October, 2017

• 14 October

  Driverless cars give engineers a fuel economy headache

  

  Bloomberg Judging from General Motors Co.’s test cars and Elon Musk’s predictions, the world is headed towards a future that’s both driverless and all-electric. In reality, autonomy and battery power could end up being at odds. That’s because self-driving technology is a huge power drain. Some of today’s prototypes for fully autonomous systems consume two to four kilowatts of electricity—the …

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• 14 October

  PBOC governor says China’s 6.9% growth may continue in second half

  

  Bloomberg Economic indicators show ‘stabilized and stronger growth’ and the momentum of a 6.9 percent expansion in the first six months of 2017 ‘may continue in the second half,’ People’s Bank of China (PBOC) Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said. Imports and exports increased rapidly, fiscal income grew, and prices have been steady, Zhou said, according to a statement the central bank …

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• 14 October

  BofA posts its best profit in six years

  

  Bloomberg Brian Moynihan’s efforts to boost Bank of America Corp. profit through cost cutting finally got some help from interest rates. The lender posted the highest net income in six years as the chief executive officer cut expenses more than forecast and net interest income rose to the highest since 2011. During his seven years as CEO, Moynihan has worked …

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• 14 October

  FirstRand makes $1.4bn offer for UK’s Aldermore

  Bloomberg FirstRand Ltd., Africa’s biggest lender by market value, offered to buy UK challenger bank Aldermore Group Plc for about 1.1 billion pounds ($1.4 billion). Shares in the British firm soared. Aldermore received ‘an indicative proposal’ from Johannesburg-based FirstRand of 313 pence per share, 37 percent more than its average share price this year, and directors at the UK lender …

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• 14 October

  BNP Paribas plans to increase Asia wealth-management hires

  

  Bloomberg BNP Paribas SA plans to substantially increase the number of client advisers employed by its Asian wealth-management business, seeing an opportunity in the retreat of some European rivals from the region. BNP has been investing and hiring in Asia for several years and intends to continue its push, said Vincent Lecomte, co-head of the French bank’s wealth-management business. Asked …

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• 14 October

  Client got ‘fair’ price in currency deal, says ex-HSBC trader

  Bloomberg Former HSBC Holdings Plc currency trader Mark Johnson took the witness stand, insisting that he cheated no one in a $3.5 billion foreign-exchange transaction. Johnson is accused of fraud for buying British pounds ahead of a client’s order, forcing the client to pay a higher price. The bank made an $8 million profit as a result of the currency …

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• 14 October

  ECB faces Brexit bank influx with holes at oversight arm

  

  Bloomberg The European Central Bank’s (ECB) loss of one of the four career officials managing its supervisory arm adds to a swelling vacancy list at the top of the bank watchdog just when its workload is set to increase. Jukka Vesala, one of a quartet of director generals at the helm of the Single Supervisory Mechanism, has resigned, the Frankfurt-based …

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• 14 October

  Wells Fargo nears mortgage-securities settlement

  Bloomberg Wells Fargo & Co. is edging closer to a settlement with regulators over the crisis-era mortgage bonds investigation that took a $1 billion chunk out of third-quarter profit, according to Chief Financial Officer John Shrewsberry. “We are now having a negotiation, so it’s a matter of probably months or quarters, not anything more than that,” Shrewsberry said. The bank …

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• 14 October

  Boeing a ‘subsidy junkie’, UK’s Labour says in Bombardier spat

  

  Bloomberg Boeing Co. is the “king of corporate welfare,” the UK’s main opposition Labour Party said, accusing the US aerospace giant of “egregious hypocrisy” in pursuing an illegal-subsidies claim against Bombardier Inc. that threatens thousands of jobs in Northern Ireland. The US slapped 300 percent of duties on Bombardier’s C Series aircraft after upholding Boeing’s contention that the Canadian company …

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• 14 October

  Wal-Mart sells $6bn of debt as battle with Amazon heats up

  

  Bloomberg Wal-Mart Stores Inc. sold bonds to refinance debt as it girds for an online battle against Amazon.com Inc. The world’s largest retailer issued $6 billion of unsecured bonds in six parts, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, after cutting a three-year floating rate note from the offering. The longest portion, a 30-year security, yields 75 basis …

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