Bloomberg Investors are piling into cash as the outlook for global growth drops to an all-time low and stagflation worries mount, according to a Bank of America Corp (BofA) fund manager survey that points to continued stock-market declines. Cash levels among investors hit the highest level since September 2001, the report showed, with BofA describing the results as “extremely ...
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SocGen’s survivor CEO Oudea to quit after 15-year reign
Bloomberg Societe Generale Chief Executive Officer Frederic Oudea said he will leave the lender next year, bringing to a close a 15-year reign that spans the great financial crisis to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Oudea, the longest-serving CEO of a major European bank, told shareholders of his surprise decision not to seek reappointment during SocGen’s annual general meeting in Paris. ...
Read More »RBA mulls three options for size of interest-rate hike
Bloomberg Australia’s central bank said it considered three options for the size of its first interest-rate increase since 2010, according to minutes of its May 3 policy meeting, when it raised the cash rate by 25 basis points. The board agreed that hiking by 15 basis points, as forecast by most economists, didn’t make sense given policy was very ...
Read More »Americans put more on credit cards as inflation boosts costs
Bloomberg Americans are putting more on their credit cards and taking out fewer mortgages, as they need to increasingly borrow to cover the higher cost of everyday essentials and respond to rising interest rates. A record 537 million credit card accounts were opened in first quarter, a jump of 31 million over the past year, according to the Federal ...
Read More »Uruguay central bank lifts key rate to 9.25%
Bloomberg Uruguay’s central bank increased its benchmark interest rate to 9.25% and signalled borrowing costs will keep rising as monetary policy turns contractive to fight inflation. Policy makers raised the key rate by three quarters of a percentage point, and forecast at least two more increases of half a percentage point at its next meetings. The move came on ...
Read More »Santander begins search for successor to CEO Jose Alvarez
Bloomberg Banco Santander SA has begun the search for a successor to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jose Antonio Alvarez, the bank veteran who stayed on in the top position after the botched appointment of ex-UBS Group AG banker Andrea Orcel. Santander Chairman Ana Botin and the board are seeking internal and external candidates after Alvarez — who has been in ...
Read More »Euro is on the verge of US dollar parity for first time in 20 years
Bloomberg The euro is on the verge of US dollar parity for the first time in two decades. Europe’s common currency has already slumped to a five-year low near $1.03, buckling from a rush into the greenback as a haven from market turmoil and on the war in Ukraine. That’s led the likes of HSBC Holdings Plc and RBC ...
Read More »China’s central bank keeps key interest rate unchanged
Bloomberg China’s central bank refrained from cutting interest rates despite mounting evidence of a sharp slowdown in economic growth, suggesting policy makers may be concerned about the currency’s depreciation and capital outflows. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) kept the rate on its one-year medium-term lending facility at 2.85% on Monday. Economists had been split on the decision, with ...
Read More »Goldman allows senior staff to take unlimited vacation
Bloomberg Goldman Sachs Group Inc will allow senior staff to take an unlimited number of vacation days, the latest move by a Wall Street bank to retain talent in a heated job market. Partners and managing directors at the New York investment bank can take time off when needed “without a fixed vacation day entitlement,†according to a company ...
Read More »Nigeria issues crypto asset rules
Bloomberg Nigeria released new rules for digital assets, offering more clarity on trading in the cryptocurrencies in Africa’s most populous nation. The Securities and Exchange Commission published “rules on issuance, offering platforms and custody of digital assets†for virtual technologies, it said. It classifies the assets as securities regulated by the SEC. The rules may help boost trading by ...
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