"Hedge funds trailing the Standard & Poor’s 500 (SPX) Index for the last five months are giving up on bearish bets and buying stocks at the fastest rate in two years.
A gauge of hedge-fund bullishness measuring the proportion of bets that shares will rise climbed to 48.6 last week from 42 at the end of November 2011, the biggest increase since April 2010, according to data compiled by the International Strategy & Investment Group."
"Money managers struggling to catch up with the gains have contributed to the rally that pushed the S&P 500 up 27 percent since October as economic reports beat estimates. Market bulls say they are a continuing source of cash that can move stocks higher. Bears say capitulating hedge funds are further evidence that equities have risen too far, too fast as economic growth remains sluggish, warning that the pool of potential buyers is being depleted. "
Monday, March 26, 2012
Shell Oil Stuck with Iran's Money
Royal Dutch Shell is struggling to pay off $1 billion that it owes Iran for crude oil because European Union and U.S. financial sanctions now make it almost impossible to process payments, industry sources said.
Four sources said the oil major owes a large sum to the National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) for deliveries of crude, with one putting the figure at close to $1 billion. A debt of that size would equate to roughly four large tanker loads of Iranian crude or about 8 million barrels.
"Shell is working hard to figure out a way to pay NIOC," said an industry source, who requested anonymity. "It's very sensitive and very difficult. They want to stay on good terms with Iran, while abiding by sanctions."
A Shell spokesman declined to comment.
The European Union toughened financial sanctions and placed a ban on Iranian oil imports on January 23, but gave companies until July 1 to wind down their existing business.
With daily contract volumes of 100,000 barrels, Shell ranked as Iran's second biggest corporate client - along with France's Total - behind Turkey's Tupras.
Shell CEO Peter Voser said on March 7 the company would take its final deliveries of Iranian crude "within a matter of weeks".
Rigorous U.S. and European financial measures, aimed at punishing Iran for its nuclear program have already come into force, making it increasingly difficult to pay for and ship crude from Iran, say oil executives.
"There are big frustrations with the payment route - the U.S. pressure is really working," said a senior oil source. "It's now nearly impossible to use the banking system."
Such financial restrictions were in part behind Total's decision to stop purchasing Iranian crude at the end of last year, industry sources say. Total also bought about 100,000 barrels per day from Tehran.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/25/us-shell-iran-idUSBRE82O07420120325
Four sources said the oil major owes a large sum to the National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) for deliveries of crude, with one putting the figure at close to $1 billion. A debt of that size would equate to roughly four large tanker loads of Iranian crude or about 8 million barrels.
"Shell is working hard to figure out a way to pay NIOC," said an industry source, who requested anonymity. "It's very sensitive and very difficult. They want to stay on good terms with Iran, while abiding by sanctions."
A Shell spokesman declined to comment.
The European Union toughened financial sanctions and placed a ban on Iranian oil imports on January 23, but gave companies until July 1 to wind down their existing business.
With daily contract volumes of 100,000 barrels, Shell ranked as Iran's second biggest corporate client - along with France's Total - behind Turkey's Tupras.
Shell CEO Peter Voser said on March 7 the company would take its final deliveries of Iranian crude "within a matter of weeks".
Rigorous U.S. and European financial measures, aimed at punishing Iran for its nuclear program have already come into force, making it increasingly difficult to pay for and ship crude from Iran, say oil executives.
"There are big frustrations with the payment route - the U.S. pressure is really working," said a senior oil source. "It's now nearly impossible to use the banking system."
Such financial restrictions were in part behind Total's decision to stop purchasing Iranian crude at the end of last year, industry sources say. Total also bought about 100,000 barrels per day from Tehran.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/25/us-shell-iran-idUSBRE82O07420120325
Shell Oil Stuck with Iran's Money
Royal Dutch Shell is struggling to pay off $1 billion that it owes Iran for crude oil because European Union and U.S. financial sanctions now make it almost impossible to process payments, industry sources said.
Four sources said the oil major owes a large sum to the National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) for deliveries of crude, with one putting the figure at close to $1 billion. A debt of that size would equate to roughly four large tanker loads of Iranian crude or about 8 million barrels.
"Shell is working hard to figure out a way to pay NIOC," said an industry source, who requested anonymity. "It's very sensitive and very difficult. They want to stay on good terms with Iran, while abiding by sanctions."
