May, 2019

• 22 May

  The populist threat to Europe’s future

  The European Union (EU) is under siege. In elections from Sweden to Spain, right-wing populists continue to gain strength, while support for traditional parties withers. Populist groups expect to make sizable gains in this week’s elections for the European parliament — giving them more power than ever before over the institutions at the heart of the EU. Europe’s cohesion hangs ...

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• 22 May

  UK’s Boris Johnson gets his chance to fail too

  

  This time it’s for real. Theresa May didn’t exactly say when she would leave 10 Downing Street, but she promised to name her exit date in early June. The question is what difference changing leader will make for the Conservative party. After a potentially messy leadership contest (one is already underway), the party will likely rally behind a new chief ...

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• 22 May

  There’s still hope on China trade, but Trump confuses it

  

  Even the most committed free-traders have to admit that tariffs and the threat of tariffs can prod other countries to make needed reforms. That outcome is still possible in the American trade war with China, and it’s the one to root for. But our thinking about this conflict suffers from misconceptions that bias us towards President Donald Trump’s tariff-centered strategy. ...

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• 22 May

  US in twilight years of post-WWII baby boom

  

  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has just released its latest statistics on US births. Boring, you say. Not so. Historic birth patterns tell us a lot about where the country has been — and where it might be going. We are now experiencing some of the lowest birth figures ever. In 2018, US births totaled 3.788 million, ...

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• 22 May

  US stock futures edge down as technology tensions grow

  

  Bloomberg US equity futures dipped and European stocks fluctuated after a mixed session in Asia as investors digested the latest in the Sino-American confrontation over technology. Oil declined while the dollar and Treasuries were steady before the latest Fed minutes. Contracts on the S&P 500, Nasdaq 100 and Dow Jones Industrial Average edged lower with Chinese equities after the White ...

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• 22 May

  Indian stocks advance ahead of vote results

  

  Bloomberg Indian equities rose ahead of the official outcome of national elections on Thursday, with nearly all exit polls projecting the re-election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.4 percent to 39,110.21 in Mumbai, while the NSE Nifty 50 Index gained 0.3 percent to 11,737.90. The benchmark stock index retreated after closing at a record high ...

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• 22 May

  Fed may have slightly overdone it by hiking rates in Dec: Bullard

  

  Bloomberg US central bankers may have “slightly overdone it” by raising interest rates in December, though it’s premature to talk about a rate cut, said Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard. “Rates are at a good place in the US right now, if anything we are a little restrictive I would say,” Bullard said in an interview ...

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• 22 May

  UBS poised to settle tax case with Italy for $110m

  

  Bloomberg UBS Group AG is close to settling a tax evasion case with Italy for about 100 million euros ($110 million), according to people familiar with the matter. The agreement may come within the next few weeks, the people said, asking not to be identified as the matter is private. UBS declined to comment. The Swiss bank has said it ...

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• 22 May

  Eurozone must overcome impasse on risk sharing, says ECB’s Draghi

  

  Bloomberg Mario Draghi warned against exaggerating the tradeoffs between risk sharing and risk reduction in the euro zone, arguing it has hampered monetary policy transmission. “Since a long time we have reached an impasse on key issues including on completing the banking union and deepening fiscal policy coordination,” the European Central Bank President said in Frankfurt on Wednesday. “This has ...

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• 22 May

  Nigeria banks told to lend or lose access to 14% yields

  

  Bloomberg Nigerian policy makers urged banks to turn on the taps and increase lending to stimulate the economy, or have access to a near-risk free way of making money choked off. The West African nation’s Monetary Policy Committee is using persuasion to get banks away from parking their cash in high-yielding government securities to divert these funds to the private ...

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