PARIS 2010: RENAULT ZOE PREVIEW CONCEPT

Direi che finalmente RENAULT sta recuperando punti in materia di design.
Con poche modifiche e' pronta per la produzione: Mi piace il nuovo family feeling del frontale.

PARIS 2010: RENAULT TWIZY ZE

Non ho ben capito se e' ancora Concept o pronta a vendersi nelle concessionarie ( Di auto o di moto, ancora non si sa'..)
Molto carina l'idea di avere qlk di compatto , ecologico, e bello da vedersi a spasso per le metropoli europee.....
Sono curioso di conoscere i prezzi...
... per il suo successo perfetto dovrebbe stare sotto ai 10.000...
Ma quel volante perchè ?????

PARIS 2010: SEAT IBE PARIS CONCEPT

Sono fiducioso sulla sua transposizione a modello di serie.

PARIS 2010: LAMBORGHINI SESTO ELEMENTO CONCEPT

Ma quando e' avvenuta la Joint Venture tra la Lamborghini e la Giochi Preziosi..??
Sembra una di quelle macchinine che arretrando tira la molla e schizza in avanti...
Ho paura che il gruppo VW stia rovinando il design di marchi sacri (Vedesi anche la Bugatti 16.4 Super sport NERA E ARANCIONE ..!!!!)

PARIS 2010: VW PASSAT RESTYLING

Ok...la crisi....ma chiudere il Centro Stile per sostituirlo con un mega computer con installato il solo software di PHOTOSHOP..mi sembra eccessivo.
Sembra una SHARAN/TOURAN/POLO/TOUAREG Photoshoppata.
Sono proprio curioso di vedere la risposta del mercato a questa operazione "CLONIAMOCI TRA DI NOI"
..Vedremo......

Ma come gli e' venuto in mente di mettere un orologio analogico in quella posizione..!!Neanche fosse una MAYBACH..!!!

PARIS 2010: AUDI E-TRON SPYDER CONCEPT

Mmhh...Sembra piu' un motoscafo RIVA che un'auto...

PARIS 2010: AUDI QUATTRO CONCEPT

Assomiglia ben poco alla QUATTRO degli anni 80....
Molto semplice e banale.
Oramai quando esce un modello AUDI, Concept o modello di serie che sia, non ci si aspetta più di trovare delle linee innovative.
Oramai l'effetto novità e limitato al disegno dei fari: Come avranno messi i LEd questa volta..??

PARIS 2010: JAGUAR C-X75 CONCEPT

Mi aspettavo di piu'..
Carina ma tutto già visto...
Linea poco British, e questo può essere un bene...ma altrettanto anonima.
Potrebbe essere di tutto..persino una nuova LOTUS..!!

SAAB 9.4X (SPY)

Ma che fine hanno fatto i LED del Concept....???

HANNOVER IAA : IVECO GLIDER CONCEPT

Più che per il design verra' ricordata per essere il primo Truck ad avere una lavastavoglie a bordo.

Info:
http://www.professionecamionista.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=325:iaa-2010-arriva-leco-camion-iveco&catid=39:varie&Itemid=105

PARIS 2010: LOTUS ELITE CONCEPT

Si parlava tanto della rinascita della LOTUS...
Mi aspettavo qualcosa simile alla ressurezione/revoluzione della JAGUAR...

La prima vera GT dopo tanti anni di Go-Kart rivestiti da auto...e cosa propongono??
Un design mega Mix con molte auto di recente presentazione....
Somiglianze talmente palesi che diventa inutile fare la lista.
Dopo la Ferrari California....confermo che il designer COCO, oggi alla Lotus, sia stato molto sopravalutato.

PARIS 2010: PEUGEOT EX-1 CONCEPT

Il posteriore con 2 ruote gemellate....lo aveva gia proposto piu' o meno una decina di anni fa'...
I fari anteriori a boomerang hanno già stufato... addirittura in questo caso hanno aggiunto un faretto all'interno per fargli assumere uno sguardo da cattivo (Ridicoli)
Innovativi le portiere che integrano i sedili: per entrare bisogna arretrare piano piano fino a che non si cade sul sedile. Necessaria una videocamera sul culo.

