (ERP) – conceptually defined as the excess return expected from investing into stocks Read more…
Introduction As the financial system stabilises after the recent crisis, three distinct business models are emerging. First, focused retail institutions with a specific offering of products and services, such as American regional banks and Europe’s savings banks. Second, investment banks which also operate asset management businesses and private equity investments. Read more…
Comcast Corporation, Market Cap (as of 30/04/2015): $145.2bn Time Warner Cable Enterprises, Market Cap (as of 30/04/2015): $43.94bn Introduction The dream of combining the two American giant companies Comcast and Time Warner Cable has come to an end. On April 17, Comcast officially dropped its $45.2bn bid for TWC Read more…
Bitcoin Imagine you could send your money from one part of the world to another in a matter of minutes and without paying outrageous fees to the banks. Bitcoin is an innovative way to do this. It was invented by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008 and published as open-source software. Bitcoin Read more…
Nomad Holdings Ltd.; market cap (as of 01/05/2015): $576.72m Introduction On April 20, 2015 Nomad Holdings Limited (LSE: NHL), a special purpose acquisition vehicle, announced an agreement to acquire for €2.6bn, Iglo Foods Holdings Limited (Iglo Foods), from a company backed by the private equity group Permira. The acquisition would Read more…