Including: an Apple share price perspective, a Zambian kwatcha crisis, the fuller S&P story, a red herring accusation, and RBS gets fined for fiddling.
Good morning
The headlines:
- Apple is undervalued.
Link: shameless.
The summary: a report came out yesterday saying that Apple was seriously undervalued. And according to the Financial Times, it could be worth up to 50% more. Some analysts are calling the undervaluation “ridiculous”. And there is talk of giving some cash back to investors.
It’s interesting because: I have a vested interest. Treat all my future Apple share pronouncements with caution.
- S&P.
Link: the fuller story.
The summary: the DOJ is upset. They’re saying that S&P’s public criticism of the lawsuit is a red herring – because the DOJ never said that S&P should have forecast the future correctly; it’s saying that S&P deliberately ignored the information in front of it at the time. And, well, if you read the article, you’ll see why. Lots of incriminating emails and such.
It’s interesting because: it brings into focus the issue of independence. Auditors and Ratings Agencies all face the same dilemma: being paid by the companies they’re meant to regulate. So who regulates the Auditors and the Ratings Agencies? Well – here’s hoping that S&P gets annihilated by the DOJ. Because then it’s a warning.
- Zambia intervenes.
Link: saving the kwacha.
The summary: is in the title. Zambia, being heavily reliant on imports, is concerned that the weakening of the kwatcha will drive inflation. So they’re interfering, whilst continuing to maintain that the foreign exchange market is a “free” one. They’re also looking for people to blame, so the mines (the exporters) are being accused of hoarding the foreign currency they get for the minerals they export (because if the mines don’t sell their dollars to buy kwatcha when they bring the money back to Zambia – then a key component to the demand for kwatcha is missing).
It’s interesting because: the mines account for 75% of Zambian export earnings. Where has the money gone?
- RBS fined.
Link: more Libor.
The summary: RBS was fined $612 million yesterday for manipulating Libor rates with UBS (wrote about UBS’ fine here – check out news item 3).
It’s interesting because: more incriminating inter-office emails. And, what’s more, it made almost no difference to the share price. Because, like, how low can you go?
That’s all for now.
Have a good day.