PARIS 2010:FERRARI 599 SA APERTA

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Tetto tela....!!
Montanti silver..!!
Suppongo che a tetto chiuso il risultato sara' piuttosto brutto da vedere.

Quotes Albert Edwards, Bill Buckler, Alan Greenspan,William Buiter, Mr Mantega ( Brazil’s Finance Minister ), Ben Davies & Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

Cannot believe that i´m quoting Greenspan without making the usual jokes about his "wisdom"......... ;-)

Fast unheimlich das man mal ohne Häme Greenspan zitieren kann...... ;-)

Albert Edwards via ZH

Central bankers, by pursuing policies that allowed the middle classes to borrow against rising asset prices, kept them consuming despite the stagnation of their incomes and hence disguised the effect of government policies that allowed the rich to acquire virtually all of the gains in GDP growth.

And in the process of “robbing” the middle classes and now still attempting to keep asset prices artificially high, they are also robbing our children of the ability to buy a house at an affordable price. Yet central bankers still see QE as key to maintaining the illusion of prosperity and stoking consumer spending

Bill Buckler via ZH

"Ninety-seven percent of all existing Treasury debt has been created since August 15, 1971! Ninety-three percent of it has been created since Mr Volcker “saved” the paper Dollar in late 1979! Please note that the gain in Treasuries and the loss in the US Dollar almost exactly cancel out.

Please note also that even the biggest gain in these paper markets fades into insignificance against Gold’s rise."And here is the answer all the "gold bugs" have been waiting for: "The paper money “price” of Gold will last as long as the attempt to make paper money “work” lasts. In the end, Gold will no longer have a “price” because it has reverted to its role as MONEY. Whenever and wherever that happens, that nation can return to the production of wealth - rather than “money”."

Alan Greenspan via The Reformed Broker

Mr. Greenspan replied that he’d thought a lot about gold prices over the years and decided the supply and demand explanations treating gold like other commodities “simply don’t pan out,” as Mr. Malpass characterized Mr. Greenspan. “He’d concluded that gold is simply different,” Mr. Malpass wrote. At one point Mr. Greenspan spoke of how, during World War II, the Allies going into North Africa found gold was insisted on in the payment of bribes. Said the former Fed chairman: “If all currencies are moving up or down together, the question is: relative to what? Gold is the canary in the coal mine. It signals problems with respect to currency markets. Central banks should pay attention to it.”

William Buiter via FT Alphaville

…even the fiscally best-positioned G7 countries, Germany and Canada, face major fiscal challenges. Germany would not be able to join the Euro Area today if it were not a member already, because it fails to meet the deficit criterion (no more than 3% of GDP) and the debt criterion (no more than 60% of GDP) – in the case of the public debt to GDP ratio, by a significant and growing margin. Indeed, the aggregate Euro Area fails both criteria by wide margins, and of the 16 individual member states, only Luxembourg and Finland qualify on both criteria…

With QE 2.0 now finally on the table & spreading "competitive devaluations" ( timing wasn´t bad... see Update)around the globe i think you should give the Ludwig von Mises reference via John Hussman a second look....

Da ja nun auch endlich offiziell QE 2.0 angekündigt worden ist und weltweit ein finaler Abwertungswettlauf ( Timing hätte schlechter sein können...siehe Update )in Sachen Währungen um sich greift ( und dabei rasant an Fahrt gewinnt ) kann es nicht schaden noch einmal einen Blick auf das Ludwig von Mises Zitat via John Hussman zu werfen....

UPDATE:

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard Telegraph

States accounting for two-thirds of the global economy are either holding down their exchange rates by direct intervention or steering currencies lower in an attempt to shift problems on to somebody else, each with their own plausible justification. Nothing like this has been seen since the 1930s.

Brazil’s finance minister Mr Mantega via FT Alphaville

Mr Mantega, Brazil’s finance minister, declared earlier this month that the Brazilian real was caught up in ‘a silent war’ in currency markets, as nations compete to speed up their economic recoveries by putting their exporters at an advantage…

Ben Davies Ft Alphaville

Within a single week 25 nations have deliberately slashed the values of their currencies. Nothing quite comparable with this has ever happened before in the history of the world. This world monetary earthquake will carry many lessons.

Got GOLD ? ;-)

Junk Bond Covenants Less Strigend Than Their Previous Junk Deals.....