A Shell spokesman declined to comment.
The European Union toughened financial sanctions and placed a ban on Iranian oil imports on January 23, but gave companies until July 1 to wind down their existing business.
With daily contract volumes of 100,000 barrels, Shell ranked as Iran's second biggest corporate client - along with France's Total - behind Turkey's Tupras.
Shell CEO Peter Voser said on March 7 the company would take its final deliveries of Iranian crude "within a matter of weeks".
Rigorous U.S. and European financial measures, aimed at punishing Iran for its nuclear program have already come into force, making it increasingly difficult to pay for and ship crude from Iran, say oil executives.
"There are big frustrations with the payment route - the U.S. pressure is really working," said a senior oil source. "It's now nearly impossible to use the banking system."
Such financial restrictions were in part behind Total's decision to stop purchasing Iranian crude at the end of last year, industry sources say. Total also bought about 100,000 barrels per day from Tehran.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/25/us-shell-iran-idUSBRE82O07420120325
Four sources said the oil major owes a large sum to the National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) for deliveries of crude, with one putting the figure at close to $1 billion. A debt of that size would equate to roughly four large tanker loads of Iranian crude or about 8 million barrels.
"Shell is working hard to figure out a way to pay NIOC," said an industry source, who requested anonymity. "It's very sensitive and very difficult. They want to stay on good terms with Iran, while abiding by sanctions."
A Shell spokesman declined to comment.
The European Union toughened financial sanctions and placed a ban on Iranian oil imports on January 23, but gave companies until July 1 to wind down their existing business.
With daily contract volumes of 100,000 barrels, Shell ranked as Iran's second biggest corporate client - along with France's Total - behind Turkey's Tupras.
Shell CEO Peter Voser said on March 7 the company would take its final deliveries of Iranian crude "within a matter of weeks".
Rigorous U.S. and European financial measures, aimed at punishing Iran for its nuclear program have already come into force, making it increasingly difficult to pay for and ship crude from Iran, say oil executives.
"There are big frustrations with the payment route - the U.S. pressure is really working," said a senior oil source. "It's now nearly impossible to use the banking system."
Such financial restrictions were in part behind Total's decision to stop purchasing Iranian crude at the end of last year, industry sources say. Total also bought about 100,000 barrels per day from Tehran.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/25/us-shell-iran-idUSBRE82O07420120325
Europe Paying More Than USD 10 per Gallon of Gas
"For the first time since June 2011, the average price for Gas across the 27 European nations just broke above USD10/gallon. With the US on average above USD4/gallon (at its highest since May), it is perhaps worth looking under the covers at just what nations have been hurt the most in the last year by the money-printing-insanity-experiment rising price of crude. Italy has been hit the hardest with Fiat Uno drivers paying 18% more this year than last for a litre of petrol. As The Economist points out, only the Dutch and Norwegians pay more than the Vespa riders but perhaps it is worthwhile noting just how low (on average) the US price is compared to its global peers (for now) and the fact that only the French are paying less this year than last"
zerohedge.com
zerohedge.com
Corzine Going Down in MF Global Fiasco
Former MF Global official Edith O'Brien said in an October 2011 email that CEO Jon Corzine gave "direct instructions" to transfer $200 million from a customer account to cover an overdraft in a JPMorgan account in London, according to a congressional memo released on Friday.
Steven Goldberg, a spokesman for Corzine, noted that Corzine did ask that the JPMorgan overdraft be corrected, but never gave any instructions to misuse customer funds.
"He never directed Ms. O'Brien or anyone else regarding which account should be used to cure the overdrafts, and he never directed that customer funds should be used for that purpose," Goldberg said.
The October 28 email, written days before MF Global's collapse, was released in advance of a House Financial Services subcommittee hearing scheduled next week on the collapse of brokerage MF Global and the continued search for missing customer funds. The committee this week subpoenaed O'Brien to appear before the panel.
Congressional and regulatory officials have been investigating whether customer funds were improperly transferred in the chaotic days before the firm collapsed and what executives knew about the status of various accounts.
The $200 million transfer in customer funds from a JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYS:JPM - News) account was made to cover a $175 million overdraft in one of MF Global's accounts at the bank in London, the memo said.
