Good morning New York,
FT ALPHAVILLE
Dan takes a look at hedge-fund performance as we approach year-end... and has some questions about alpha.
NEWS
France was cut to AA by S&P. Policies by François Hollande's government are "unlikely to substantially raise France's medium-term growth prospects" the rating agency said, given the country's "already-high tax levels" (Financial Times).
Iran moved closer to an interim nuclear agreement with world powers. A six-month deal to freeze advanced fuel production in return for modest sanctions relief could be announced as soon as Friday (Wall Street Journal). The deal would allow longer-term negotiations on Iran's nuclear activities to continue, but the US faces opposition to it from Israel, its Arab allies -- and Congress (Financial Times).
Chinese exports rebounded in October. The 5.6 per cent year-on-year increase contrasted with September's 0.3 per cent contraction (Financial Times).
October nonfarm payrolls later... Reuters survey prediction: 125,000 (Reuters)
UBS is buying back the Stabfund for its toxic assets for $3.76bn. The purchase of the stabilisation fund -- set up jointly with the Swiss National Bank in 2008 as UBS sought to cut mortgage-related losses -- will improve both the bank's core tier one capital ratio, and its leverage ratio (Financial Times).
Euro bullishness cracking, post-ECB rate cut: 'There's an almost 50 percent probability that the euro, which has risen more than 5 percent from an April low versus the dollar, will give back its advance by mid-2014, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The odds are the highest in seven weeks and up from 37 percent prior to the ECB lowering rates to a record...' (Bloomberg)
