Market Currents

• Thursday, December 3, 2009

• 12:17 PM CME Group (CME +0.7%) announces all top OTC dealers sign on to its credit default swap clearing initiative, including: Barclays (BCS), Citi (C), Goldman (GS), JPMorgan (JPM), Deutsche Bank (DB), Morgan Stanley (MS), UBS (UBS) and Credit Suisse (CS). A pre-launch program will begin clearing CDS by Dec. 15. Comment!
• 10:50 AM Sources say CME Group (CME +0.8%) is near a breakthrough deal with some of the world's biggest banks to clear credit default swaps. The CME has held talks with the world's main OTC dealers - Barclays (BCS), Citi (C), Goldman (GS), JPMorgan (JPM), Deutsche Bank (DB), Morgan Stanley (MS), UBS (UBS) and Credit Suisse (CS) - though it remains unclear how many of them are ready to ink the proposed deal. Comment!

• Wednesday, December 2, 2009

• 07:55 AM Morgan Stanley (MS) has shortlisted KKR, Bain, Carlyle, General Atlantic and TPG as bidders for the firm's 34.3% stake in CICC, sources say. One foreign buyer - Taiwan's Fubon Financial - was also selected to conduct due diligence, despite possible tensions around cross-border investments. Sources say Morgan is seeking $1.2-1.5B, after paying just $37 million 13 years ago. Comment!

• Friday, November 20, 2009

• 10:49 AM Morgan Stanley (MS) wraps up a disaster, surrendering Crescent Real Estate Equities - which it bought at the top of the market for $6.5B - to Barclays Capital (BCS). Morgan got the 17M square feet of office towers, resorts and hotels in 2007 with a $2B loan from Barclays that comes due today. MS has already taken $951M in writedowns and other losses from Crescent. Comment!

• Thursday, November 19, 2009

• 12:00 PM How does Morgan Stanley (MS) CEO John Mack feel now that his office is prowled by regulators questioning everything the firm does? "I love it," he said to a Vanity Fair/Bloomberg conference. "We cannot control ourselves," he said of bankers and their ability to manage risk. 3 Comments

• Wednesday, November 18, 2009

• 08:14 AM Morgan Stanley (MS) and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MTU) changed their plans about merging their brokerage operations in Japan, originally announced in March. Current plans, which will delay the merger for two months, will create a two-company JV, one of which will be called Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, 60%-owned by MUFG, and will include Morgan Stanley's investment-banking business; the other will be controlled by Morgan and will include its equity and bond trading businesses. 2 Comments

• Tuesday, November 10, 2009

• 15:53 PM Morgan Stanley's (MS) joint venture with Mitsubishi UFJ (MTU) still has some hurdles, but the banks are working on clearing them, says CFO Colm Kelleher. The firms set a March 30 deadline to combine their securities businesses in Japan. Comment!

• Friday, November 6, 2009

• 17:00 PM Squid flu? Growing frustration over reports that Goldman Sachs (GS) (along with big employers including Citigroup (C) and Morgan Stanley (MS)) is receiving hundreds of H1N1 vaccines before many hospitals do. David Weidner has a reader's limerick: "As jobless rates keep getting worse/The bankers cut lines to the nurse/Bad debts they accrue/But when there's swine flu/They finally turn risk-averse." NYC's health commissioner defends the distribution. 5 Comments
• 07:57 AM The government's guarantee of $300B in corporate bonds saved a handful of giant companies (GE, GS, C, BAC, JPM, MS, WFC) up to $25B in borrowing costs, and put taxpayers at great risk, the Congressional panel charged with overseeing TARP says. The good news for taxpayers is that the bet has worked out so far. 3 Comments

• Tuesday, November 3, 2009

• 14:51 PM After advising Burlington Northern Santa Fe on its buyout by Buffett and Stanley Works on its Black & Decker deal, Goldman Sachs (GS) solidifies its No. 2 spot in global M&A advice - with an estimated 30.9% share ($503.5B of $1.63T), closing the gap on Morgan Stanley's (MS) 33.4% share. 2 Comments

• Monday, November 2, 2009

• 08:50 AM CF Industries (CF) reworks its bid for Terra Industries (TRA +12%), moving to a 80%-cash offer of $4.1B from a previous $3.9B in stock. Terra has rejected all of CF's previous offers. Morgan Stanley (MS), which has been advising CF, has committed a hefty $2.5B to the deal. Comment!

• Friday, October 30, 2009

• 04:11 AM NYSE Euronext (NYX): Q3 EPS of $0.53 beats by $0.07. Revenue of $1.05B (-9.6%) in-line. Announces equity investment in its U.S. futures exchange by Citadel, GETCO, Goldman Sachs (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS) and UBS (UBS), with NYX to remain largest shareholder. (PR I, II) 1 Comment

• Wednesday, October 28, 2009

• 12:41 PM Following Goldman Sachs' (GS) cutback in GDP forecast to 2.7%, Morgan Stanley (MS) and Merrill Lynch (BAC) do the same: [[MS]] moves its outlook to 3.8% from 3.9%, and Merrill to 2.3% from 2.5%. 3 Comments
• 11:23 AM As predicted, GMAC comes to the market with a $2.9B, FDIC-backed debt offering. The troubled auto-lender - rumored to be in advanced talks for an unprecedented third government injection - is the only junk-rated company to have its rating (Ca) boosted to AAA through the FDIC's TGLP, which is scheduled to end Saturday. Bookrunners: RBS, Citigroup (C), Deutsche Bank (DB) and Morgan Stanley (MS). 4 Comments

• Wednesday, October 21, 2009

• 08:11 AM Morgan Stanley (MS): Q3 EPS of $0.38 beats by $0.11. Revenue of $8.7B vs. $6.99B. Assets under management $386B vs. $483B last year. Declares $0.05 quarterly dividend. Shares +0.9% premarket. (PR) Comment!
• 00:05 AM Notable pre-market earnings: AAI, AMR, APD, ATI, BA, CAL, ELN, FLIR, FCX, GENZ, HCBK, KEY, LLY, MAN, MO, MS, NITE, NOC, NTRS, OMC, PENN, STJ, USB, USG, WFC Comment!