BWS Capital Partners, LLC

EMF - European version of IMF. I started to suspect these guys like creating new organization just for the heck of it…no real use.

IMF, European version

A proposal by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble to create the European Monetary Fund was greeted with support from throughout the region. The fund, to deal with monetary problems in the eurozone, would be patterned after the International Monetary Fund. EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said the European Commission is ready to support the proposal. German Chancellor Angela Merkel publicly backed the plan.

Green infighting

Environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the European Commission, demanding the release of studies on the impacts of biofuel development. The groups said the commission is “withholding time-sensitive and critical environmental information” that should be made public for debate on biofuel policy to be meaningful.

Uhhh…ouch…

Portugal is planning spending cuts that will make up as much as 50% of an austerity program. The government also plans to restrict pay in the public sector and raise taxes. If the program works, Portugal’s budget deficit will drop from this year’s 8.3% of gross domestic product to 2.8% in 2013.

Arbitrage still possible

The Committee of European Securities Regulators outlined a plan for a pan-European disclosure regime for short selling. The plan is expected to help level the playing field, but it could also make arbitrage a possibility because discrepancy between nations could be a challenge. “To the extent that national regulators impose extra requirements, there could still be regulatory arbitrage,” said Peter Green, a partner at Morrison & Foerster. “But with most shares trades involving international parties, it would be difficult to do much domestically.”

Again, rhetoric will not help there Mr. President!

U.S. President Barack Obama criticized health insurance companies as he campaigned in Pennsylvania for an overhaul of the health care system. “What’s hard is what millions of families and small businesses are going through because we allow the insurance industry to run wild in this country,” he said. Obama was critical of recent premium increases. “They will keep on doing this for as long as they can get away with it,” he said.

Capital inflow expected

Yi Gang, who leads China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange, said anticipated strengthening of the yuan is likely to attract foreign investment to the country. Cross-border arbitrage funds are likely to pursue opportunities in China because of its relatively high interest rates and possible increase of the yuan, Yi said.

NYC is still NYC

Coming out of the recession, New York held onto its position as the world’s favorite home for hedge funds, with more than $1 billion in assets under management. London was home to 65 big hedge funds last year, but that declined to 55 this year. During the same period, major hedge funds in New York slipped from 120 to 118.

More counterparties

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said it will use additional firms “to enhance the capacity of such operations to drain reserves beyond what could likely be conducted through” the Fed’s 18 primary dealers. “This is another step in the laying of the groundwork in what will eventually become policy normalization,” said Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak. “The private markets have long known the Fed would have to expand eligible counterparties. It’s a good thing in the respect that the Fed recognizes that they have to do this.”

Pre-funded

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairwoman Sheila Bair wants large financial institutions to pay an upfront levy to cover the cost of a major bank failure in the U.S. “I think it would be for both in aggregate about $10 billion a year,” she said. “It is not an insignificant amount of money but spread over the largest institutions that would be paying into it … I don’t think it would be a tremendous hit to their balance sheet.” However, Bair indicated a willingness to negotiate on the matter.

New revenue…sort of

Brazil plans to increase tariffs on U.S. goods by $560 million, a move that some experts said might trigger a trade war between the countries. World Trade Organization rules allow the tariffs because Brazil won a case against the U.S. before the WTO last year. The WTO agreed that direct subsidies and loan guarantees to support the U.S. cotton industry were illegal.

Coal seam gas

boom is under way in Australia’s industry of coal seam gas as energy companies take advantage of technology to extract the gas from coal formation and sell it to China. BG Group, ConocoPhillips and Petronas are among those developing Australia’s enormous reserves in Queensland and New South Wales.

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