Let´s be generous and call this kind of datapoint "frothy"...... ;-) Make sure you take a closer look at the stunning example provided in the update at the end of the post........

Höflich formuliert dürften Daten wie diese als "überschäument" durchgehen.... ;-) Verweise in diesem Zusammenhang ausdrücklich auf das Beispile das ich am Ende des Postings im Update verewigt habe.....

Bond Markets Get Riskier WSJ

One of the worrisome developments is occurring in the junk-bond market, where companies are taking advantage of strong demand to sell bonds that have fewer protections for investors than similar bonds sold by the companies in years past.

Some have watered down covenants, which are supposed to protect investors if a company is sold and prevent companies from loading on too much other debt or paying out their cash, which would cause a drop in value of the bonds or make it less likely the bonds they hold would get paid off.

Fifty-seven percent of junk-bond issuers had less-stringent covenants than their previous junk deals, according to an analysis for The Wall Street Journal by Covenant Review which analyzed 58 junk bonds issued in 2010 by companies that previously had issued debt. Just one deal had stronger covenants for investors. Some 41% of the deals had the same covenants.

"It reflects a weakening in covenant protections even below those existing at the peak of the market, in 2006 and 2007," Alexander Dill said in a May report from Moody's.

Junk bond prices hit pre-crisis levels FT

Strong investor demand for junk bonds has pushed the average price on such corporate debt to its highest level since June 2007, when companies could borrow with ease at the height of the credit boom.

The Bank of America Merrill Lynch index used by many investors to track the junk bond market – bonds sold by companies with credit ratings below investment grade – rose last week above 100 for the first time since the start of the credit crunch.

Dealogic, the data provider, said junk bonds sold to US investors so far in 2010 reached $168bn (€129bn) last week. This is more than was marketed in the whole of 2009, when the $164bn total set a record.

Mr Fridson said the average spread was 625 basis points over US Treasuries, still far above the level of June 2007, when spreads reached lows of close to 250bp.

In general i agree with the following statement and especially the headline "desperately seeking income" .... But signs of some kind of "serious excess" are clearly growing on a daily basis.....

Trotz allem kann man zumindest den Run in Sachen Unternehmesanleihen mehr als nachvollziehen.... Denke besonders die Überschrift "Einkommen verzweifelt gesucht" trifft den Nagel auf den Kopf..... Die Warnhinweise für eine gewisse "Sorglosigkeit" wachsen tagtäglich.....

Desperately seeking income FT Alphaville

...because corporate credit represents an attractive middle ground between equities and government bonds for income hungry investors

One can, of course, question the wisdom of piling into junk but given the paucity of alternatives it is understandable.

Things could really be getting "interesting" if the composition shifts away from the "refinancing" aka "extend & pretend" part..... I´m also sceptical that the markets have finally realised that this is "Not Your Father´s Recovery" & the deleveraging cycle is still in the first inning ( see Clevelend Fed "One Measure Of Corporate Leverage Recently Reached A New Historical High" ) .....

Denke das spätetstens wenn eine Verschiebung weg vom Refinanzierungs bzw "Extend & Pretend" Segment zu beobachten ist, die ganze Angelegenheit recht schnell mehr als "ungemütlich" zu werden droht....Bin mir zudem ziemlich sicher das der Markt noch immer nicht realisiert hat das die bisherige Erholung historisch gesehen nicht gerade "eindrucksvoll ausgefallen ist und das entgegen der täglichen Meldungen slebst bei den Firmen die "Entschuldungsphase" noch nicht wirklich aus dem Startblock gekommen ist ( siehe Clevelend Fed "One Measure Of Corporate Leverage Recently Reached A New Historical High" )....

Junk windfall Moody´s via FT Alphaville

Wouldn´t surprise me if the topic I Want My Buyback Back.... will be again on the agenda within 12-24 months....

Würde mich nicht wundern wenn das Thema I Want My Buyback Back.... binnen absehbarer Zeit erneut zu zweifelhaften Ruhm kommen wird.....

UPDATE:

NYT DealBook

THIS summer, executives from the New York-based private equity firm SK Capital traveled to Houston to celebrate the first anniversary of their acquisition of a nylon manufacturing business. Soon they will have a bigger reason to uncork the Champagne.

The nylon manufacturer has announced plans to issue about $1 billion in debt, of which $922 million will be used to pay a dividend to SK. For SK, which paid $50 million in cash for the business, that is an astonishing almost 18-fold return in a little more than a year.

PARIS 2010: CITROEN LACOSTE CONCEPT (SPY)

Direi proprio che trattasi di una beach car...(Finalmente la nuova MEHARI)
Pare che il parabrezza scivoli sul cofano anteriore...

MAZDA BT-50 (SKETCH UFFICIALE)

Better Late Than Never.... AngloGold Ashanti De-Hedging Edition.....

At least we now know why GOLD has spiked yesterday to a new high...... Stunning that John Paulson as the largest shareholder with a 12.1 percent stake and one of the biggest GOLD investors out there didn´t pressure the management to eliminate the hedges way earlier..... Maybe management should have (re)read the Special Gold Report "In Gold We Trust" - Erste Group (!) ....;-) Looking at the chart & as a contrarian i think it´s safe to say that at least one tiny factor driving GOLD will have almost no effect from 2011 on.....On the other hand i don´t know anybody investing in GOLD because of "de-hedging"....

Damit hätten wir auch den Grund warum GOLD ausgerechnet gestern einen gewaltigen Satz gemacht hat.....Das ausgerechnet John Paulson als einer der weltweit größten Goldinvestoren mit 12,1% größter Einzelaktionör ist, und nicht massiv auf das Managment eingewirkt hat bereits in den vergangenen Jahren die zum Teil lächerlichen Hedgingpositionen wesentlich schneller zu eliminieren, würde mir als Investor in einem der Paulson Fonds mehr als übel aufstossen....... CEO & CFO hätten beizeiten mal wieder einen Blick in den Special Gold Report "In Gold We Trust" - Erste Group (!) werfen sollen... ;-) Mit Blick auf den nächsten Chart dürfte ziemlich klar werden das ab 2011 ein wenn auch winziger Treiber für den Goldpreis wegfallen dürfte....Auf der anderen Seite ist mir kein einziger GOLDinvestor bekannt der ausgerechnet wegen des Themas "De-Hedging" bullish gewesen ist.... ;-)

H/T FT Alphaville

Anglogold Ld

During 2009, AngloGold Ashanti continued to execute its strategy to reduce its outstanding gold hedging position, which resulted in its decision to acceleratethe settlement of certain outstanding gold hedging positions. These accelerated settlements, together with the normal scheduled deliveries and maturities of other gold derivatives positions during 2009 and the first half of 2010, reduced the total committed ounces from 5.99 million ounces as at 31 December 2008 to 3.22 million ounces as at 30 June 2010 and to 2.72 million ounces as at 14 September 2010.

AngloGold Ashanti estimates that its current residual hedging position would likely result in it realising an effective discount to the gold spot price of approximately 6-11% until 2014 and an effective discount of less than 1% in 2015 if the hedge book were not restructured, assuming an annual production of 5.0 million ounces and a spot price of between US$950 and US$1,450 per ounce.

AngloGold Ashanti intends to effectively eliminate all its remaining gold hedging position by early 2011

Due to the low committed prices under its current hedge contracts (at an average price of less than US$450 per ounce) relative to the current market price, the elimination of AngloGold Ashanti's hedging arrangements will require a significant capital commitment.

As at 30 June 2010, the negative marked-to-market value of all hedge transactions making up AngloGold Ashanti's hedge position was approximately US$2.41 billion.

Special Gold Report "In Gold We Trust" - Erste Group Topic De-hedging

At the end of 2009 the hedged position of gold miners amounted to almost 8mn ounces (i.e.close to 250 tonnes). Barrick Gold reduced its hedge book dramatically. The Canadian market leader has cut its hedged positions by 5.3mn ounces (165 tonnes). In order to fund this strategy, the company increased its capital by USD 4bn and also issued USD 1bn worth of bonds. Barrick’s hedged positions had seen a high of more than 20mn ounces.

AngloGold and Ashanti account for the majority (i.e. close to 45%) of the existing positions.

We expect dehedging demand to gradually decrease and believe that in the long run the gold industry may shift towards hedging again so as to ensure that major projects can be planned with a certain level of accuracy.

Judging from the daily headlines on this topic i think down the road even this horrible timing will be viewed much more favourably.....

Wenn man allerdings die tagtäglichen Meldungen zu diesem Thema betrachtet, bestehen gute Chancen das selbst dieses üble Timing zukünftig "wohlwollend" in der Betrachtung wegkommen wird.....

Interesting Irish National Debt Stats......

Stunning....If you want to put a positive spin on it one can argue that there is a lot of room for improvement for the Irish to boost their share.... Of course only if the ECB is willing to slow down their ongoing buying "frenzy" ;-) For more charts click here

Positiv formuliert bleibt da für die Irischen Mitbürger, Banken und Versicherungen noch viel Luft nach oben.....Natürlich nur für den Fall das sich die EZB in den nächsten Jahren mit Ihren Käufen zurückhält....;-) Für mehr Charts in Sachen Irland und Staatsverschuldung bitte hier klicken....

Irish government debt needs you Barclays Capital’s Laurent Fransolet via FT Alphaville

In common with a number of other countries, one of the problems Ireland has faced is the limited domestic investor base for its debt. There is only limited data on who owns the Irish debt. On the domestic side, the Irish central bank has detailed data on holders… Only 15% of the debt is held domestically (the lowest proportion in the euro area), and domestic buyers have not stepped up their purchases recently, in contrast to a number of other euro area countries (eg, Spain, Portugal).

…Irish domestic banks own just €8.5bn of the debt, compared with balance sheets of about €700bn

Similarly, insurance companies and pension funds hold just €3-4bn of Irish government bonds, compared with total fixed income assets of €66bn. These low domestic holdings probably reflect the fact that for a long time, Irish debt was scarce and low yielding, and thus shunned by domestic investors. We think it also shows that in a way, there is potential for more domestic buying, even if these changes in investment policies can take time.

To have an idea of who owns this external debt, we utilise a number of sources. First, we take into account the ECB Securities Markets Programme buying (SMP): in total, about €61bn of Greek, Irish and Portuguese securities have been bought by the ECB. We believe the majority was Greek debt, with the rest slightly skewed in favour of Irish debt (say 15bn to 20bn).

Overall, we assume 30% of the ECB SMP buying has been in Irish debt (€18bn – the SMP likely makes the ECB the biggest single debt holder of Ireland, Portugal and Greece).

Read the last paragraph twice & ( even if i have to repeat myself over and over again ) the Joke Of The Day From ECB´s Smaghi "€ More Stable Than Deutsche Mark" is getting even more "funny".... ;-)

Lasst den letzten Absatz in aller Ruhe nocheinmal Revue passieren und (ich wiederhole mich da gerne) der Witz des Tages von Smaghi das der "€ stabiler als die DM ist" nur noch witziger... ;-)

Importantly… Ireland built up a lot of cash deposits in 2008, which it could run down more than €10bn if market access remains limited/too expensive. With monthly cash deficits of about €1.5bn, limited bills redemptions (€2.75bn in Q1 11) and no bond redemption until November 2011 (€4.4bn), Ireland is not under severe pressure to issue large amounts for meeting cash needs. As such, the NTMA confirmed on 9 September that Ireland was fully funded until next June, which is our assessment as well, if Ireland decided to run down its cash balances entirely (although we suspect it will want to keep some cash buffer to hand).

Put the € 18 billion ECB number since March 2010 into perspective with the monthly cash deficit of only € 1.5 billion.... All this in the name of "tightening the unrealistic high spreads vs BUNDS"...... Spin at its best....UPDATE: Irish banks' ECB loans rise to 95.1 bln euros

Die ganze Sache wird dadurch nicht weniger witzig wenn man die geschätzten 18 Mrd € die die EZB seit März 2010 aufgekauft hat ins Verhätltnis zu dem monatlichen Cash Defizit von 1,5 Mrd € setzt..... Und all das läuft noch immer unter dem Motto "die unrealistischen hohen Renditeaufschläge vs den BUNDS mit dem Marktbild der EU / Politiker / EZB in Einklang zu bringen "..... Mir würden da haufenweise treffendere Begriffe einfallen.... UPDATE: Irish banks' ECB loans rise to 95.1 bln euros

Got GOLD ? ;-)