Donald Trump’s grand tour of Asia will attract a lot of attention this week, but in one respect the fuss will be misleading. The president will be no more than a bystander when the region’s leaders make a very big decision — whether to go ahead with the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a deal that the US designed and subsequently abandoned. …

Corruption, black money, terrorism, fake currency — Prime Minister Narendra Modi resolved to eliminate all in one stroke when he announced India’s biggest-ever cash ban on November 8 last year. However, the short term costs of his move are outweighing the benefits. He invalidated 86 percent of currency in circulation, saying the move was essential to combat graft and terrorism, …

Instead of bringing clarity, an impressive price surge last week accentuated the differences within the financial industry about the future of the bitcoins. Opinions range from those asserting that we are witnessing the birth and maturation of a new global currency to those who argue that the phenomenon is a ‘fraud,’ with a large middle either reserving judgment or arguing …

Investors have heard repeatedly in recent weeks that the period of easing by the world’s major central banks is about over. According to this view, interest-rate hikes that the Federal Reserve has already implemented will be followed by the end of bond purchases by the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan, and by multiple rate increases by the …

Bloomberg US stocks gained while the dollar strengthened and Treasury yields nudged higher as President Donald Trump called on North Korea to “make a deal” on its missile and nuclear programme. European stocks fluctuated near a two-year peak and Asian markets hit records. The S&P 500 Index opened higher along with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq 100 Stock …

Bloomberg It’s one step forward, two steps back for bond volatility. Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s MOVE Index, a gauge of price swings in the US Treasury market, fell to a record low, bucking last month’s uptrend. Renewed expectations that the Federal Reserve will stay the course on monetary policy in the midst of a leadership transition and the unveiling …

ABU DHABI / Reuters JPMorgan is in early talks with Saudi Arabian companies about overseas listings, its investment bank chief said, raising the possibility that more firms could join oil giant Saudi Aramco in seeking an international flotation. JPMorgan is among the banks advising Aramco on an international public offering (IPO), sources have told Reuters. Aramco’s listing is part of …

Bloomberg As John Cryan mulls steps to restore growth at Deutsche Bank AG, he’s counting on US companies’ appetite for ever more debt to help lead the charge. The Frankfurt-based lender added 24 managing directors and directors at its US corporate finance business this year, a record hiring pace, according to Mark Fedorcik, co-head of Deutsche Bank’s global capital markets …

Bloomberg Australia’s major banks will sell fewer local currency bonds next year as property lending cools in one of the world’s most heated real estate markets. That’s the view of BlackRock Inc.’s head of fixed income in Australia Craig Vardy. The forecast concerning the lenders — some of the biggest corporate note issuers Down Under — comes as restrictions take …

Bloomberg Nykredit Realkredit A/S is abandoning plans for an initial public offering, pulling what could have been the biggest listing of a Nordic bank in more than two decades. Denmark’s largest mortgage lender, which dominates the country’s $480 billion covered-bond market and provides home loans to about 40 percent of households, said an offer from a group of private Danish …