Every morning the Street of Walls team puts out an update on market levels, today’s top stories, and active M&A deals.
Today’s Top Stories:
- Greece Update: as expected, the Greek parliament Sun night approved an austerity package
- Portugal Bailout: Troika Officials from the IMF and European Union Start Their Third Review of Portugal’s Bailout Package on Wed Feb 15
- Obama Budget Plan: Obama will release his F13 budget on Mon 2/13, calling for ~$3T in deficit reductions over 10 years (inc. $1.5T worth of new tax hikes from ending the Bush rates and imposing the “Buffett Rule”)
- US Debt Problems: A former PBOC advisor said the world should be on high alert re the US gov’t’s debt problems as they could prove more serious than the current issues in Europe (DJ)
- Obama’s College Aid: President Obama on Monday will propose a $8 billion Community College to Career Fund, with the goal of training two million workers for well-paying jobs in high-demand industries, officials said http://nyti.ms/zgp1ht
- Dividends Hit Record: February is the busiest month for dividend declarations and increases, and this year, the biggest U.S. corporations may pay out a record amount, making up for some of the cash they withheld from shareholders during the financial crisis and earlier stages of the recoveryhttp://bit.ly/w87eNG
- Barclays Bonus: top shareholders are urging Bob Diamond to “tone down” his bonus payment for 2011 (London Times)
- iPad News: NY Post reports that US Air Force may buy up to 18k iPads to be used to lighten the load of flight crews
- Hedge Funds Making Moves: There have been a flurry of 13D hedge fund updates this week that we would like to highlight: Trian Fund, Marathon Asset Mang, Baupost Group, etc. http://bit.ly/xBldPL
Economic Calendar:
- NA
M&A Watch:
- Weekly M&A Trends: This week saw some big jumps in Debt underwriting and M&A activity. Announcedinvestment banking M&A increased +22% from the prior week to $34bn, M&A volumes are still very low for the start of the year http://bit.ly/vZUMkZ
