By James Langton
(August 30 – 09:00 ET) – GDP is out tomorrow and job numbers in the U.S. come Friday. And most traders are looking toward a possible rate move in Europe, tomorrow as the next big market event.
Stocks are mixed in Europe with prices moving mostly on individual news. London’s FTSE has gained 29 points to 6615. Paris’ CAC 40 is up 17 points to 6650, and the German DAX is down 48 points to 7246.
Credit Suisse Group is buying Wall Street rival Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Inc. for US$13.4 billion in cash and stock. The deal will solidify its position as one of the world’s premier bankers.
However, CS stock is falling in Europe and one of DLJ’s big selling shareholders, insurer Axa Financial, is up. There’s some speculation that Axa will spend the cash it gets on a deal of its own in the insurance business. Yesterday DLJ closed a deal with Whalen Beliveau to create DLJ Canada, no news on how that firm will be affected by the deal.
The other big M&A news has the Deutsche Boerse AG mulling a white knight bid for the London Stock Exchange in the face of a hostile offer from Sweden’s OM Gruppen.
This morning also brings a financial industry deal of our own with AGF Management Limited buying 100% of rival Global Strategy Holdings Inc. for $438 million, with between 67% and 75% in cash and the rest in AGF.B shares. The deal also includes an asset adjustment payment to a maximum of $13 million based on assets under management at closing. The transaction is
expected to be completed on or about October 31, subject to regulatory approval. The combined company will have total assets of approximately $35 billion.
Overnight in Asia, stocks were down. The Nikkei slipped back below 17,000,
dropping 240 points to 16901. The Hang Seng slid 144 points to 17096.