Market Gawk

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. Monday warned of higher provisions for the current financial year, including a $200 million write-down on a derivative position related to an U.S. monoline insurer. The company said in a statement a ‘’substantial portion” of the provision could be written back in future periods.
The bank said the write-down is related to derivative positions it took between 2005 and February 2007, and follows the credit downgrade of a U.S. monocline insurer to ”CCC”. ANZ did not identify the monoline insurer. ”The uncertainty around the ability of that firm to meet its obligations under the hedging agreement has resulted in an accounting requirement to raise an individual provision of $200 million based on the current mark to market exposure to that monoline,” the bank said in a statement. Shares of ANZ were down 5% in Sydney trading Monday. ANZ’s financial year runs from Oct. 1 to Sep. 30. Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — China’s producer price index climbed 6.1% in January from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said Monday. The increase follows a 5.4% rise in December, and marks the sixth straight month the growth rate in the PPI index has increased. The wholesale inflation data reflects growing pricing pressures faced by manufacturers, which must be absorbed as a squeeze against margins or passed on to consumers in the form on higher prices. Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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Alistair Darling announced the first nationalisation of a sizable British bank in a quarter of a century as he put Northern Rock into public ownership, infuriating shareholders and shocking the two private bidders hoping to take over the stricken mortgage lender

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HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — The one thing markets dislike most is uncertainty, so when China’ banks began the year with a lending spree after promising tightening a month earlier, investors are feeling decidedly uneasy.

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NEW YORK (MarketWatch) –It’s a virtual world in toy land.

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HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Asian markets were mostly higher Monday, with Japanese shares pacing gains on Sony Corp. and Toshiba Corp. in the wake of reports they could end an expensive battle to determine the future of DVD-format technology.

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Alistair Darling announced the first nationalisation of a sizeable British bank in a quarter of a century, infuriating shareholders and shocking the two private bidders hoping to take over the stricken mortgage lender

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Prices for top-quality spring wheat have jumped by 90 per cent in the past month and a half, boosted by a scramble by corporate consumers to secure scarce grain and speculative buying by investors

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Alistair Darling could be in for some sleepless nights in the approach to his first full Budget as UK chancellor on March 12. The government’s fiscal framework is facing a testing time because of the deterioration in public finances.

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Britain takes over the beleaguered bank after private-sector bids fail to impress.

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