March, 2019

• 13 March

  Do you really trust Facebook to police the internet?

  

  Last April, when 34 technology companies announced their membership of a Cybersecurity Tech Accord, it was portrayed as proof that the private sector was, at long last, taking responsibility for protecting civilians online — something governments had conspicuously failed to do. Since then, the ranks of signatories to the self-imposed cybersecurity standards has more than doubled. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., ...

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• 13 March

  US equities gain on economic data as dollar dips; oil rises

  

  Bloomberg US equities climbed as data showed better-than-expected demand for durable goods and modest pressure on inflation. The pound jumped before another Brexit vote and the dollar dipped. The S&P 500 Index gained for a third day, with industrial stocks among the best performers. European shares also advanced, and the pound rallied before the next major Brexit vote. Crude oil ...

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• 13 March

  China’s world-beating stock rally is putting Hong Kong in the dust

  

  Bloomberg Hong Kong equity investors must be looking enviously across the border this year. The city’s two main benchmarks are hardly doing badly, but gauges on the mainland — after a grim 2018 — are eclipsing them and just about every other worldwide. The ChiNext in Shenzhen has led the charge with a 35 percent rally. While onshore shares slid ...

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• 13 March

  India’s sensex climbs to a six-month high

  Bloomberg India’s stocks advanced with the benchmark equity index rising to its highest level in six months, led by financial services companies. The S&P BSE Sensex climbed for a third session, increasing 0.6 percent to 37,752.17 in Mumbai, bringing its gain for this year to 4.7 percent. The NSE Nifty 50 Index increased 0.4 percent. Both indexes are headed for ...

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• 13 March

  Deutsche Bank faces merger pushback as 30k jobs at risk

  

  Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG faces stiff resistance from some supervisory board members to a merger with German competitor Commerzbank AG as the deal raises the prospect of tens of thousands of job cuts. Jan Duscheck and Stephan Szukalski, two key labour representatives on Deutsche Bank’s highest oversight body, oppose the merger, saying a combination would fail to achieve the goal ...

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• 13 March

  Strategists from UBS to SocGen see global markets at crossroads

  

  Bloomberg Strategists are telling investors to prepare for both the best and the worst outcomes as risk assets around the world reach a crossroads. Global markets are facing a number of positive catalysts in 2019. The Federal Reserve’s in a wait-and-see mode, and the European Central Bank has begun upping its stimulus. Economies around the world are growing and the ...

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• 13 March

  Negative ‘jaws’ bite South African banks battling costs

  

  Bloomberg The bottom line is that the top line stinks. That’s the challenge facing South Africa’s biggest banks as they fight to contain costs that are accelerating faster than revenue. The reasons are pretty much the same: South Africa’s economy hasn’t expanded at more than 2 percent a year since 2013 and unemployment is at 27 percent. In addition, consumers ...

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• 13 March

  Barclays got amber alert after failing to predict series of trading losses

  

  Bloomberg As an activist investor targets Barclays Plc for taking on too much risk, the London-based lender has disclosed how its internal models failed to predict a series of trading losses at its investment bank. Barclays issued a so-called amber alert last year after the issues with its trading arm’s value-at-risk modeling, according to a recent filing. Tests of its ...

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• 13 March

  BNP seeks to beef up operations in China

  

  Bloomberg BNP Paribas, France’s biggest lender, plans to expand China operations to include brokerage, futures trading and wealth-management ventures, as the bank anticipates further foreign investment flows into world’s second-biggest economy. CG Lai, CEO of BNP Paribas China, said his firm was one of many international players establishing and expanding their presence in the country. The moves come as index ...

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• 13 March

  Boeing crash isolates FAA as China leads push against Max

  

  Bloomberg The second fatal crash of a Boeing Co. 737 Max aircraft in less than five months is creating a new hierarchy in aviation safety. Thrusting to the top: China. Three days after an Ethiopian Airlines jet crashed, killing all 157 people on board, country after country ignored assessments by the US Federal Aviation Administration that the plane is safe ...

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