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• Fake or philistine: the jury’s out

  September 28, 2011 @ 12:28 pm | by John Collins

  Alessio Rastani, the London day trader, has become a viral hit around the world following his rather in your face interview with BBC News on Monday. Rastani isn’t just a business story – even my Pricewatch colleague Conor Pope has got hot under the collar about this guy.

  If you haven’t seen the interview with the “independent trader” (echoes of Del Boy and Rodney?) who claims to dream of another recession and that Goldman Sachs rules the world, here’s the clip:

  

  Almost immediately after the appearance speculation began to mount that Mr Rastani was a fake and bore a striking resemblance to a Yes Man that had pretended to be a spokesman for Dow Chemical. As a result the BBC press officer was forced to issue a statement stating that Rastani was not a fake. Never missing an opportunity to have a pop at the Beeb the Telegraph published an article claiming he was a fake, although if you read the article he’s actually an attention seeking lowly day trader rather than a fake.

  My take: Rastani went on the show to get a reaction. Most of what he said isn’t new (remember Rolling Stone journalist Matt Taibbi’s description of Goldman as “a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money”) it’s just that he managed to get so much into his three and a half minute slot and was so unapologetic about it.

  The best comment on the whole thing comes from Fiona Walsh, our London Briefing columnist:

  “By Tuesday evening, his 3½-minute interview had clocked up almost half a million hits on YouTube and, such was the candour of his comments, there was widespread speculation that it was a hoax. Seasoned City hands thought otherwise, however, and marvelled that someone had at last revealed what we all know to be true – that traders are in business to make money.

  Only an independent trader would have been be foolish (or publicity-hungry) enough to speak as unguardedly as Rastani; anyone employed by one of the major investment banks would have been sacked before he left the studio.

  In fact, the only part of the interview that did not ring true was the bit where Rastani said he wanted to help people. That part surely was a hoax.”

• Business podcast: April 7th

  April 7, 2011 @ 7:30 am | by John Collins

  This week with ECB rates on the rise we look at what it might mean for already cash-strapped consumers; how to make your wardrobe make you money and venture capitalists in Silicon Valley are still flashing the cash.

   

   Standard Podcast [27:34m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
  

• Business podcast: March 24th

  March 24, 2011 @ 7:30 am | by John Collins

  John Collins talks to Colm Keena about the conclusions of the Moriarty Tribunal, hears about Kooky Dough from founders Sophie Morris and Graham Clarke, and interviews angel investors Nelson Gray and Sean Baker.

   

   Standard Podcast [30:07m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
  

• Recording emerges of Lenihan investor call

  October 4, 2010 @ 8:58 pm | by John Collins

  US blog Zero Hedge has managed to get hold of a recording of Brian Lenihan’s controversial conference call with investors organised by Citi. Unfortunately it’s the second half of the call – after the initial call descended into farce when all the lines were left open rather than being placed on mute. What happened during the original call, and whether or not the Minister for Finance was heckled by traders as suggested by The Daily Telegraph, is still a subject of debate. This recording shows that even the call that went ahead was not without technical difficulties.

  The Citi host for the call begins by offering “profound apologies for the foul up our conference provider had this morning, inconveniencing everyone, not least the Minister”.

  The call features John Corrigan, chief executive of the NTMA and Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan giving short presentations and then engaging in a Q&A with investors. On the 45 minute call Lenihan is grilled on a range of issues including our “sluggish” growth, the cost of the banking bailout, and next year’s Budget.

  One of the NTMA officials confirms that the Attorney General is working on specific legislation to deal with subordinated debt holders in Anglo and Irish Nationwide, so that they can share the pain. Lenihan than reiterates the view that Irish law recognises senior debt as being equal with deposits and there should be no ambiguity about that.

  As is customary the operator warns all participants that the call is being recorded – so clearly a recording exists of the origingal call. It seems unlikely it will ever see the light of day.

• The line between investment and disaster capitalism in Haiti

  January 22, 2010 @ 2:04 pm | by Laura Slattery

  It’s a tricky question, the answer to which may only become apparent decades down the line, but is the response of the US government, its recruited army of investors and private sector interests to the Haiti earthquake appropriately supportive or worryingly exploitative or indeed both? It seems immediately clear that money, vast sums of it, is badly needed to pay for aid supplies and establish a basic infrastructure in the country and that the US business interests would have to be entirely stonefacedly, coldheartedly amoral not to respond in the affirmative when Bill Clinton and George W Bush came calling. And yet I do generally find it difficult to believe in corporate altruism for altruism’s sake. Is Haiti any different?

  I’m not talking about charity donations here, as by definition they should not involve any motivation other than a desire to help, and perhaps a need to ease a sudden dose of Western guilt. There is also probably a case for distinguishing between companies such as Digicel, who were already in Haiti before the earthquake, and the US-based private capital houses now rapidly signing up to “invest” in Haiti because the ex-Presidents have assured them that it’s a good opportunity for a “greenfield” investment.

