March, 2020

• 8 March

  Vienna utility buys stake in Austria’s EVN

  

  Bloomberg Vienna utility Wiener Stadtwerke GmbH agreed to buy a stake in neighbouring Lower Austria’s EVN AG from Germany’s EnBW Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg AG, tightening Austrian provincial governments’ grip on the power market. Wiener Stadtw-erke agreed to buy EnBW’s 28% stake in EVN, subject to antitrust approvals in Germany and Austria, the municipality-owned company said in a statement. The parties agreed …

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• 8 March

  US coal use plunging at fastest rate in 65 years

  

  Bloomberg US coal use plunged more than 13% in 2019, the most in 65 years, as power plants shut down across the country. That’s poised to happen again this year. Total consumption slumped to 596 million tons in 2019 from 688 million tons in the prior year, according to the US Energy Information Administration. This year, the figure is expected …

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• 8 March

  Active managers shine again during stock rout

  

  Bloomberg After a decade-long uphill battle against passive investing, active funds are getting a rare moment of respite, courtesy of the worst equity sell-off since 2018. About 60% of large-cap mutual funds beat their benchmarks as the S&P 500 tumbled into a correction in February, the best hit rate in two years, according to data compiled by Bank of America …

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• 8 March

  Investors may be overlooking second hit to China economy

  

  Bloomberg A second hit could be coming for China’s economy after its initial shock from the coronavirus, said Joe Davis, chief economist at fund giant Vanguard Group. While China has seen new cases of the virus slow, its spread is intensifying in the US and Europe. Should that trend keep hammering the economies of both regions, it could knock a …

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• 8 March

  Central bankers scramble for answers to virus fallout

  

  Bloomberg Global central bankers enter a new week under fresh pressure to outline the next steps in their battle to address the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. Policy makers got a wakeup call last week as the Federal Reserve’s emergency interest rate cut did little restore confidence, leaving officials hunting for innovative ways to add stimulus that can have a …

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• 8 March

  Intesa to proceed with UBI deal with 50.1% adherence: Corriere

  

  Bloomberg Intesa Sanpaolo SpA will go ahead with its plan to take over smaller rival UBI Banca SpA if at least 50.1% of its shareholders adhere to the offer, Chief Executive Officer Carlo Messina said in an interview with Corriere della Sera. “Given the value of the deal for the country, as well as for Intesa Sanpaolo and UBI itself, …

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• 8 March

  JPMorgan sees ‘early signs’ of stress on credit and funding

  

  Bloomberg The fallout from the global spread of coronavirus may be starting to affect credit and funding markets, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. Supply-chain disruptions and demand shock from the virus fallout could already be causing cash-flow problems for businesses, JPMorgan strategist Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou wrote in a note. That’s probably even more true for smaller companies and those in …

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• 8 March

  ECB lifts cap on Greek banks for bond buys

  

  Bloomberg The governing council of the European Central Bank (ECB) has ended the limit imposed on the exposure of Greek lenders to the country’s sovereign debt, Greece’s Finance Minister said. The ECB believes that the reasons and conditions that led to the March 2015 decision no longer exist, Christos Staikouras said in an emailed statement, citing rising deposits, the improved …

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• 8 March

  Czech central bank rebuffs PM’s attack on rate hikes

  

  Bloomberg The Czech central bank pushed back against billionaire Prime Minister Andrej Babis’s criticism of its efforts to curb inflation with higher borrowing costs. The surprising February rate increase — the only one globally this year — prompted a rebuke from Babis, who said such moves are boosting banks’ earnings while hurting the economy during a slowdown. The bank is …

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• 8 March

  Brazil’s central bank props up world’s worst currency

  Bloomberg Brazil’s central bank announced it will sell dollars in the spot market for the first time this year, boosting its efforts to support the currency after a dire week. Policy makers will offer as much as $1 billion in a spot dollar auction. The central bank had been stepping into the foreign exchange markets only via swap auctions, of …

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