July, 2019

• 15 July

  Italy can’t stop talking about Salvini’s Russia tape scandal

  

  Bloomberg Matteo Salvini, the euroskeptic strongman of Italian politics, can’t seem to shut down a scandal over alleged illegal financing from Russia. The deputy prime minister has been trying to distance himself from a close ally, Gianluca Savoini, who was recorded apparently soliciting illegal party funding from three Russians, according to a report by Buzzfeed News. The story has dominated ...

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• 15 July

  Why China can’t get its economy moving

  

  China’s new GDP numbers show that the world’s second-biggest economy is growing more slowly than at any time since the early 1990s. Chinese leaders know what they need to do to arrest the slide: pump more credit into private companies, which generate the majority of jobs and growth. The fact that growth isn’t picking up regardless of their efforts would ...

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• 15 July

  Weaker currency won’t help Australia

  

  Not everybody is observing the supposed ceasefire in the currency wars. The Reserve Bank of Australia lowered rates by 25 basis points each in June and July. The moves were ostensibly intended to ease monetary conditions and boost flagging growth. Their unstated purpose was to bring down the value of the Australian dollar. Since the currency rate was floated in ...

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• 15 July

  Regulators asking wrong questions about ETFs

  The European Systemic Risk Board, which was created to prevent a repeat of the financial crisis, is out with a new report examining exchange-traded funds. It’s worthy endeavour, given that the market for ETF’s has grown to $5.6 trillion, raising questions about whether these vehicles have the potential spark another crisis despite being created at the urging of the US ...

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• 15 July

  Apple pays the price to stay at bleeding edge

  Apple Inc. looks like it may put down close to $1 billion just to keep its devices at the leading edge. Japan Display Inc., one of its key providers of screens, said it would get up to $400 million from bailout partner Harvest Tech Investment Management Co. Nestled into its two-page stock exchange statement was the revelation that the funding ...

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• 15 July

  To defeat Trump, Democrats should nominate Bennet

  

  With a disgust commensurate with the fact, Michael Bennet, the Colorado Democrat, says that during 40 percent of his 10 Senate years the government has been run on “continuing resolutions.” Congress passes these in order to spare itself the torture of performing its primary function, which is to set national priorities. Bennet is too serious a person to be content ...

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• 15 July

  Small cars are being driven out of existence

  

  Car launches are 10-a-penny so it’s very rare that a particular model’s demise captures the world’s attention. The Volkswagen Beetle, the last of which rolled off the production line in Mexico this week, was no ordinary vehicle though. The downfall of the “People’s Car,” an icon of post-war German prosperity as well as the 1960s counterculture, is all the more ...

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• 15 July

  Powell and Fed have zero control over the long bond

  

  Day two of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s congressional testimony was much like the first. He reiterated that the economy is “in a very good place,” but that the central bank has room to lower interest rates to keep the expansion on track. As dovish as that may sound, the comments didn’t offer much comfort to bond traders – they ...

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• 15 July

  Bonds climb in busy week of Fedspeak; stocks mixed

  

  Bloomberg Treasuries climbed at the start of a busy week for economic data and Federal Reserve speakers. Stocks were mixed as traders assessed corporate earnings. After last week’s jump in yields, long-term Treasuries outperformed their shorter-tenor peers as investors bought bonds at cheaper prices. The S&P 500 Index fluctuated as banks fell after Citigroup Inc’s results, while Broadcom Inc rallied ...

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• 15 July

  Australian exchange plans for negative interest-rate trading

  

  Bloomberg Australia’s ASX Ltd is testing its systems for the trading of negative interest-rate products, underscoring how markets are preparing for the potential introduction of quantitative easing in yet another Group-of-10 nation. The exchange has made available trial environments so market participants can test their processes for interest-rate futures prices that are greater than or equal to 100.00, according to ...

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