Few talked about Northern Ireland during the Brexit referendum. Yet it could now dash Prime Minister Theresa May’s hopes of a deal with the European Union (EU) and threaten 20 years of peace and prosperity in Ireland. A coalition of hardliners within May’s Conservatives and a small party from Northern Ireland that has provided her parliamentary majority since last year’s ...
Read More »Blog Layout
Short sellers are missing Tencent’s $250bn party
If there’s an upside to a downturn it’s that short sellers get to make a buck. By borrowing shares, investors can sell what they don’t own. If the price falls, they buy the stock back at a cheaper level and return it to the lender (with interest), pocketing the difference. Assuming the shares fall enough and borrowing costs aren’t too ...
Read More »We have an epidemic of loneliness. How can we fix it?
If Sen. Ben Sasse is right — he has not recently been wrong about anything important — the nation’s most-discussed political problem is entangled with the least-understood public health problem. The political problem is furious partisanship. The public health problem is loneliness. Sasse’s new book argues that Americans are richer, more informed and ‘connected’ than ever — and unhappier, more ...
Read More »Stocks, greenback decline as global tensions escalate
Bloomberg US stocks fell along with the dollar as political tensions added to a growing list of investor concerns. Gold rose and Treasuries edged higher. The S&P 500 Index deepened its decline following its biggest weekly retreat since March as President Donald Trump threatened to impose another round of tariffs on China. European and Asian shares dropped after a weekend ...
Read More »Rising telecoms, energy shares help European stocks reverse losses
Bloomberg European equities reversed an early retreat and turned flat as US stock index futures pared losses ahead of the stock market open in New York. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index briefly turned positive on the day after losing as much as 0.7% in the morning. Telecoms outperformed, with Deutsche Telekom AG up 2.3 percent and BT Group Plc up ...
Read More »Kuroda says first sign of exit will be seen in bond yields
Bloomberg Look to bond yields and not asset purchases for the first sign that the Bank of Japan is finally ready to start exiting its years-long monetary stimulus, Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said in an interview. Kuroda’s statement offered the clearest glimpse yet of what an exit will look like one day, though he stressed that policy settings will remain at ...
Read More »Phillips curve is ‘waking from its coma’: ECB’s Rehn
Bloomberg The revival of a long-established relationship between unemployment and inflation is proceeding — ever so slowly, according to European Cent-ral Bank Governing Council member Olli Rehn. “We see some signs that the Phillips curve is waking from its coma,†said Rehn, referring to the theory first described by William Phillips in the 1950s. “It’s maybe alive but not kicking ...
Read More »Wells Fargo posts surprise revenue rise
Bloomberg Wells Fargo & Co. hasn’t yet fixed all of its problems, but at least it stopped its revenue slump. The bank posted a surprise increase in revenue, with the figure rising to $21.9 billion in the third quarter, after analysts expected a slight decline. The bank benefited from rising interest rates and saw growth in consumer-lending originations in areas ...
Read More »BOE’s next 50-pound note to be made out of plastic
Bloomberg The Bank of England’s next 50-pound note will be made out of plastic as the UK extends the production of polymer cash to its highest-denomination bill. The new note, worth about $66 at current exchange rates, will be Britain’s last denomination to make the shift from paper to plastic, with five- and 10-pound bills already made of the more ...
Read More »A decade from crisis, banks face risks from Italy to trade wars
Bloomberg The world is still full of risks for the banking industry, despite reforms put in place since the financial crisis 10 years ago. That was the main subject of discussions this weekend in Bali, where bankers gathered for the annual meeting of the Institute of International Finance. From market turmoil and trade tensions to rising leverage and the implications ...
Read More »