October, 2018

• 7 October

  On-and-off wind, solar power pushes coal plants to the brink

  

  Bloomberg The Gentleman coal plant was once the linchpin of Nebraska’s electricity grid, its twin smokestacks visible for miles across the prairie. Now, the state’s biggest power source is routinely pushed aside to make room for more wind and solar energy. Operators ramp it down and then bring it back up again, often on a daily basis. That’s not how ...

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• 7 October

  After $600 million hit, India oil refiners may face further pain

  

  Bloomberg The worst may not be over for India’s state-run oil refiners. The request by the central government that they absorb a portion of sweeping fuel price cuts is raising speculation by analysts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and Jefferies Group LLC that price controls may be reintroduced or further reductions will be demanded. The move comes amid ...

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• 7 October

  Less wind in Europe to bring back dirty plants

  

  Bloomberg Europe will likely need more coal and natural gas this month as the region is spared the usual autumn storms. A high pressure weather system is likely to reroute and block stormy weather that normally travels in easterly paths across northern Europe to boost the output from thousands of wind mills. That will leave the region relying on alternative ...

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• 7 October

  All the nightmares for stock investors start in bond market

  

  Bloomberg If there’s one thing the prophets agree on, it’s that the end will come in the bond market. Even for stocks. Prophesies of doom are everywhere. There’s billionaire investor Stan Druckenmiller, who says our “massive debt problem” will ignite a crisis. Oaktree Capital’s Howard Marks warns that public and private debt will be “ground zero when things next go ...

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• 7 October

  Municipal bond slide leaves test: Will key buyers flee in droves?

  

  Bloomberg Municipal bonds suffered their worst week since early February, but the real test of the market lies ahead: Will slow-to-react individual investors pull their money out in droves, as they have during previous downturns? Individuals, who own more than half of all state and local governments bonds directly or through mutual funds and don’t follow the minute-by-minute movement of ...

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• 7 October

  Record-low rupee does not scare India as headwinds build

  

  Bloomberg India’s central bank stared down the rupee’s slide to a record low, opting to keep interest rates unchanged as it flagged risks to the economy from global monetary policy tightening, trade wars and surging oil prices. In a surprise decision, the monetary policy committee led by Governor Urjit Patel voted 5-1 to leave the repurchase rate at 6.5 percent. ...

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• 7 October

  US scrutiny of Danske case changes everything for lender’s investors

  

  Bloomberg The Estonian laundromat scandal has been on Danske Bank A/S investors’ radar for more than a year. But last week, everything changed. News of a US Department of Justice investigation has caused panic. The bank’s shares were dumped and some bondholders are even wondering whether Danske might start having trouble making interest payments on its riskiest debt. At Swedish ...

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• 7 October

  PBOC cuts reserve ratio for fourth time

  

  Bloomberg China’s central bank cut the amount of cash lenders must hold as reserves for the fourth time this year, as policy makers seek to shore up the economy amid a worsening trade war. The People’s Bank of China lowered the required reserve ratio for some lenders by 1 percentage point, effective from October 15, according to a statement on ...

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• 7 October

  Italy bond turmoil far from over for HSBC

  

  Bloomberg Things are likely to get worse for Italian bonds before they get better. That’s the message from HSBC Holdings Plc after Italy’s government decided last week to set its 2019 budget deficit target at 2.4 percent, roiling markets. That has prompted Chris Attfield, a fixed-income strategist at the bank, to revise wider his year-end forecast for the yield spread ...

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• 7 October

  Japan yields rise to levels when BOJ began negative-rate policy

  

  Bloomberg A global bond selloff has sent Japan’s benchmark yield to a level last seen when the central bank introduced its negative interest-rate policy in January 2016 to revive a weakening economy. The 10-year yield rose two basis points to 0.155 percent, after a rout in Treasuries that saw similar-maturity US yields jump to the highest level since 2011. The ...

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