January, 2020

• 22 January

  Foxconn may be about to prove Elon Musk wrong

  

  Five years ago, in a routine display of trash talking, Tesla Inc.’s Elon Musk made a now infamous quip about how hard it is to manufacture automobiles. “Cars are very complex compared to phones or smartwatches,’’ he told German newspaper Handelsblatt. “You can’t just go to a supplier like Foxconn and say: Build me a car.” He may be proven ...

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• 22 January

  US futures gain as China moves to contain virus

  

  Bloomberg US equity-index futures gained on Wednesday as China took steps to contain the spread of a deadly virus that had rattled international markets. Treasuries and the dollar were steady. Contracts on the three main American equity indexes all rose, with Netflix Inc and International Business Machines Corp climbing in the premarket as traders digested their earnings. The Stoxx Europe ...

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• 22 January

  Southeast Asian IPOs lose their shine in HK

  

  Bloomberg Southeast Asian companies seeking to list in Hong Kong may be better off staying at home as investors in the financial hub continue to avoid small-cap stocks. Initial public offerings from Southeast Asian companies in Hong Kong are generally tiny. The average deal size of such IPOs last year stood at just $15.3 million, according to data compiled by ...

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• 22 January

  While virus whacked stocks, bulls showed up in China

  Bloomberg Some investors may have been taking advantage of the sell-off in Asian stocks to position for a rebound. While the iShares China Large-Cap ETF tumbled the most in two years on news that the coronavirus out of China has spread, Susquehanna Financial Group spotted buyers of bullish options. Four of the five most-traded contracts on US-listed exchange-traded fund were ...

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• 22 January

  Central banks unite to study case for digital currencies

  

  Bloomberg Some of the world’s major central banks are teaming up to assess potentially developing their own digital currencies, acknowledging that their role is being challenged by new technologies and private sector initiatives such as Facebook Inc’s Libra. A group has been formed in order to “share experience as they assess the potential cases for central bank digital currency (CBDC) ...

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• 22 January

  BOE governor Carney says lack of US climate engagement is difficult

  

  Bloomberg Bank of England (BOE) governor Mark Carney warned of mounting risks to the financial sector and the economy from climate change, and urged the US to play bigger role. “Something which was largely on the periphery of finance has come into the mainstream,” Carney told Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait at the Bloomberg Climate Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “Transition risk ...

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• 22 January

  Malaysia unexpectedly cuts benchmark rate in ‘pre-emptive measure’

  

  Bloomberg Malaysia’s central bank cut its benchmark interest rate in a surprise move on Wednesday, the first in Southeast Asia to do so this year as it seeks to support its economy amid lingering global uncertainty. Bank Negara Malaysia reduced the overnight policy rate to 2.75%, a 25 basis-point cut predicted by just two of the 26 economists surveyed by ...

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• 22 January

  UBS’s Weber says reducing $5bn French fine is priority

  

  Bloomberg UBS Group AG Chairman Axel Weber said his top priority for the next months is working to reduce a $5 billion French tax fine that’s prompted the bank to postpone a decision on future share buybacks until the second half of the year. The Swiss lender was slapped with the fine after a Paris court found it guilty of ...

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• 22 January

  Europe’s highest interest rates face ‘ambitious’ plan for cuts

  

  Bloomberg Ukraine is stepping up plans to slash Europe’s highest benchmark borrowing costs. Inflation has plummeted to the lowest in almost six years after the hryvnia outshone all other currencies against the dollar in 2019. The more benign backdrop will be reflected in this month’s quarterly projections for interest rates, according to the central bank. “This forecast will be more ...

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• 22 January

  IMF influence in Pakistan central bank gets a boost

  Bloomberg The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) influence in Pakistan’s central bank got another boost with the appointment of a second senior official from the fund. Murtaza Syed was appointed as deputy governor at the State Bank of Pakistan for a three-year term, according to a finance ministry notification. Syed was previously deputy division chief in the IMF’s strategy, policy, and ...

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