March, 2018

• 7 March

  US stocks pare drop, Treasuries rise, dollar surges on trade bets

  

  Bloomberg US stocks pared declines, while Treasuries rose as investors assessed the possible fallout from President Donald Trump’s push to implement punitive trade tariffs on some products. The dollar turned higher versus major peers. The S&P 500 Index remained on track for the first drop in four days, though overnight declines sparked by the resignation free-trade proponent Gary Cohn and …

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• 7 March

  Gulf stocks down with global markets; Saudi, Egypt defy trend

  

  Reuters Gulf stocks mostly fell on Wednesday, with only Saudi Arabia resisting a broad decline in global markets after the resignation of a key White House economic adviser sparked fears of a trade war. The departure of Gary Cohn, who had opposed US President Donald Trump’s plan for tariffs and was seen as a bulwark against protectionist forces within the …

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• 7 March

  Aramco: Peak oil demand fears overblown

  

  Bloomberg Saudi Arabia’s oil company isn’t afraid of electric vehicles. As it prepares to sell a stake in the company to investors, the CEO reassured a Houston audience that the need for petroleum isn’t going away any time soon. “I am not losing any sleep over ‘peak oil demand’ or ‘stranded resources,”‘ Saudi Aramco Chief Executive Officer Amin Nasser said …

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• 7 March

  Chinese oil majors urge tax breaks for building gas storage, imports

  BEIJING / Reuters Top officials from China’s two largest oil and gas producers have urged the government to offer tax breaks for the building of gas storage facilities and importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) to help avoid another gas crunch in the winter ahead. Sinopec Vice President Ma Yongsheng said the central government should subsidise the construction of underground gas …

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• 7 March

  Tesla losing top spot in solar to Sunrun

  

  Bloomberg Elon Musk is no longer leading the charge in residential solar. Tesla Inc. installed 87 megawatts of commercial and residential solar in the fourth quarter, including about 50 megawatts at homes, according to a GTM Research estimate. Rival Sunrun Inc. added 85 megawatts of residential systems in the same period, according to a statement. Counting only that part of …

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• 7 March

  US inflation is ECB’s risk as bonds show end of decoupling

  

  Bloomberg European Central Bank officials considering when to end their bond-buying program have a new reason to move carefully: US inflationary pressures are helping to push up euro-zone borrowing costs. President Mario Draghi and his colleagues spent years insulating the single-currency area from global financial markets as it recuperated from a double-dip recession, debt crisis and brush with deflation. Now …

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• 7 March

  Malaysia holds policy rate as inflation eases

  

  Bloomberg Malaysia’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged as expected, after inflation eased and an early rate hike this year helped to bolster the currency. Bank Negara Malaysia left the overnight policy rate at 3.25 percent, it said in a statement in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, as predicted by all 17 economists in a Bloomberg survey. As one …

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• 7 March

  BlackRock, Soros eye Deutsche Bank unit IPO

  

  FRANKFURT / Reuters BlackRock, George Soros and big sovereign wealth funds are among investors expressing interest in buying stakes in the initial public offering of Deutsche Bank’s asset management arm, a person familiar with the matter said. The sovereign funds include Singapore’s Temasek, the person said. Deutsche Bank is finalising plans for the IPO of the asset management business, known …

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• 7 March

  Trade war biggest economic risk for Thai central bank

  

  Bloomberg President Donald Trump’s trade policy has Thailand worried. Trade and geopolitics are the key risks for Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy, Bank of Thailand Senior Director Don Nakornthab said in an interview in Bangkok. Exports of goods and services account for about 70 percent of Thai gross domestic product. “Trade politics is the most important risk for our economy as …

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• 7 March

  Investment banking in crosshairs as Iceland explores limits

  

  Bloomberg Few countries conjure up images of financial ruin like Iceland. Its economy was famously gutted in 2008 when its over-sized banks all collapsed within weeks of each other. A decade later, the island nation is still trying to crisis-proof its financial system. A key goal is to shield banking operations that are vital to the economy, such as deposit-taking, …

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