MARKET CURRENTS
real-time news and commentary for investors
MARKET CURRENTS
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Today - Thursday, May 23, 2013
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7:35 AM Following Dimon's big victory, it's back to business at JPMorgan (JPM) and a subsidiary - JPMorgan International Bank - is today fined £3.1M (not a typo) by U.K. authorities for systems and controls failings related to its provision of retail-investment advice and portfolio-investment services. Shares -1.2% premarket, inline with the broader market swoon. Comment!
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6:56 AM Prepping for the government possibly classifying it as a "systematically important financial institution," AIG is on the lookout to hire a director with regulatory experience. On the list are those who have run regulated financials as well as former regulators, according to sources. It's a new regulatory day, and an insurance company whose board is heavy with insurance people won't cut it anymore. Comment!
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6:42 AM More on TD Bank (TD) FQ2 earnings: Adjusted EPS of $1.90 vs. $1.78 a year ago. Canadian retail banking net income of $877M up 5% Y/Y. U.S. retail banking net income of $392M up 9%. Wholesale banking net income of $220M up 12%. Provision for credit loses of 0.39%, up from 0.35% last quarter, 0.37% a year ago. Tier 1 capital ratio of 10.8%. Book value/share of $50.18 vs. $45.19 a year ago. Bank has applied to repurchase up to 12M shares on TSX, more than 1% of the float. (PR) Comment!
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Wednesday, May 22, 2013
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10:09 PM More P-E insiders cash in as Oaktree Capital (OAK) prices an upsized secondary (to 7M units from 6M) at $53.50 per share. The greenshoe option is for 15%, 1.05M shares. The company is using the proceeds to take out selling insiders. Two weeks ago, Apollo Global (APO) strategic investors and managing partners offered up 21.1M shares, and its CEO Leon Black has let it be known - now is the time to harvest. OAK -0.3% to $54.25 AH. 1 Comment
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7:13 PM Lender Processing Services (LPS) is the subject of acquisition talks with Fidelity National (FNF) and buyout shop Thomas H. Lee, with a price tag of about $2.9B, the WSJ reports. Fidelity National was LPS' parent until a 2008 spinoff; a deal would not only bring the service provider back into FNF's umbrella, but mark the latest of many deals Fidelity's made with Thomas H. Lee. The deal values LPS at about $33/share; it closed Wednesday at $29.11. 2 Comments
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6:00 PM AvalonBay Communities (AVB) announces a 7.9M share at-the-market secondary public stock offering by Jupiter Enterprise, an indirect subsidiary of Lehman Brothers Holding. 14.9M shares were issued to Jupiter in connection with the company's acquisition of a portion of the Archstone apartment community portfolio in February 2013. The seller stockholder will receive all of the proceeds. Shares -0.8% AH. Comment!
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3:33 PM Flagstar Bancorp (FBC) becomes the lastest bank to consider selling mortgage servicing rights, reportedly interviewing banks to manage the sale of more than $70B in MSRs. The business is lucrative once a certain scale is reached, but new rules force banks to hold more capital against MSRs, so lenders from BofA on down have been sellers. Specialty servicers like OCN, NSM, WAC, and NRZ aren't bound by such rules and have been happy buyers. Comment!
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3:04 PM Don't look for immediate changes to JPMorgan's (JPM +1.6%) board, according to bank sources, following lead director Lee Raymond's hint to "stay tuned" at yesterday's annual meeting. Three of the bank's 4 risk committee members squeaked by with less than 60% of the vote. The stock hits a 52-week high today as investors applaud shareholders backing away from the ledge by not coming anywhere near separating the Chairman and CEO roles. Comment!
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2:58 PM National Bank of Greece (NBG -4.6%) will raise €1.17B of a necessary €9.75B capital hole with a 2.2:1 rights issue at €4.29/share (adjusted for a 1:10 reverse split). The rights will trade in Athens from May 30-June 7 and NBG's current common shares will be suspended from May 24 to allow the reverse split to clear - trading to resume on May 30. After more than doubling in a month, shares are off 43% over the past few sessions. 4 Comments
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12:18 PM Morgan Stanley (MS) joins a big group raising money to invest in global infrastructure, reports Bloomberg, with plans to soon begin raising $4B for a fund. The new fund from MS Infrastructure Partners would be the same size as a 2008 fund, though the team there doesn't bear a ton of resemblance to what it looked like back then. Comment!
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12:00 PM After more than tripling since its (unloved) IPO 14 months ago, Nationstar Mortgage (NSM) is the subject of a glowing writeup in Forbes - "A jewel in Fortress' (FIG) portfolio." Mortgage servicing is recognized as a great business now and Nationstar - along with Fortress-owned Newcastle (NCT, NRZ) - Ocwen (OCN) and Walter (WAC) are currently the favorites of the mortgage gorillas, Fannie and Freddie. 2 Comments
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11:41 AM Neither Lloyds (LYG +1.9%) not Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS +1.5%) will need to sell shares or accept more government aid as the U.K.'s banking regulator signs off on using future earnings and asset sales to fill capital holes. The banks "have advanced their plans to a position where disclosure is appropriate," says the Prudential Regulation Authority. Comment!
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10:16 AM New Residential (NRZ) is initiated a Buy with $7.50 price target at Credit Suisse following its spinoff from Newcastle (NCT -1.4%). Earlier, Newcastle was downgraded to Hold at KBW. Comment!
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9:58 AM Newcastle Investment (NCT -2.5%) continues a bit of a post NRZ-spinoff tumble as KBW downgrades from Buy to Hold with price target of $5.50. The combined value of the two now stands at $12.44, roughly the level just ahead of the spinoff. 4 Comments
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9:51 AM Leon Black's strategy of "selling everything not nailed down" while at the same time raising new investment funds seems to be working as Apollo Global (APO) is the best-performing (on a Y/Y basis) of the alternative-asset stocks. "Apollo has aggressively entered harvesting mode and you're seeing shareholders reap the benefits," says CS's Howard Chen, who has a Buy rating. Also in the top 5 were FIG, BX, and KKR, while CG and BAM scraped the bottom. In between are relative newcomers OAK and OZM. Comment!
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9:40 AM A favorite of value investors, Symetra Financial (SYA) just repurchased about 5% of its float - buying 6.1M shares from an affiliate of Vestar Capital Partners (director Sandy Levy) at $13.43 each. The board boosted the 10M share buyback program by 6M to accommodate the purchase. Book value as of March 31 was $18.32/share. Comment!
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