Week of Feb 22 2013 – Weekly Recap & The Week Ahead
‘If you are going to be wrong, be wrong quickly with a de minimis loss of capital’.” — unknown
1. Chinese Army Unit Is Seen as Tied to Hacking Against U.S. — according to NYT , Chinese army unit 61398, also known as “Comment Crew,” has been identified as most probably responsible for numerous cyberattacks on U.S. targets, security company Mandiant has alleged in a report. While Mandiant didn’t name specific targets, victims include Coca Cola (KO) and VMware’s (VMW) RSA, as well as a firm with access to over 60% of oil and gas pipelines in North America.
2. NY Fed wants to let BofA off over AIG assets — the NY Fed is apparently trying to let Bank of America (BAC) off the hook for possible sizable legal claims related to former AIG (AIG) mortgage securities held by Maiden Lane II following the insurer’s bailout in 2008. AIG has sued BofA to recover some of the $18B losses it suffered on the assets, but the bank argues that AIG gave its right to sue to the NY Fed when it sold the assets.
3. Bank of England chief wanting more asset buying — Bank of England Governor Mervyn King and two other officials voted to restart government-bond buying earlier this month, showing the bank closer than expected to taking more action to lift economic growth.
4. Japan’s trade deficit hits fresh record — Japan’s trade deficit increased to a record ¥1.63T ($17.4B) in January from ¥641.5B in December, due to the sharply weaker yen and higher energy imports. However, exports climbed for the first time in eight months, growing 6.4% on year to ¥4.8T, with sales to China increasing for the first time since May. Exports to the U.S. were +10.9% but to the EU -4.5%. Imports rose 7.3% to ¥6.43T.
5. Euro-zone Feb. PMI signals steeper downturn — the euro-zone downturn appeared to steepen in February, with the preliminary composite purchasing-managers’ index, or PMI, for the region slumping to a two-month low of 47.3 from a January reading of 48.6, according to Markit. A reading of less than 50 indicates a contraction in activity.
6. Moody’s Investors Service cut the U.K.’s AAA credit rating — the pound fell to its weakest level in almost 16 months as Moody’s cited weakness in the nation’s growth outlook and challenges to the government’s fiscal consolidation program.
7. S&P500 Trend Lines Support — below is the chart of the trend lines support for the S&P500 (SPX)after last week losses in the major indexes .
The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com:
