Newsworthy Snips (Including bit on Tata Steel)

Credit Default in Mongolia

• “According to Bloomberg news, Mongolia’s 5th largest bank – Savings Bank (SB) – was declared insolvent by the bank regulator, and the bank will be taken over by government-owned State Bank. This story is a surprise since (i) there had not been any news about financial difficulties at the bank recently, (ii) the bank had taken over the deposit accounts of the failed Anod Bank in 2010, (iii) their latest available financial metrics at 2Q12 appeared satisfactory (CAR 12.6%, and liquidity ratio of 36.3% vs. minimum 25%), although it had reported high NPL ratios in the past. With a 7% market share, SB is considered one of the five systemically important banks in Mongolia.”

Hongkie Babe says it is not the issue of how big the bank is or how important but the fact that it is an SOE (State Owned Enterprise).

Cooking Numbers In EM – Argentina

• Hard-to-Believe GDP Surge Spurs Warrants Rally: Argentina Credit
  July 23 (Bloomberg) — Securities linked to Argentina’s
  economy are surging by the most in almost three years as faster-than-projected growth fuels speculation the nation will expand enough this year to trigger a payout….     While Argentina became the first country censured by the International Monetary Fund for unreliable economic data in February, investors in the warrants are gaining confidence…”

Tata Steel Again

• Tata Steel Slumps as Rupee Plunge Inflates Debt: India Credit (Bloomberg)

Killed by the currency of its bond issues !! And this other headline does not help.

• “Reuters) – The U.S. Commerce Department on Tuesday launched one of its biggest trade investigations in years into charges that manufacturers in India, South Korea and seven other countries are selling steel pipe used by oil and natural gas producers at unfairly low prices in the United States.”

TATA STEEL SGD 4.95% 05/2023 last seen at 87.25/88.25, down from last week’s 91 cts close.

At least we know they made money on this deal. INR lost about 6-7% against the SGD liability for Tata but the bond made them 12%.

Bloodletting Continues In China

• China Pays Highest Yield at Five-Year Bond Sale Since 2011 (Bloomberg)

• China Manufacturing Weakens Further as Slowdown Deepens: Economy
  “The reading of 47.7 for an index released today by HSBC
  Holdings Plc and Markit Economics, if confirmed in the final
  report Aug. 1, would be the lowest in 11 months. Readings below
  50 indicate contraction. A separate euro-area gauge showed
  manufacturing unexpectedly expanded this month.”

Rates Hikes Do Not Work EITHER In Indonesia

• The Indonesian rupiah’s decline to a four-year low this week adds to evidence that two interest-rate increases and the first fuel-price boost in five years haven’t done enough to curb Indonesia’s current-account deficit.

An finally … trivia time… could be corny ‘cos this is what my dad sent me.
(Apologies if this is copyrighted)