August, 2019

• 5 August

  Apple’s plunge into the app store ads could be a problem

  

  I wrote recently about why Amazon.com Inc.’s commercial messages in product searches are a risky way to levy additional fees on the companies that sell through its digital mall. Apple Inc. is increasingly wading into similar waters. Type in “maps” in the search bar of Apple’s widely used iPhone app storefront, and you might see a result for Google Maps ...

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• 5 August

  Barclays CEO Staley gets a Brexit lifeline

  

  The growing threat of a hard Brexit has prompted many investors to steer clear of British banks. For Barclays Plc Chief Executive Officer Jes Staley, a rupture with the European Union could turn out to be a handy lifeline. Staley, who has focussed on reviving the UK lender’s investment bank, has set himself a profitability target for 2019 and 2020 ...

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• 5 August

  Bond market’s inflation bets show revolt against Fed

  

  Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has taken a lot of heat about his failure to effectively communicate the central bank’s intentions with its first interest-rate cut since the financial crisis. One thing he was clear about, though: Policy makers find stubbornly low US inflation concerning, and persistently missing the Fed’s 2 percent target for price growth was a chief reason ...

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• 5 August

  US stocks stumble, Treasuries gain as yuan breaches ‘7 level’

  

  Bloomberg US equity futures slumped with European stocks on Monday, tracking a sell-off across Asia after China struck back in its trade dispute with America and let its currency weaken through a milestone level. Treasuries led a global bond rally as investors dashed to safer assets. S&P 500 Index futures slumped as much as 1.5 percent, while declines in mining, ...

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• 5 August

  HK stocks match longest losing streak since 1997

  

  Bloomberg Hong Kong equities are rapidly turning into a losing bet as economic woes and escalating street protests hammer sentiment. The MSCI Hong Kong Index closed down 3.2 percent on Monday in a ninth day of declines, matching the longest streak since the 1997 handover. Landlords and retail stocks once again bore the brunt of the selling as protesters sought ...

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• 5 August

  RBA keeps rate-cut on cards to shield Aussie from global easing

  

  Bloomberg Australia’s central bank (RBA) chief Philip Lowe is leaving open the door to further interest-rate cuts in order to prevent a wave of global easing from neutralizing his back-to-back reductions and boosting the currency. The Reserve Bank is set to keep the cash rate at a record-low 1% on Tuesday, traders and economists predict, following June and July’s cuts. ...

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• 5 August

  HSBC ousts Flint, announces new round of job cuts

  

  Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc abruptly ousted its chief executive officer after just 18 months, citing an “increasingly complex” environment, and announced a new round of job cuts. The exit of John Flint, a 51-year-old who started at HSBC as a trainee, highlights tension with Chairman Mark Tucker, known to be a hard-charging executive who was the first outsider to fill ...

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• 5 August

  Romania extends rate pause after EU’s fastest inflation dips

  

  Bloomberg Romania prolonged more than a year of steady interest rates, looking past the European Union’s fastest inflation as the world’s major economies pivot towards looser monetary policy. Following the first cut in US borrowing costs since the financial crisis, the National Bank of Romania left its benchmark rate unchanged at 2.5% on Monday, as predicted by economists in a ...

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• 5 August

  Philippine central bank sees 50bps rate cuts ahead

  

  Bloomberg Philippine central bank Governor Benjamin Diokno said he expects to cut interest rates by another 50 basis points this year, with the timing dependent on economic data. “Until the end of the year, it’s around 50 basis points,” Diokno said on Monday, when asked if he was open to lowering borrowing costs further. “If we do 50 basis points, ...

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• 5 August

  Apple drops Barclays card rewards plan

  Bloomberg Apple Inc. and Barclays Plc have dropped the rewards program from their longtime credit-card partnership in advance of the debut this month of a new Apple Card with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The Apple-branded Barclays card is no longer offering $50 worth of Apple gift cards and providing three points per dollar spent on Apple products to new customers, ...

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