LSE Off-Line
First of all, happy Thanksgiving Day to my U.S. readers!
Market moving news of the day is definitely Dubai World asking its creditors a “standstill” as it tries to negotiate a extension of maturities for its debt. Bloomberg story: Dubai Debt Delay Rattles Confidence in Gulf Borrowers. Oh, what a surprise, they invested billions in projects of questionable fundamentals at market zenith and now they default. The surprise amuses me.
This sparked a lot of rather bullish mood sending all equity indexes down. The trading at LSE got halted because off large order inflow. Guardian story: London Stock Exchange crash halts trading. The trading was resumed, but the coincidences mentioned in the article are interesting. Maybe the markets are at similar tip point.
The banks loses final unwind will probably cause similar surprise as Dubai World today. Reuters story: Half of banks’ losses may be unknown: IMF chief. You can read the whole interview at Zero Hedge.
U.S. markets being closed means free afternoon for me. Time off from the computer screens sounds nice.