September, 2019

• 18 September

  Greece to offer banks $10b to tame bad debt

  

  Bloomberg Greece plans to provide as much as 9 billion euros ($10 billion) in state guarantees to help its banks reduce a mountain of soured debt weighing on their balance sheets, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The initiative, similar to a successful programme used in Italy, depends on antitrust officials in Europe ruling that it doesn’t ...

  Read More »
• 18 September

  Volatility jump betrays SA rand traders’ nerves

  

  Bloomberg As investors were expected to brace for the Federal Reserve’s policy decision on Wednesday, one corner of the foreign-exchange market looks particularly nervous. Overnight volatility for South Africa’s rand rose to as much as 25 percent, the most since August 2018, before paring the steep climb to trade at levels last seen in early May. The rand, which is ...

  Read More »
• 18 September

  Deutsche Bank chief mulls outside hire for investment unit

  

  Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing is considering whether to appoint a new investment banking head after ousting Garth Ritchie during his recent restructuring, people familiar with the matter said. Sewing — who had assumed direct oversight after Ritchie’s departure — thinks it may make sense to relinquish the extra responsibility to focus fully on his CEO ...

  Read More »
• 18 September

  Nissan Motor seeks sale of trading unit in $1 billion deal

  

  Bloomberg Nissan Motor Co is seeking to sell a wholly owned subsidiary that distributes vehicle parts and materials in a deal that may be valued at about $1 billion, as the struggling Japanese automaker seeks to slim down, people familiar with the matter said. The company has invited private equity and trading firms to bid for 100 percent of Nissan ...

  Read More »
• 18 September

  South Korean visitors to Japan plunge by half amid trade spat

  

  Bloomberg The trade spat between Japan and South Korea caused Korean visits to its neighbor to plunge by almost half in August, dragging down overall arrivals to Japan for only the second time in six years. Tourists from South Korea, which normally make up about a quarter of visitors to Japan, plummeted 48 percent to 308,700 people, according to the ...

  Read More »
• 18 September

  India’s equity and hybrid mutual fund fees among most expensive

  

  Bloomberg India still ranks among the most expensive countries in the world in terms of fees charged on equity and hybrid mutual funds, even after implementation of a number of investor-friendly measures in recent years. The country’s asset-weighted median expense ratio for equity mutual funds is 1.93 percent, according to a study of by Morningstar Inc. That’s higher than all ...

  Read More »
• 18 September

  Air quality in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta worst in world

  

  Bloomberg The air quality level in Singapore turned unhealthy ahead of the Formula 1 race this weekend, while Kuala Lumpur was ranked among the world’s most polluted cities, as wind from neighboring Indonesia continued to sweep in ash and smoke from illegal burning of forests and farm land. Authorities cancelled schools for nearly one in seven Malaysian children as the ...

  Read More »
• 18 September

  Seoul has most to lose amid surge in oil prices

  Bloomberg South Korea stocks, one of the worst-hit markets in the wake of US-China trade tensions, face another risk: the surge in crude oil prices. Nader Naeimi, head of dynamic markets at AMP Capital Investors, is selling Korean equities on concern rising geopolitical risks in the Middle East will raise oil prices, hurting the earnings of Korean firms. He’s turning ...

  Read More »
• 18 September

  GM’s cave-in on health signals trouble for industry seeking cuts

  

  Bloomberg If General Motors (GM) Co’s negotiations with the United Auto Workers (UAW) are any indication, Detroit’s automakers may not have a prayer in their effort to rein in rising healthcare costs. As GM was nearing the expiration of its labor contract with the union, the carmaker sought to have hourly workers pay 15 percent of their health-care costs, according ...

  Read More »
• 18 September

  Apple fights Irish units claim in EU court clash

  

  Bloomberg Apple Inc sought to rebut claims by the European Commission that Irish units at the centre of its fight to overturn a record $14.3 billion tax bill are nothing but phantoms. Judges weighing Apple’s legal challenge on day two of a hearing at the EU’s General Court homed in on the exact functioning of the Irish branches that allowed ...

  Read More »