The Financial Times (FT) released a story today, claiming knowledge that the Fed will announce a reduction in the rate of their monthly QE purchases:
Diary of a Financier
The Buttonwood Tree
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Scriptum Populusque Romeo
Market Currents- As broadly expected, Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) intends to cut costs by ;1B and sell another ;1B of assets within two years as it looks to become cash-flow positive by 2015, at which point the telecom-equipment company will look to slash its debt by ;2B by selling shares or through further asset sales. The changes are part of a recovery program called the "Shift Plan," which also includes Alcatel-Lucent focusing on IP networking and ultra-broadband access. Alcatel-Lucent is hiring a COO as well, while CFO Paul Tufano will leave. Shares are +6.7% in Paris. (PR) Wed 19 Jun 2013
- The WSJ carries an expose of how traders manipulate the spot market for oil, with Halis Bektas from Switzerlad, for example, admitting that he will sell a small amount of oil at a loss to drive down the benchmark price and then buy shiploads at the lower cost. McGraw Hill Financial (MHFI) unit Platts Platts, which sets the benchmark by relying on information that traders provide about their deals, said that it's not aware of such manipulation and that its staff are trained to ignore unusual pricing. Wed 19 Jun 2013
- The SEC plans to alter the somewhat cozy relationship it has with Wall Street and force companies to admit wrongdoing in some settlements or face the risk of going to court instead. That's not to say that the agency will abandon the "no admit, no deny" approach, new Chairwoman Mary Jo White said yesterday, but it does mark her first big policy change. It comes after the likes of Judge Jed Rakoff rejected the SEC's $285M deal with Citigroup because of the "no admit, no deny" clause in the deal. Wed 19 Jun 2013
- Facebook (FB) CEO Mark Zuckerberg has discussed potential partnerships with Samsung (SSNLF.PK) President Shin Jong Kyun as the U.S. company looks to boost advertising sales on mobile devices. The firms already seem to have a decent relationship, with Samsung being among the first device makers to feature Facebook's Home software on its handsets. Meanwhile, Facebook intends to invest more in Korea and serve as a platform for startups. Wed 19 Jun 2013
- Boeing's (BA) 787 has suffered another hiccup after an apparent problem with an oil filter in one of the plane's engines forced a United Airlines (UAL) Dreamliner flying to Tokyo from Denver to make an unscheduled landing in Seattle. There was no indication that the problem was related to the 787's revamped battery, but it is the latest of several glitches to plague the jet since commercial flights resumed recently. Wed 19 Jun 2013
