August, 2019

• 14 August

  Renault’s no-frills brand bracing for costly exhaust rules

  Bloomberg Close to 10,000 people gathered near a Cistercian abbey north of Paris in June, not for a religious festival, but to celebrate a Romanian automaker named Dacia. Eric Lanneau, a 57-year-old former plumber, attended the Renault SA brand’s annual picnic, which featured a performance by French pop star Jenifer. He bought a Dacia Duster in May, won over by ...

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• 14 August

  Let China build longest undersea rail tunnel

  

  An ambitious project to build the longest undersea rail tunnel in the world between Helsinki and Tallinn is being held up by the Estonian government over worries about the plan and where the money is coming from. It should let the life-changing link go ahead, even if its Chinese funding looks suspicious. The project’s developer, Finest Bay Area Development Oy, ...

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• 14 August

  Android: A defensive bulwark for Google

  

  Articles sometimes have a long gestation. One that I published this week had its roots in my disagreement with a three-year-old podcast. In this 2016 episode of the Acquired podcast, David Rosenthal and Ben Gilbert assessed Google’s 2005 acquisition of the startup behind the Android operating system for smartphones. Rosenthal and Gilbert had a sensible view that Android was a ...

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• 14 August

  The Federal Reserve isn’t sending a signal to buy stocks

  

  It’s time for investors to fight the Fed. A popular Wall Street saw is that the Federal Reserve has a heavy hand in the level of the stock market. The theory is that low interest rates buoy stocks and that high rates sink them, so by controlling interest rates the Fed controls the market indirectly. From that nugget springs the ...

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• 14 August

  Stocks slide, bonds flash warning after weak data

  

  Bloomberg American equity-index futures slumped alongside stocks in Europe as weak data from two of the world’s biggest economies overshadowed an apparent de-escalation in the trade war. Treasuries and European bonds rallied, with key parts of both the US and UK yield curves inverting. Contracts on the S&P 500 fell alongside the Stoxx Europe 600 index as data showed Germany’s ...

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• 14 August

  China stocks cling to tariff-driven gains

  

  Bloomberg Stocks in China and Hong Kong pared earlier advances as relief that the US will delay imposing tariffs on some consumer goods was tempered by weak economic data. The yuan climbed the most since June 20. The Hang Seng Index overcame an afternoon wobble to close 0.1 percent higher, rising for the first time in four days, while protests ...

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• 14 August

  China’s $55b MLF maturity will give a signal on easing

  

  Bloomberg China’s central bank will likely roll over maturing debt to ease liquidity in the financial system as the economy slows amid the trade dispute with the US. The People’s Bank of China is expected to roll over 383 billion yuan ($55 billion) of medium-term lending facility loans due to mature on Thursday, analysts said, after July industrial output growth ...

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• 14 August

  ECB blasts banks for slow-walking their Brexit preparations

  

  Bloomberg The European Central Bank (ECB) blasted banks for slow-walking their Brexit preparations, telling them they must move additional staff and resources to the European Union in case Britain leaves without a deal on October 31. The central bank said that firms have transferred “significantly fewer activities, critical functions and staff” to their EU operations than originally foreseen as part ...

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• 14 August

  OCBC weighs bid for control of Indonesia’s Bank Permata

  

  Bloomberg Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. (OCBC) is weighing a bid for a controlling stake in PT Bank Permata, an Indonesian lender backed by Standard Chartered Plc, according to people with knowledge of the matter. OCBC is considering an offer for almost 90% of the $1.9 billion bank, said the people, asking not to be named as the deliberations are private. Singapore’s ...

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• 14 August

  Nordic banks buckle under negative rates

  

  Bloomberg Ever since negative interest rates became a thing, banks have been too afraid to pass them on to retail depositors. That may be about to change. In Scandinavia, where sub-zero rates have been the norm longer than most other places, the finance industry has undergone several drastic adjustments to survive the regime. Banks have relied more on asset management ...

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