Bloomberg A minor tweak in the Bank of Japan’s bond purchases has emboldened investors to bet the central bank is about to wind back monetary stimulus. Going long on the yen is the biggest currency wager for AMP Capital Investors Ltd.’s Nader Naeimi. Singapore-based hedge fund Kit Trading Fund Ltd. started a bet on the yen last week, predicting the ...
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Citigroup positive on lower tax rates ahead
Bloomberg Citigroup Inc. envisions years of tax-reform benefits ahead, even as competitors warned that their rewards may soon start fading away. Last month’s Republican-led legislation cut Citigroup’s effective threshold to about 25 percent in 2018 and company executives said it will go even lower from there, leading the bank to boost its forecast for profitability. That contrasts with JPMorgan Chase ...
Read More »Philippines in dilemma over reserve ratio cut
Bloomberg Philippine central bank Governor Nestor Espenilla said it’s getting harder to cut the reserve requirement ratio for lenders as he’d pledged to do when he took office six months ago, with inflation set to pick up. “We have to be careful that we don’t send the signal that we are lowering the guard in terms of fighting inflation and ...
Read More »Saudi deposits $2bn in Yemen central bank to help currency
RIYADH / Reuters Saudi Arabia’s King Salman ordered a deposit of $2 billion to be paid into Yemen’s central bank on Wednesday to shore up the weak Yemeni currency, the Saudi government said. The move was made a day after the Yemeni prime minister issued a public plea for funds to prop up the rial and help stave off hunger ...
Read More »These emerging economies are not afraid of QE’s end
Bloomberg While the prospect of the European Central Bank’s withdrawal of monetary stimulus is bringing closer the end of an era of record-low borrowing costs in emerging Europe, it isn’t worrying countries both inside the euro area and those just on its eastern fringe. Governments from Slovakia to Croatia say their economies are in much better shape than when investors ...
Read More »SNB seen sticking with rock bottom rate through 2019
Bloomberg The Swiss National Bank’s (SNB) somewhat more upbeat inflation view may not necessarily translate into early rate increases, according to a Bloomberg survey. In their first take since the SNB’s December policy meeting, when the central bank adjusted its forecasts, economists still see Switzerland’s deposit rate staying at a rock-bottom minus 0.75 percent until late 2019. A 25-basis point ...
Read More »Heathrow’s sloping runway plan to cut costs by $3.4bn
Bloomberg London’s Heathrow Airport put forward proposals for a sloping runway and said the landing strip could be shortened as it seeks to cut 2.5 billion pounds ($3.4 billion) from the cost of expansion plans. Europe’s busiest hub also proposed the phased opening of new terminals and a number of alternative road links as part of a 10-week consultation aimed ...
Read More »UK growth outlook dims as household spending to weaken
BLoomberg The UK economy isn’t going to pick up for at least the next two years as consumers struggle to lift spending. Respondents to Bloomberg’s first UK survey of 2018 showed few signs of new year optimism. The median forecast for growth this year was kept at 1.4 percent, and no acceleration is seen in 2019. While gross domestic product ...
Read More »Boeing barges into aircraft-seat business in threat to suppliers
Bloomberg Fed up with delays that have plagued production of luxurious jetliner cabins, Boeing Co. is forming its own company with a major seat supplier to the auto industry. The joint venture with Adient Plc will be based near Frankfurt, Germany, along with a technology center and an initial production plant, the companies said in a statement. It will market ...
Read More »Qantas named as least fuel-efficient airline
Bloomberg Qantas Airways Ltd. is the least fuel efficient and burns the most carbon of major airlines that fly across the Pacific Ocean, according to a report by the International Council on Clean Transportation. Qantas burns an average of one liter of aviation fuel to fly a passenger 22 kilometres, 64 percent more than the 36 kilometres achieved by the ...
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