  Many of the investors and financial institutions piling in behind Clinton and Bush are rather more disconnected from the fate of its citizens than Digicel (which has lost some of its staff and made a donation of $5 million for immediate relief work). Who are these investors and what are their ultimate aims? They’re the kind of questions that the commentator Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine and a prominent opponent of what she terms “disaster capitalism”, believes people should be asking now and in the aftermath of any major crisis. Otherwise the kind of community impoverishing “land grabs” that took place in Thailand after the 2004 tsunami or something similar to the pro-corporate redrawing of New Orleans post-Katrina could take place amid the chaos in Haiti.

  Klein’s website highlights this quote from the right-wing Heritage Federation, issued just the day after the earthquake, then withdrawn: “In addition to providing immediate humanitarian assistance, the US response to the tragic earthquake in Haiti earthquake offers opportunities to re-shape Haiti’s long-dysfunctional government and economy as well as to improve the public image of the United States in the region.”

  Critics of such “disaster capitalism” tactics want any intervention by the Obama administration, the IMF, the World Bank and anyone else trying to reconstruct Haiti to be mindful of the country’s economic sovereignty and, most importantly, not to trap it with debt. On this front, public pressure has yielded some positive results, with the IMF assuring that its financial assistance to Haiti will be interest-free and free of conditionality. Indeed, the IMF is now calling for a Marshall Plan for the shattered country, urging debt relief and promising to delete the loan it’s just issued. This, according to Klein, is unprecedented.

  Last night, O’Brien was namechecked by Clinton at a UN press conference as being the man leading the private sector effort to provide assistance to Haiti. “Anybody thinking about setting up manufacturing facilities or any business in Haiti, I will give a very strong recommendation they go ahead and do it,” said O’Brien.

  Unpalatable as it may seem, many of the companies that answer O’Brien’s call will view Haiti’s trauma as a commercial advantage rather than a tragic state of affairs, as its 10 million population is too busy fighting for basic survival to consider the pros and cons of an economic remodelling. The arrival of such companies will be framed as a force for good in terms of job creation, spurring “economic revival”. But history has taught us that it’s often a little more complex than that.

• Wolfram Alpha for financial analysis

  May 19, 2009 @ 3:02 pm | by John Collins

  Lots of online talk over the weekend about the launch of the new search engine Wolfram Alpha and whether or not it is a worthy challenger to Google. For those who haven’t been following that debate, Wolfram Alpha is a new search tool from Wolfram Research, the team behind Mathematica, the best-selling technical computing software. The company calls it a “computational knowledge engine, offered for free on the web” but you can consider a useful fact finder.

  Where Wolfram Alpha excels is if you are looking for a specific piece of information rather than a web page. This help page provides examples of the kind of financial analysis it can help you with, from figuring out mortgage payments to the daily price for pork bellies futures. Much of that information may be available with a bit of digging on Google but Wolfram Alpha makes it easy to access and digest. Savvy investors who manage their own portfolios should add it to their arsenal of tools.

• ISEQ provides a glimmer of good news

  May 5, 2009 @ 12:53 pm | by John Collins

  There’s been little good news for investors in the Irish stock market in the last 18 months. The Dublin exchange saw a net loss of €61 billion last year. While most people in this country don’t invest directly in the ISE they participate through their pension funds which are down by an average of 30 per cent in the last 12 months (new figures on pension performance are expected later in the day).

  We should all be buoyed by the news that the ISE had its second best month ever in April with the ISEQ index gaining 19.5 per cent (albeit off a dreadful base). At the time of writing it’s up another 5 per cent today.

  A research note from Davy says that “a jump of 9.3% in the final two days of April capped a great month for the ISEQ. The index is now well into positive territory year-to-date (up 11.9%)”. The analysts note that Irish stocks outperformed the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index by 5.8 per cent and are ahead 12.4 per cent so far this year. 

  The finance and banking stocks led the charge in April gaining 53.4 per cent, following a 69 per cent gain in March.  Davy notes that ”encouragingly, gains were evident right across the market, with 48 of the ISEQ’s 59 constituents advancing on the month”. They believe the market bounce globally was driven by a better-than-expected earnings season in the US, combined with some encouraging economic indicators.

• How George Soros would save the financial world…

  January 28, 2009 @ 2:49 pm | by Simon Carswell

  Financier George Soros, the man best known for breaking the Bank of England by betting against the pound in 1992, told reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos this lunchtime that there was “very serious trouble brewing in the peripheral countries” and particularly the new members in the European Union where more than half their household debt is in foreign currencies, mainly Swiss francs. “That is a problem that urgently needs atttention,” said Soros. (more…)

• Davos 2009… let the brain-storming begin!

  January 27, 2009 @ 11:52 pm | by Simon Carswell

  The 38th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) begins tomorrow (Wednesday) and once again the sleepy Swiss Alpine village of Davos has been surrounded by razor wire and heavily-armed Swiss soldiers to protect the 40 heads of state and government (including our own Taoiseach Brian Cowen) that are scheduled to attend the five-day confab. (more…)

• Elan’s trouble with dates

  January 13, 2009 @ 8:12 pm | by Dominic Coyle

  Elan president Carlos Paya entered the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference hoping to put behind him the controversy over statements attributed to him over a possible extension to the duration of Phase III trials for the company’s Alzheimer’s drug bapineuzimab  currently slated to last 18 months.  Unfortunately, as he moved to clarify -referring to recent confusion – he again alluded to 24 months before hastily correcting himself.

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