March, 2020

• 7 March

  Italy’s billionaire family gets another windfall

  

  A good deal becomes a great deal in a market that has suddenly turned. The Agnelli family’s agreement to sell PartnerRe Ltd. to French insurer Covea for $9 billion may fall short of what investors were hoping for last month. But to ink an all-cash disposal at this price is some achievement — even if the buyer is rich and ...

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• 7 March

  Hong Kong’s ‘helicopter money’ struggles for lift

  

  If you’re raining cash on people and want them to spend it, you have to convince them that the benevolence is being financed by printing money. Nobody wants to worry about being taxed more in the future. These things are going to be problematic for Hong Kong Financial Secretary (HJFS) Paul Chan. He plans to give away HK$10,000 to every ...

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• 7 March

  Smartphone supplies may soon run out

  

  Bloomberg As Chinese factories hit by the coronavirus look to restart production, the pain is only beginning for carriers that rely on steady shipments of Asian smartphones. AT&T Inc is bracing for handset shortages across the US. A carrier in the UK and one in France are already dealing with supply disruption and could run out of some popular models, ...

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• 7 March

  Tech firms drop out of SXSW conference over coronavirus

  

  Bloomberg Tech giants continue to drop out of this month’s South by Southwest festival over coronavirus concerns, threatening an event that typically serves as one of the industry’s most influential gatherings. Apple Inc said that it wouldn’t be attending the conference, which kicks off on March 13 in Austin, Texas. The iPhone maker and streaming-video provider had planned to debut ...

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• 7 March

  Lego CEO undaunted by virus fear, sees more China shops

  

  Bloomberg The chief executive of Lego A/S says the novel coronavirus only represents a short-term blow to China’s economy that won’t change the toymaker’s expansion plans in its fastest growing market. Lego reported record sales and said growth in 2020 will once again be led by China. It’s targeting almost 60% more stores there this year, bringing the number to ...

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• 7 March

  Rate cuts could push emerging markets into runaway inflation

  

  Bloomberg Pressure is building for interest-rate cuts that could push emerging economies into a quagmire of runaway inflation and currency weakness. That’s because average real yields in emerging markets may have already turned negative, if first-quarter inflation projections are any indication. Even bigger economies such as India, Taiwan and Turkey offer bond returns below price growth, leaving little room for ...

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• 7 March

  India’s biggest lender to invest $332 million in Yes Bank’s rescue

  

  Bloomberg State Bank of India (SBI) said it will immediately invest 24.5 billion rupees ($332 million) in Yes Bank Ltd. as part of a central bank-backed rescue plan for the embattled lender. SBI, the country’s largest bank, won’t ask the federal government for capital to fund the rescue and may instead work with other investors, Chairman Rajnish Kumar told reporters ...

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• 7 March

  Deutsche: ‘Policy failure is here’ amid market turmoil

  

  Bloomberg Global central banks have no room to fight the crisis caused by the coronavirus outbreak, according to Deutsche Bank AG. “Policy failure is here,” George Saravelos, bank’s global head of currency research, wrote in a note. “We disagree with central bank pronouncements that there is room to fight the crisis.” Market turmoil around the world deepened, as growing fears ...

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• 7 March

  Argentina faces ‘Catch-22’ on peso debt bomb

  

  Bloomberg Argentina’s latest debt dilemma is whether to pay or delay its local peso debt. While the country’s billions of dollars in foreign debt with private creditors and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have been the primary focus for investors, the nation now faces a hurdle that’s just as large: the almost 1.8 trillion pesos ($29 billion) in local debt ...

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• 7 March

  Virus spread may be key to another rate cut: Fed’s Kaplan

  

  Bloomberg Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan said the pace of acceleration in the coronavirus across the US will be an important factor as he weighs the need for another interest rate cut when policy makers meet later this month. “I am going to be watching very, very carefully the path of diagnosed cases,” Kaplan said in a ...

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