Alistair Darling must be mighty relieved; the papers have pretty much ignored his comatose-budget in favour of the thrills and spills provided by the liquidity-credit crunch. First of the ‘slit your wrists to Morrissey’ articles this weekend comes from the Independent. The paper reckons we’re entering an era more akin to the 1930’s Great Depression with a major crisis in confidence.
If you have a spare ten minutes and a cup of coffee the Sunday Times provides a more moderate view. But there’s still a noticeable move to push any recovery from the end of this year into 2009.
It’s been a busy weekend for New York bankers; Bear Stearns has actively put itself up for sale, according to the Observer. It’s been in talks with rival banks and sovereign wealth funds in the hope that it can announce a deal, along with its quarterly results tomorrow.
The Telegraph expects Goldman Sachs to this week announce write-downs of around $3 billion. Ironically, the majority of this is not due directly to exposure to toxic loans but to a stake in a Chinese bank.
Hey, if any of you had a slightly rough day on Friday, I bet you didn’t suffer as much as this guy. The Sunday Times reports that tycoon Joe Lewis lost around $800 million on his Bear Stearns stake. In a classic example of premature bargain-hunting he began acquiring his 10% stake when the price was over $100; On Friday the price was $27. Ouch!
The Telegraph reports that Mitchells & Butlers Spread Betting are looking to private equity firms for a cash injection so that it can stay independent. This will upset some shareholders, who favour a tie-up with rival Punch Taverns.
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'Spread Trading News w/c 17 Mar' by paddy power trader, updated 17-Mar-08
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