The congressional memo notes that segregated customer accounts like the one in question can contain funds that belong to the futures brokerage and can be used for transfers.
The memo says, however, that JPMorgan chief risk officer Barry Zubrow called Corzine directly to seek assurances that the funds being transferred belonged to MF Global and did not include customer funds.
The bank followed up with a letter requesting written assurances that all MF Global transfers -- "past, present and future" -- complied with Commodity Futures Trading Commission rules about keeping customer money separate from the broker's own, according to the memo.
Laurie Ferber, MF Global Holding's chief lawyer, balked at the request as being too broad and instead wanted to narrow the written assurance to only the October 28 transfer, the memo said.
O'Brien, who wrote the email, served as an assistant treasurer in the firm's Chicago office.
A representative for JPMorgan Chase was not immediately available for comment.
O'Brien hasn't been accused of any wrongdoing, and she could choose to invoke her right against self-incrimination at the hearing next week.
Next week's hearing is the latest in a series of congressional efforts to grill former senior managers of MF Global.
Former Chief Executive Jon Corzine, Chief Financial Officer Henri Steenkamp and Chief Operating Officer Bradley Abelow have all testified to Congress, and disavowed any intent to misuse customer funds and any specific knowledge of how that misuse may have occurred.
They haven't been formally accused of any wrongdoing.
Steven Goldberg, a spokesman for Corzine, noted that Corzine did ask that the JPMorgan overdraft be corrected, but never gave any instructions to misuse customer funds.
"He never directed Ms. O'Brien or anyone else regarding which account should be used to cure the overdrafts, and he never directed that customer funds should be used for that purpose," Goldberg said.
The October 28 email, written days before MF Global's collapse, was released in advance of a House Financial Services subcommittee hearing scheduled next week on the collapse of brokerage MF Global and the continued search for missing customer funds. The committee this week subpoenaed O'Brien to appear before the panel.
Congressional and regulatory officials have been investigating whether customer funds were improperly transferred in the chaotic days before the firm collapsed and what executives knew about the status of various accounts.
The $200 million transfer in customer funds from a JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYS:JPM - News) account was made to cover a $175 million overdraft in one of MF Global's accounts at the bank in London, the memo said.
The congressional memo notes that segregated customer accounts like the one in question can contain funds that belong to the futures brokerage and can be used for transfers.
The memo says, however, that JPMorgan chief risk officer Barry Zubrow called Corzine directly to seek assurances that the funds being transferred belonged to MF Global and did not include customer funds.
The bank followed up with a letter requesting written assurances that all MF Global transfers -- "past, present and future" -- complied with Commodity Futures Trading Commission rules about keeping customer money separate from the broker's own, according to the memo.
Laurie Ferber, MF Global Holding's chief lawyer, balked at the request as being too broad and instead wanted to narrow the written assurance to only the October 28 transfer, the memo said.
O'Brien, who wrote the email, served as an assistant treasurer in the firm's Chicago office.
A representative for JPMorgan Chase was not immediately available for comment.
O'Brien hasn't been accused of any wrongdoing, and she could choose to invoke her right against self-incrimination at the hearing next week.
Next week's hearing is the latest in a series of congressional efforts to grill former senior managers of MF Global.
Former Chief Executive Jon Corzine, Chief Financial Officer Henri Steenkamp and Chief Operating Officer Bradley Abelow have all testified to Congress, and disavowed any intent to misuse customer funds and any specific knowledge of how that misuse may have occurred.
They haven't been formally accused of any wrongdoing.
BATS Pulls IPO After Trading Glitches
BATS Global Markets, a stock exchange that had just gone public, has taken the highly unusual step of withdrawing its initial public offering following a trading setback in the company's stock and in the shares of some of the companies that trade on its platform.
“Although our affected market has reopened, in the wake of today’s technical issues, which affected the trading of certain stocks, including that of BATS, we believe withdrawing the IPO is the appropriate action to take for our Company and our shareholders,” Joe Ratterman, chairman, president and CEO of BATS, said in a statement Friday.
“Although our affected market has reopened, in the wake of today’s technical issues, which affected the trading of certain stocks, including that of BATS, we believe withdrawing the IPO is the appropriate action to take for our Company and our shareholders,” Joe Ratterman, chairman, president and CEO of BATS, said in a statement Friday.
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