Financial regulators have done a lot to reform the derivatives markets that helped turn the financial crisis of 2008 into a global disaster. But their work is unfinished — and there’s even a danger that, in one way, they might have made things worse. Derivatives are bets on the performance of something else, such as stocks, interest rates or creditworthiness. ...

There’s one clear favourite in the world’s biggest election, which runs for six weeks: incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Buoyed by his personal popularity, Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party isn’t even pretending to offer dramatic new programs if it returns to power. Its election manifesto, released earlier this week, was a relatively uninspiring document — a few populist promises to ...

On April 8, the Trump administration decided that now is the moment to ratchet up a longstanding trade dispute between Boeing Co. and Airbus SE. The US is threatening to impose $11 billion of punitive tariffs on a range of European products from aircraft to cheese. The dispute is unrelated to the crash of two Boeing 737 Max aircraft – ...

There is a strange sound of relief coming out of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF has slashed its global growth forecasts to the lowest level since the financial crisis, but it also believes policy makers may have stepped in just in time to avoid a turn for the worse. Central bankers deserve credit for pausing on their long ...

Bloomberg For students of market history, the third month of the 21st century is infamous. March 2000 was when the Nasdaq Composite Index marked a peak in the dot-com bubble. By the end of the year, it fell by more than 50 percent, with more losses to follow. That month was one of the last times the world’s cheapest companies ...

Bloomberg Pound analysts are struggling to find reasons to be optimistic even after the immediate threat of a no-deal Brexit was lifted. Sterling strengthened this week as the UK and European Union agreed to extend the divorce deadline to October 31, but its gains were well short of what strategists had previously predicted for such a scenario. The currency’s prospects ...

Bloomberg Global finance ministers and central bankers are prepared to “act promptly” to shore up growth in a world economy that faces downside risks including trade tensions, according to a statement. While growth is projected to firm up in 2020, “risks remain tilted to the downside,” according to a communique by the International Monetary and Financial Committee, the main advisory ...

Bloomberg Bank of Canada (BOC) Governor Stephen Poloz said whether he’s done with hiking altogether is a “data-dependent question,” adding the economy continues to work through headwinds that warrant stimulative rates. Asked at a press briefing in Washington about investor expectations that the Canadian central bank’s rate normalisation has come to an end, Poloz said market pricing seems to be ...

Bloomberg European Central Bank President Mario Draghi took the rare step of weighing in on the hot debate over whether President Donald Trump is undermining the independence of the Federal Reserve. Speaking to reporters at the International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington, Draghi said he was “certainly worried about central bank independence” and especially “in the most important jurisdiction in ...

Bloomberg Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das has an “out of the box” suggestion: central banks need to be more flexible on the size of their interest-rate moves. Instead of a conventional 25 basis point cut and announcement of a dovish, hawkish or neutral stance to give guidance on future actions, policy makers could just change the rate to ...