The morning after is always when reality hits. Reading the news headlines about China’s recently minted sovereign bond, one could be forgiven for thinking President Xi Jinping’s moment in the capital markets has arrived. The government’s $1 billion of 10-year notes were priced just 25 basis points over Treasuries, with the spread narrowing to less than 10 basis points Friday ...

Catalonia’s declaration of independence from Spain, passed by the Catalan parliament on Friday, is a largely symbolic gesture as far as true independence goes. It will, however, require all of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s experience and skill to defuse this situation. These last couple of days, I’ve been in Barcelona trying to make sense of the complex game that’s ...

Bloomberg Most US stocks fell, with large-cap tech stocks bucking the trend, while the dollar slipped and Treasuries advanced as markets struck a tone of caution at the start of a week stuffed with catalysts. The euro gained. The S&P 500 Index opened lower as investors assessed the impact of the first charges in the broad investigation to Russian meddling ...

Reuters Saudi Arabia’s stock market was soft on Monday despite strong earnings at Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC), while Emaar Properties dragged down Dubai’s index. The Saudi index edged down 0.2 percent. SABIC, the biggest petrochemical producer, gained 0.6 percent after reporting a 10.7 percent rise in third-quarter net profit to 5.79 billion riyals; analysts had on average forecast 4.27 ...

Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc’s $100 billion bet on Asia is bearing fruit, driving its third consecutive increase in quarterly revenue just months before Chief Executive Officer Stuart Gulliver hands the reins to John Flint. Asia posted the biggest revenue gain among of the bank’s five regions, helping it report higher-than-expected third-quarter adjusted revenue of $13 billion. During the period, HSBC ...

Bloomberg China’s largest banks posted double-digit increases in lending income in the third quarter, validating some of the earnings optimism that has fueled a rally in their shares this year. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., Bank of China Ltd. and Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. on Monday reported average net interest income gains of 15 percent. The figures ...

Bloomberg The 6,000 job cuts announced last week at Nordea Bank AB are just a down payment for an industry facing radical overhaul, says Chief Executive Officer Casper von Koskull. “If somebody says, where are we, or where are banks, 10 years from now, banks could easily have half what they have today,” in terms of personnel, von Koskull said ...

Bloomberg The Bank of England may increase interest rates this week for the first time in more than a decade, but that won’t be enough to buoy the pound, according to strategists. Markets almost fully price in a 25-basis-point increase in the BOE’s key rate on Thursday, meaning investors are ill-prepared for a disappointment. Should Governor Mark Carney and fellow ...

Bloomberg China’s ambitious $55 billion infrastructure project that’s underway throughout Pakistan is in danger of becoming a non-event for the South Asian nation’s banks. President Xi Jinping’s multi-billion dollar economic corridor, part of his ‘Belt and Road’ initiative, has been viewed as a game-changer for Pakistan. Yet while local banks are keenly waiting to get their share of the pie, ...

Bloomberg America’s passenger carriers have discovered that it’s getting more expensive to run an airline these days. While summertime profits were fine, and travel demand remains robust, a number of airlines are facing higher bills from a variety of factors: labour contracts, significant airport renovation projects, technology spending and fleet upgrades. The increase in expenses is creeeping into 2018 and ...