tyb/s
Turkish Lira Plunges As Funding Costs Tumble, Shorts Pounce
Commenting on recent gyrations in the Turkish currency, Rabobank's Michael Every writes that the lira ended Monday’s volatile session on the firm footing appreciating more than 1% versus the dollar as the market continued to digest the outcome of local elections held on Sunday and tried to assess potential implications of Turkey’s biggest cities voting against President Erdogan’s AKP candidates.
That said, Every notes that he "would be careful trying to read too much into the price action in USD/TRY witnessed on Monday. Lira’s liquidity in the offshore market remains tight as reflected in the overnight swap rate sharply again to more than 300% on the day" and adds that "essentially, it is not a properly functioning market."
As a result, investors who are concerned that the Erdogan administration may turn towards populist measures - instead of prudent policies to rebalance the economy - find it prohibitively expensive to short the lira. Every concludes that "unless the overnight swap rate falls back to the levels seen before the credit crunch, i.e. around 24%, any lira’s recovery should be taken with a pinch of salt."
Well, that's precisely what happened on Tuesday, when the Turkish lira's overnight funding costs tumbled once again as it has become prohibitive difficult for the central bank to continue its vendetta against the shorts, with the rate plunging from over 300% to just over 18%, below levels seen during the credit crunch, and in fact below the central bank's prevailing rate corridor.
As a reminder, two weeks ago, the most severe bout of market turmoil since Turkey’s August crisis was triggered after a plunge in central bank reserves and a recommendation to short the currency by JPMorgan sent the lira down more than 5%. As Bloomberg wrote at the time, that raised concerns that the money that had poured Turkey to take advantage of the central bank’s 24% benchmark rate would flee.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-04-02/turkish-lira-plunges-funding-costs-tumble-shorts-pounce
recall this from March 23rd
Turkish watchdogs to probe JP Morgan after lira plunge
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-banks/turkish-watchdogs-to-probe-jp-morgan-after-lira-plunge-idUSKCN1R40OS
Lyft : falls further from IPO after receiving first 'sell' rating
(not even letting this go for a week before the 'ANALysts' walk out the sell recs.-nor wait until the lockups expire)
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Lyft Inc's stock sank further below its IPO price on Tuesday after receiving its first negative review from an analyst who is skeptical that consumers will give up car ownership in favor of relying on ride-hailing services.
Shares of the money-losing San Francisco company fell as much as 4.2 percent to $66.10 on Tuesday, their second straight session of losses after a hotly anticipated $72 initial public offer on Friday. The stock was down 2.3 percent at $67.41 early on Tuesday afternoon on the Nasdaq.
The stock's weak performance could make investors more cautious about a string of expected public listings from Silicon Valley unicorns, including Uber Technologies Inc and Pinterest, which are also unprofitable.
Seaport Global initiated coverage of Lyft with a "sell" rating and a $42 price target, with analyst Michael Ward calling the stock's current valuation a "leap of faith" that consumers will forego owning cars in favor of using ride-hailing services.
https://www.marketscreener.com/LYFT-INC-56481539/news/Lyft-falls-further-from-IPO-after-receiving-first-sell-rating-28340231/?countview=0