January, 2020

• 29 January

  UK house prices jump after Johnson’s victory

  Bloomberg UK house prices jumped the most in more than a year in January, according to Nationwide Building Society. Values rose 1.9% from a year earlier, the most since November 2018, the mortgage lender said on Wednesday. From December, prices increased 0.5%. The UK housing market is showing signs of life after Boris Johnson’s decisive election victory brought about a ...

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• 29 January

  ‘Apple working to mitigate impact of China coronavirus’

  

  Bloomberg Apple Inc Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tim Cook said the company has some suppliers in the Wuhan area of China impacted by the coronavirus outbreak, and is working with them to mitigate any production loss. Cook said the impact outside of Wuhan is less clear. He said that the factories are starting back up after the Lunar Holiday on ...

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• 29 January

  Stocks climb with focus shifting to earnings, Fed

  

  Bloomberg US equity futures climbed along with stocks in Europe as corporate earnings and the Federal Reserve rates decision on Wednesday gave investors a fresh focus while concerns linger over the deadly coronavirus. Treasuries gained with most European bonds. Mining and construction shares led the Stoxx Europe 600 index higher, with 17 of 19 industry sectors in the green. Contracts ...

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• 29 January

  Haven currencies show virus fears may have peaked

  

  Bloomberg There are signs that concern in the global foreign exchange market over the deadly coronavirus may be wearing off. Haven currency the Swiss franc slipped to nearly a three-week low against the dollar on Wednesday, even as the virus spread further. The Japanese yen, another traditional refuge, has failed to gain since Hong Kong initiated travel bans, while the ...

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• 29 January

  WTO needs makeover to stay relevant, says ECB’s De Cos

  

  Bloomberg Multilateral institutions such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) need an urgent revamp in order to remain relevant, European Central Bank (ECB) policymaker Pablo Hernandez de Cos said. European Union officials, he said, are the best placed to undertake that rethink. “One of the biggest challenges confronting the WTO and, in general, the system of international institutions, is how ...

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• 29 January

  ‘Italy set for more debt and stagnation without reforms’

  

  Bloomberg Italy’s crippling public debt is set to keep expanding amid chronically low economically growth, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said. Saddled with Europe’s largest debt burden, the country has benefited from the European Central Bank’s expansionary monetary policy and a period of relative political stability to bring down yields. But its interest costs are still higher than its economic ...

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• 29 January

  BOJ board hints at concern over low rates

  

  Bloomberg Concern at the Bank of Japan (BOJ) over the effectiveness of prolonged low interest rates appears to be growing, with one board member indicating that a policy review may be needed, a summary of views from the central bank’s January meeting signalled. The member said active discussions over policy are taking place in the US and in Europe given ...

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• 29 January

  Deutsche Bank delays pay raises until April 1

  

  Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG said employee pay raises for 2020 won’t take effect until April 1, postponing increases that typically show up at the start of the year. “We will continue to compensate employees for their qualifications, experience and skills, commensurate with the requirements, size and scope of their role,” the company said. “The only thing that will change is ...

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• 29 January

  Germany’s least popular ECB head gets its highest honour

  

  Bloomberg Former European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi will get Germany’s highest honor this week, though probably not its undying love. German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier will give the country’s Order of Merit to the Italian, whose ultra-loose stimulus, including quantitative easing and negative interest rates, embittered many citizens in the euro region’s biggest economy. Unlike his predecessors, Jean-Claude Trichet ...

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• 29 January

  Peso, rupiah can carry on best amid virus volatility

  Bloomberg The Philippine peso and Indonesia’s rupiah are Asian carry trades most insulated from the coronavirus outbreak, as the pandemic shows no sign of abating. That’s based on comparative performance before and after January 20, when concerns about the disease escalated with reports that human-to-human transmission was occurring. The top performers were the onshore yuan, rupiah and the offshore yuan, ...

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