December, 2019

• 4 December

  Floods, landslides kill 132 in Kenya

  Bloomberg At least 132 people have been killed in floods and landslides caused by unusually heavy rainfall in Kenya. Around 17,000 were displaced and 11,000 livestock swept away by strong waters, government’s spokesman Cyrus Oguna said. More than half of the country has been affected, according to Oguna. The rains have helped alleviate the drought conditions across the country that ...

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• 4 December

  Stocks advance on fresh hopes for US-China deal

  

  Bloomberg US equity futures advanced with European stocks after a news report that China and America were moving closer to a trade deal, despite heated rhetoric. Treasuries and gold slipped. Contracts on three main American index futures rebounded after Bloomberg reported US negotiators expect a phase-one deal with China to be completed before tariffs are set to rise on December ...

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• 4 December

  Alibaba’s HK rally is at risk from misconceptions

  

  Bloomberg Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s landmark $11 billion share sale and listing in Hong Kong on November 26 was galvanised by expectations the Chinese e-commerce giant will attract a vast pool of capital from its home country. But some investors caution against unrealistic expectations, especially by mainland investors, and highlight certain restrictions that still govern — and potentially curtail — ...

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• 4 December

  Indonesian stocks expected to hit record in 2020: JPMorgan

  Bloomberg After two years of stagnant growth, Indonesian stocks will hit a record in 2020, when President Joko Widodo’s policies to shore up the economy take effect, say analysts from JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley. JPMorgan, which says it’s the most bullish on the Street, sees the benchmark Jakarta Composite Index rallying 19% from the current level to a record 7,250 ...

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• 4 December

  China, US closer to phase-one deal despite heated rhetoric

  

  Bloomberg The US and China are moving closer to agreeing on the amount of tariffs that would be rolled back in a phase-one trade deal despite tensions over Hong Kong and Xinjiang, people familiar with the talks said. The people, who asked not to be identified, said that US President Donald Trump’s comments downplaying the urgency of a deal shouldn’t ...

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• 4 December

  India likely to ease lending rules for shadow banks

  

  Bloomberg Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is considering easing lending rules for shadow banks, according to people familiar with the matter, a move that would give the cash-starved financiers access to funds. Modi’s cabinet is likely to discuss allowing state banks to provide so-called credit enhancement against securities rated BBB+ to non bank financiers, the people said, asking not ...

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• 4 December

  China’s ride-hailing decline hurts car sales

  

  Bloomberg The use of ride-hailing apps is declining in China as operators scale back incentives for drivers, contributing to the slowdown in car sales in the world’s biggest auto market, according to a Sanford C Bernstein report. Total daily active usage across ride-hailing apps in the third quarter fell 6.3% from a year earlier, marking a fifth consecutive quarterly drop, ...

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• 4 December

  Indonesia offers cheaper energy to woo investors

  

  Bloomberg Indonesia is touting an abundance of low-cost renewable energy to lure billions of dollars in investment Southeast Asia’s largest economy needs to build processing plants for commodities such as nickel, copper and aluminum. The commodity powerhouse has potential to develop 33,000 megawatts of hydro power and 29,000 megawatts of geothermal energy at costs as low as 2-4 cents per ...

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• 4 December

  Singapore fund to attract billions to clean oceans

  

  Bloomberg For some money managers, closing a $100 million fund would be akin to reeling in a big fish. For Rob Kaplan, it’s just the bait. Kaplan, a former Walmart Inc executive, plans to invest the $106 million he’s raised from some of the world’s biggest plastics makers in companies that promise to prevent trash from ending up in the ...

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• 4 December

  Elizabeth Warren is progressivism’s Trump

  

  Elizabeth Warren was supposed to be the thinking person’s Bernie Sanders, impeccably progressive but with realistic arithmetic connecting aspirations to resources. Then came her explanation of how she would finance “Medicare for All.” Before Republicans wearied of pretending to care about fiscal rectitude, they pretended that they could eliminate budget deficits by eliminating “waste, fraud and abuse,” a pledge that ...

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