May, 2019

• 5 May

  Does sprawling Indonesia really need a new capital?

  

  Even as he awaits official confirmation of his election to a second term, Indonesian President Joko Widodo appears to be thinking about his legacy. He’s proposing a $33 billion plan to relocate the capital far away from clogged Jakarta. The idea isn’t as crazy as it sounds. That doesn’t mean it’ll work. Jokowi, as the Indonesian leader is known, is ...

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• 5 May

  Google reminds rapid growth isn’t guaranteed

  

  Google investors may have had a flashback to the company’s bad old days of 2015. That year may feel like a distant memory. That was before news cycles were measured in seconds. It was before people were talking in earnest about FAANG stocks and before Mark Zuckerberg had sat through multiple rounds of congressional hearings. Back then, Google’s growth looked ...

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• 5 May

  What we want doesn’t always make us happy

  

  Much of modern economic theory is based around a simple idea: Human beings maximise utility. But what is utility? Many people think of it as happiness or pleasure; British philosopher Jeremy Bentham, the inventor of utilitarianism, conceived of it this way. But this isn’t how modern economists think of the concept. To an economist, utility simply means how much people ...

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• 5 May

  One word grips bond market before update on inflation

  

  Bloomberg Bond traders will have one word on their minds as they gear up for the latest readings on inflation: “ transitory.” That’s how Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell characterised the factors behind muted price pressures after the policy meeting, where officials kept interest rates unchanged. Markets whipsawed on his comments, with benchmark 10-year Treasury yields bouncing off their lowest ...

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• 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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