December, 2020

• 28 December

  Credit Suisse uncertain outlook clouds investment bank gains

  

  Bloomberg Credit Suisse Group AG signalled that business continued a mixed performance in the fourth quarter and warned that reaching a profit target next year will depend on the impact of the pandemic. The investment bank “continues to perform well,” with revenue higher than in last year’s fourth quarter, Credit Suisse said in a statement, without providing more details. In ...

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• 28 December

  Australian regulator lifts limits on bank dividend payments

  Bloomberg Australia’s prudential regulator has abolished its cap on bank dividend payments as the economic recovery takes hold, though urged lenders to ensure payouts are sustainable. From the start of 2021, banks will no longer be held to a minimum level of earnings retention, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority said in a statement. In April, it had recommended lenders defer ...

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• 28 December

  Bank M&A ‘deep freeze’ thaws with billion-dollar deal wave

  

  Bloomberg If three’s a trend, then US regional bank tie-ups are in the middle of one. Huntington Bancshares Inc.’s $6 billion purchase of TCF Financial Corp., announced, marks the third multibillion-dollar regional bank deal in as many months, and industry executives say more mergers and acquisitions are likely. “Covid put the M&A market into a deep freeze, and we are ...

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• 28 December

  Australia’s RBA develops news sentiment index

  

  Bloomberg Australia’s central bank has put together a gauge of “news sentiment” to measure the balance of negative and positive words used in journalists’ articles on the economy in order to help track perceptions. The index “complements other timely survey-based sentiment indicators in its ability to ‘nowcast’ the economy,” Reserve Bank of Australia economists Kim Nguyen and Gianni La Cava ...

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• 28 December

  Thailand central bank holds key interest rate

  

  Bloomberg The Bank of Thailand kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged for a fifth straight meeting to preserve its limited policy space, while reiterating concerns about a currency rally and lowering its economic growth forecast for next year. The central bank held the policy rate at 0.5% in a unanimous decision, after cutting by a total of 75 basis points ...

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• 28 December

  Citi’s fixed-income traders may see 10% bump in bonuses

  

  Bloomberg Citigroup Inc. is planning to increase the bonus pool for its fixed-income traders, who are set to post their best performance in more than a decade. The overall bonus pool for traders who deal in fixed income, currencies and commodities is likely to increase at least 10 percent, while the pool for equities traders will probably be left unchanged, ...

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• 27 December

  Investors rethink role of bonds, tech and ESG after chaotic year

  

  Bloomberg This has been a year like no other. Hammered by an unprecedented health crisis, global stocks tumbled into a bear market at record speed, and then rallied to new highs thanks to a flood of central bank money. Bond yields tanked to uncharted lows and the world’s reserve currency surged to all-time highs, only to then retreat to its ...

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• 27 December

  Year of the meme stock Hertz, Kodak top list of 2020 highlights

  

  Bloomberg Vaccine developers, electric-vehicle startups and a bankrupt car-rental company captured the imagination of individual investors in 2020 as Reddit chat rooms touted the so-called meme stocks as the next big winners. The wild swings reflected bets by individuals, many of them new to the market, who looked to brokerage apps like Robinhood Markets to pass the time during the ...

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• 27 December

  Russia backs further Opec+ oil-output hike in February

  

  Bloomberg Russia plans to support a further gradual increase in Opec+ production at the next meeting in January, because crude prices are within an optimal range. “To restore our output, that we’ve reduced a lot, the price range of $45 to $55 a barrel is the most optimal,” Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told reporters in Moscow. “Otherwise we’ll never ...

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• 27 December

  Dubai announces rules for New Year Eve’s celebration

  

  DUBAI / WAM Dubai’s Supreme Committee of Crisis and Disaster Management, in its meeting stressed the importance of following precautionary measures outlined by health authorities in the UAE and the World Health Organisation (WHO) to protect the community from Covid-19. The meeting was chaired by His Highness Sheikh Mansoor bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The committee’s statement came as ...

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