Archive
Reuters blog archive
from Global Investing:
Three snapshots for Friday
Although the focus has been on Spanish debt auctions this week as this chart shows Italy has much further to go in meeting this year's funding needs.
German business sentiment rose unexpectedly for the fifth month in a row in March, moving in the opposite direction to the composite PMI:
Greg Harrison points out 82% of S&P 500 companies have beaten their Q1 earnings estimates so far. It is early days but it it continues that would be the highest for at least five years. Is this a sign that the strength in corporate earnings in continuing? The chart below suggests as least part may be due to falling expectations coming into earnings season.
from Global Investing:
European corporate bonds flourishing
A new set of data from Thomson Reuters sheds light on blossoming European corporate bond activity.
Here are the main findings:
-- European corporate debt totals $75 billion so far during 2012, up 83% over the same period in 2011, and a year-to-date total only surpassed by 2009 in the last decade. January 2012 saw $48 billion raised, the strongest month since March 2011 ($50 billion). With a week to go before the end of the month, February issuance is already up 68% over February 2011.
from Global Investing:
Funding stress in the FX swap market
Signs of the wholesale funding stress are cropping up in the FX swaps market, with the premium for swapping euro LIBOR into dollar LIBOR over 3 months (so-called cross currency swap) rising to 141.5 basis points, which is the post-Lehman Brothers high.
The premium has skyrocketed in the past six months (back in May it was only 16.5bps) because European banks needing funds are forced to turn to the FX swap market, and other banks are reluctant to lend to European companies in the United States.
from Entrepreneurial:
Seattle startup raises $1.3 million to encrypt the cloud
Kory Gill’s “a-ha” moment came in the form of a lightning bolt that struck his Seattle home and fried his computers. In the aftermath, his wife’s main concern was whether their digitally stored family photos had survived the blast.
“What more of a sign do you need to go start this company?” Gill recalled his wife asking him, who used the scare to leave a 20-year career at Microsoft (MSFT.O) and launch his own online backup company.
from Entrepreneurial:
Twilio raises second microfund from angels McClure, Conway
-- Alastair Goldfisher is a contributor for PE Hub, a Thomson Reuters publication. He was also part of the judging panel at the Twilio Conference with Paul Singh of 500 Startups and Manu Kumar of K9 Ventures. This article originally appeared here. --
This week at the Twilio Conference in San Francisco, 500 Startups founder Dave McClure announced the launch of a second Twilio MicroFund of $250,000 to invest in companies that are based on Twilio’s Connect platform.
from Entrepreneurial:
Why venture capitalists invest in pigs, not chickens
-- Jeff Bussgang is a former entrepreneur and partner at Flybridge Capital Partners. This article originally appeared on his blog Seeing Both Sides. The views expressed are his own. --
There is an old parable about the concept of commitment when it comes to breakfast. The story goes that when looking at a plate of the traditional fare of ham and eggs, it's obvious that the chicken is an interested party, but the pig is truly committed.
from Entrepreneurial:
Why governments don’t get startups
– Steve Blank is a serial entrepreneur. He teaches at Stanford University, U.C. Berkeley’s Haas Business School and at Columbia. He is the author of “The Four Steps to the Epiphany” and “Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost”. This article originally appeared here. The views expressed are his own. –
Not understanding and agreeing what “Entrepreneur” and “Startup” mean can sink an entire country’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
from Entrepreneurial:
The entrepreneur’s equivalent of “10,000 hours”
– Mark Suster is a former serial entrepreneur and a partner at Los Angeles-based GRP Partners. This article originally appeared on his blog “Both Sides of the Table”. The views expressed are his own. –
50 coffee meetings. It should stick in your head as a metaphor for networking. For getting outside of your comfort zone. For starting relationships today that won’t pay off for a year. It’s the entrepreneur’s equivalent of “10,000 hours.”
from Entrepreneurial:
How much money do I need for my startup?
– Tim Berry is the president and founder of Palo Alto Software. This post originally appeared on his blog, “Planning, Startups, Stories”. The views expressed are his own. –
It’s an obvious question. And if you’re looking for startup investors you’d better be able to answer it well, and quickly too. No wandering eyes. No doubt. If you’re doing a pitch, have a slide for it. And be specific.
from Entrepreneurial:
The coming brick wall in venture capital
-- Mark Suster is a former serial entrepreneur and a partner at Los Angeles-based venture capital firm GRP Partners. This article originally appeared on Suster’s blog “Both Sides of the Table”. The views expressed are his own. --
This is the final part of a three-part series on the major changes in the structure of the software and the venture capital industries. Read Part One and Part Two.
