Market Currents

• Wednesday, December 9, 2009

• 10:19 AM T. Rowe Price (TROW) asks for regulatory approval to launch actively-managed stock and bond ETFs, the first time a leading stock fund manager has decided to jump into the active ETF space (bond manager Pimco (AZ) launched an actively-managed bond ETF (MINT) last month). Matt Hougan thinks the active ETF party's just getting started. Comment!

• Monday, November 30, 2009

• 07:14 AM Thirty giant financial institutions were selected by the FSB for cross-border systemic-risk oversight, and will be asked to write "living wills" that outline wind-down plans in the aftermath of a crisis. They include: AEG AXA AZ BAC BCS BFR CS DB GS HBC ING JPM MFG MTU NMR RBS RY STD UBS. 1 Comment

• Friday, August 7, 2009

• 04:17 AM Allianz (AZ): Q2 profit -16% to €1.87B ($2.68B). Investment income +38% Y/Y to €6.46B. Comment!

• Wednesday, July 8, 2009

• 10:26 AM A federal appeals judge rejects Pimco's (AZ) attempt to block investors for suing it for trying to corner the market in 10-year T-note futures in 2005, which they say cost them $600M. Comment!

• Wednesday, June 10, 2009

• 09:42 AM The Air France crash that killed 228 people could be the most costly airline disaster since 2001 as Air France's pool of insurers, including Axa (AXA), Allianz (AZ) and AIG (AIG), compensate victims' families and pay for the loss of the plane. Comment!

• Wednesday, May 13, 2009

• 07:56 AM The Treasury will notify a group of asset managers today they've been selected to oversee the first wave of PPIP funds. The firms, which likely include BlackRock (BLK) and Allianz's (AZ) Pacific Investment Management Co., will then negotiate with the Treasury over the structure of their proposed funds. Comment!
• 07:42 AM Allianz (AZ): Q1 profit -97% after selling Dresdner Bank at a loss and the value of its investments fell. Net income fell to €29M ($39.7M) from €1.15B the year before. CEO Michael Diekmann is refocusing on Allianz's insurance operations. Shares -7.8% premarket. Comment!

• Thursday, April 30, 2009

• 09:04 AM Premarket gainers: MGM +55%. HGSI +28%. PCX +22%. AEG +20%. LVS +19%. FSLR +15%. DOW +14%. MPEL +12%. ARRS +11%. ING +11%. IP +10%. ESLR +10%. DRYS +9%. BCS +9%. AKAM +9%. SRZ +9%. OMX +8%. CMCSA +8%. SOL 8%. SOLF +8%. ACAS +8%. JASO +8%. SPWRA +8%. LDK +7%. RFMD +7%. UBS +7%. TYC +6%. AIB +8%. HBAN +6%. FITB +6%. WYNN +6%. RAD +6%. HBC +6%. AZ +6%. TSM +6%. RF +6%. ETFC +6%. ORLY +5%. LSI +5%. GM +5%. BAC +5%. MTL +5%. CTXS +5%. C +5%. Comment!

• Friday, March 27, 2009

• 14:41 PM At least three fund managers (BLK, AZ, LM) are readying funds that will take advantage of various parts of the government's private/public toxic-asset program - offering the small guys a chance to get in on the action. 2 Comments

• Thursday, March 26, 2009

• 15:09 PM New York Times (NYT) sues the Fed and Treasury for their foot-dragging on responding to Freedom of Information Act requests. The paper wants access to records of who Bernanke and Paulson consulted with in creating TARP, and how BlackRock (BLK), Pimco (AZ), Goldman Sachs (GS) and Wellington were chosen to manage parts of the bailout. 2 Comments

• Thursday, March 12, 2009

• 09:01 AM Premarket losers: MTG -23%. MT -6%. AAUK -6%. SPWRA -5%. VIP -5%. BCS -5%. GILD -4%. X -3%. AZ -3%. BHP -3%. Comment!

• Thursday, February 26, 2009

• 09:00 AM Premarket gainers: LYG +23%. RBS +21%. FITB +19%. DRYS +18%. HUN +17%. ING +16%. UBS +15%. LVS +11%. AZ +11%. FLR +11%. BCS +10%. AFL +10%. FAS +10%. CS +9%. RF +9%. OCR +9%. C +9%. BAC +9%. PCX +8%. HIG +8%. HBC +8%. WFC +8. EGLE +8%. Comment!

• Friday, January 9, 2009

• 12:26 PM Pimco's (AZ) Bill Gross bets on a GMAC bailout, and wins. Many can talk the talk; Gross walks the walk too. Comment!

• Wednesday, December 31, 2008

• 08:08 AM BlackRock (BLK), Goldman Sachs (GS), Pimco (AZ) and Wellington get the nod to manage the Fed's soon-to-launch facility to soak up as much as $500B in mortgage-backed securities - an effort to bring down mortgage rates. 1 Comment

• Friday, December 19, 2008

• 08:14 AM GMAC's (GKM) efforts to become a bank-holding company are dealt a potentially fatal blow after Pimco (AZ) declines to tender its bond holdings as part of a massive debt restructuring. Comment!

• Wednesday, December 3, 2008

• 09:21 AM Premarket losers: FCX -17.5%. RTP -16%. BCS -11%. HE -11%. PLD -9%. AZ -9%. CIT -8%. ANR -8%. PCU -7.5%. S -7.5%. AAUK -7%. JASO -7%. ACGY -7%. MDR -7%. TOT -7%. AA -6%. RIMM -6%. HBAN -6%. CHK -6%. MT -6%. Comment!