Articles sometimes have a long gestation. One that I published this week had its roots in my disagreement with a three-year-old podcast. In this 2016 episode of the Acquired podcast, David Rosenthal and Ben Gilbert assessed Google’s 2005 acquisition of the startup behind the Android operating system for smartphones. Rosenthal and Gilbert had a sensible view that Android was a ...

It’s time for investors to fight the Fed. A popular Wall Street saw is that the Federal Reserve has a heavy hand in the level of the stock market. The theory is that low interest rates buoy stocks and that high rates sink them, so by controlling interest rates the Fed controls the market indirectly. From that nugget springs the ...

Bloomberg American equity-index futures slumped alongside stocks in Europe as weak data from two of the world’s biggest economies overshadowed an apparent de-escalation in the trade war. Treasuries and European bonds rallied, with key parts of both the US and UK yield curves inverting. Contracts on the S&P 500 fell alongside the Stoxx Europe 600 index as data showed Germany’s ...

Bloomberg Stocks in China and Hong Kong pared earlier advances as relief that the US will delay imposing tariffs on some consumer goods was tempered by weak economic data. The yuan climbed the most since June 20. The Hang Seng Index overcame an afternoon wobble to close 0.1 percent higher, rising for the first time in four days, while protests ...

Bloomberg China’s central bank will likely roll over maturing debt to ease liquidity in the financial system as the economy slows amid the trade dispute with the US. The People’s Bank of China is expected to roll over 383 billion yuan ($55 billion) of medium-term lending facility loans due to mature on Thursday, analysts said, after July industrial output growth ...

Bloomberg The European Central Bank (ECB) blasted banks for slow-walking their Brexit preparations, telling them they must move additional staff and resources to the European Union in case Britain leaves without a deal on October 31. The central bank said that firms have transferred “significantly fewer activities, critical functions and staff” to their EU operations than originally foreseen as part ...

Bloomberg Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. (OCBC) is weighing a bid for a controlling stake in PT Bank Permata, an Indonesian lender backed by Standard Chartered Plc, according to people with knowledge of the matter. OCBC is considering an offer for almost 90% of the $1.9 billion bank, said the people, asking not to be named as the deliberations are private. Singapore’s ...

Bloomberg Ever since negative interest rates became a thing, banks have been too afraid to pass them on to retail depositors. That may be about to change. In Scandinavia, where sub-zero rates have been the norm longer than most other places, the finance industry has undergone several drastic adjustments to survive the regime. Banks have relied more on asset management ...

Bloomberg Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc may appoint Alison Rose as chief executive officer, succeeding Ross McEwan, possibly as soon as next week, Sky News reports, citing unidentified people in the industry. Rose, currently deputy CEO of Natwest Holdings Ltd., would be the first woman to head a major UK high-street bank, Sky said. Banking regulators are considering the ...

Bloomberg Brazil’s central bank will have to weigh potential price pressures from the US-China trade war against prospects of a disappointing recovery when determining how long its easing cycle will last. On one hand, worsening trade tensions may push Brazil’s real lower and consequently dissuade policy makers from more aggressive benchmark interest rate cuts. On the other, fresh signs of ...