Bloomberg China’s yuan is poised to resume its advance as the removal of Covid curbs supercharges economic recovery in 2023, according to a veteran trader at Standard Chartered Plc. “The yuan is more likely to go to 6.5 per dollar than to 7 within the next three to six months,†said Charles Feng, head of macro trading for Greater ...
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BMO, CIBC may raise new equity to build firewalls
Bloomberg Bank of Montreal (BMO) and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) may need to raise new equity over the medium term to build capital levels as the bank regulator bolsters its requirements, according to analyst Nigel D’Souza. BMO issued shares in December 2022 and there’s been talk of CIBC doing the same after Canada’s financial watchdog boosted the minimum ...
Read More »BofA freezes most hiring to control costs, guard against downturn
Bloomberg Bank of America Corp (BofA) started telling executives to pause hiring except for the most vital positions, as it tries to keep a lid on costs and prepare for a possible economic downturn. The move is an escalation of the company’s decision late last year to slow hiring after fewer employees decided to leave of their own accord, ...
Read More »Norway’s central bank pauses rate hiking
Bloomberg Norway’s central bank paused monetary tightening while signalling a likely quarter-point increase in borrowing costs in March is still needed to bring inflation under control. Norges Bank kept the key deposit rate on hold at 2.75% on Thursday, as forecast by the majority of economists in a Bloomberg survey. Governor Ida Wolden Bache said the benchmark “will most ...
Read More »BOJ jolts financial markets but risk of a bigger shock remains
Bloomberg An unchanged decision from the Bank of Japan (BOJ) gave global investors a modest jolt Wednesday, leaving the bigger shock of a future policy shift hanging over markets from the yen to Treasuries. Standing pat caught some traders by surprise but is unlikely to douse speculation that the BOJ will normalize policy as inflation in Japan accelerates and ...
Read More »Morgan Stanley, BofA sell $9b of new bonds
Bloomberg Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Corp (BofA) were the first of the big six Wall Street banks to announce bond sales, combining to sell $9 billion of new bonds, as the market gears up for the usual deluge of debt from the US lenders following their respective earnings reports. Morgan Stanley sold $6 billion of new debt in ...
Read More »Fed approves BMO’s $16.3b takeover of Bank of the West
Bloomberg Bank of Montreal (BMO) has received approval from the Federal Reserve to acquire San Francisco-based Bank of the West, a combination that will create the 15th-largest US lender. After the transaction, Bank of Montreal US subsidiary BMO Financial Corp. will have consolidated assets of $286.8 billion, representing about 1% of those held by insured depository institutions in the US, ...
Read More »Coinbase Global stops its operations in Japan
Bloomberg Coinbase Global Inc. is halting operations in Japan, less than a month after another major digital asset exchange Kraken announced its withdrawal from the country. Customers will have until February 16 to withdraw their fiat and crypto holdings, Coinbase said in a blog post on Wednesday. Any remaining crypto held at Coinbase on or after February 17 will be ...
Read More »BNY Mellon plans to cut 3% of staff
Bloomberg Bank of New York Mellon Corp. is planning to lay off about 1,500 staff this year as the US lender says costs will be a top priority for 2023. The reductions account for about 3% of the firm’s 51,700 workforce at year end. The bank reported revenue of $3.92 billion in its fourth-quarter results, missing analyst estimates. BNY ...
Read More »Digital Currency Group halts dividend payment
Bloomberg Digital Currency Group, the struggling crypto empire whose Genesis Global Capital lending unit is trying to stave off bankruptcy, said it’s suspending quarterly dividends to preserve cash. The move comes as the group focuses on “strengthening our balance sheet by reducing operating expenses and preserving liquidity,†according to a letter to shareholders.
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