May, 2019

• 5 May

  Philippine peso risks losing best Asia currency tag

  

  Bloomberg A sense of caution is gripping peso bulls as markets approach the Philippine central bank’s interest-rate decision. Increased speculation that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas will ease monetary policy is threatening to break the peso’s Asia-beating rally this quarter. A reduction in the benchmark rate could give foreign investors — who already don’t seem too keen on buying Philippine ...

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• 5 May

  Central banks first-quarter gold buying at highest since ’13

  

  Bloomberg First-quarter gold purchases by central banks, led by Russia and China, were the highest in six years as countries diversify their assets away from the US dollar. Global gold reserves rose 145.5 tonnes in the first quarter, a 68 percent increase from a year earlier, the World Gold Council said in a report. Russia remains the largest buyer as ...

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• 5 May

  HSBC’s CEO zeroes in on cost cuts after Q1 profit increases

  

  Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc Chief Executive Officer John Flint is pressing ahead with a plan to rein in costs after the Asia-focussed lender reported its best quarter in more than three years. The better-than-expected first quarter results were driven by revenue growth that increased at triple the pace of adjusted operating expenses, reversing a pattern that bedeviled Flint in 2018. ...

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• 5 May

  BNP Paribas bucks debt trading slump as revenue rises

  

  Bloomberg BNP Paribas SA reported the biggest fixed-income trading jump of all US and European banks in the first quarter, marking a rebound after recent losses and downgraded targets. Debt trading revenue unexpectedly rose 29 percent from the previous year, helped by growth in rates and foreign-exchange transactions, the French bank said. That helped BNP’s global markets unit — its ...

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• 5 May

  Hong Kong borrowing costs set to stay high

  

  Bloomberg Hong Kong borrowing costs are expected to remain stubbornly high over the rest of the quarter, supporting the local currency. That’s according to Carie Li, an economist at OCBC Wing Hang Bank Ltd., who says the city’s shrinking cash pool is making banks more reluctant to lend. The one-month interbank rate, known as Hibor, has climbed to 2.07 percent, ...

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• 5 May

  Goldman’s Marcus launch delayed in Germany over Brexit

  Bloomberg Goldman Sachs has put off the German launch of its consumer bank — Marcus until next year because of the delay in Brexit proceedings as well as cost constraints, the Financial Times reported on Sunday, citing two people familiar with the situation. Had Brexit taken place on March 29 as it was planned earlier, Goldman Sachs would have “wanted ...

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• 5 May

  ‘Range of factors may explain 737 runway skid’

  

  Bloomberg The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will evaluate a range of factors that could help explain how a Boeing 737-800 plane arriving from Cuba slipped into a river after skidding off a runway in Florida, from human error to the weather to the airport’s systems. “We are very early in the beginning phase of this investigation,” Bruce Landsberg, NTSB ...

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• 5 May

  Hugo Boss may miss target as Q1 profit sinks

  

  Bloomberg Hugo Boss reported a plunge in first-quarter earnings amid a weak US market, a stumble as the German clothing retailer aims for growth this year. Operating profit fell 22 percent on higher costs related to marketing, online operations and reorganisation. Still, the company maintained its forecast for growth at a high-single-digit percentage rate for the full year. The shares ...

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• 5 May

  Air France-KLM’s Q1 loss widens as wage hit shows cost of union peace

  

  Bloomberg Air France-KLM Group’s first-quarter loss more than doubled as fares fell and wages climbed following union deals struck by Chief Executive Officer Ben Smith after he took charge last year. The loss jumped to 303 million euros ($339 million) from 118 million euros a year earlier, with higher fuel costs and currency fluctuations also taking their toll. The loss ...

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• 5 May

  Gildan bets on Bangladesh hub to expand apparel output in Asia

  

  Bloomberg Apparel giant Gildan Activewear Inc is building a new manufacturing hub in Bangladesh, aiming to supply both Europe and a Chinese market that it described as “on fire.” The Montreal-based manufacturer of T-shirts and innerwear spent $45 million to buy land in the South Asian country, where it’s been since 2010 and currently employs 3,500 people. Gildan expects the ...

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