March, 2019

• 11 March

  Business leaders love AI. In theory, that really is

  

  Microsoft has unveiled the results of a survey of business leaders on the topic of artificial intelligence. The findings are surprising: German and Russian entrepreneurs and executives appear to come out ahead of those from the US and other advanced European economies when it comes to adopting the technology. Mostly, however, this and several other studies confirm a frustrating problem: ...

  Read More »
• 11 March

  Technology rally lifts US stocks as Treasuries slip

  

  Bloomberg US stocks bounced back from the worst week of the year, as the latest retail-sales data boosted confidence that the economy isn’t headed for a downturn. Treasuries slipped and the dollar held steady. The S&P 500 rose for the first time in six days, while the Nasdaq 100 jumped after Nvidia agreed to a deal and Apple was upgraded. ...

  Read More »
• 11 March

  Sensex advances as India sets date for national polls

  

  Bloomberg Indian stocks rose, with the benchmark equity index climbing to a more than five-month high, after the election commission set a date range for national polls, and said the result will be unveiled on May 23. The S&P BSE Sensex advanced 1 percent to 37,054.10, its highest close since September 19. The gauge rose 1.7 percent last week for ...

  Read More »
• 11 March

  India’s RBI faces trouble getting banks to cut rates

  

  Bloomberg Indian lenders haven’t fully passed on the central bank’s latest interest rate cut to borrowers, pressuring the monetary authority to loosen policy even more to support economic growth. A mismatch between deposits and credit growth, and competition from the government for small-savings mean banks face a high cost of capital, limiting their ability to transmit monetary policy easing. Bankers ...

  Read More »
• 11 March

  ING slashes bonus pool by 25% after year tainted by record fine

  

  Bloomberg ING Groep NV reduced its bonus pool by 25 percent after a year marred by a record money-laundering settlement and public discontent in the Netherlands over banker pay. The country’s largest lender paid out 303 million euros ($340 million) in bonuses for 2018, down from 403 million euros the year before, according to its latest annual report. ING said ...

  Read More »
• 11 March

  Draghi’s goodbye gift gets lukewarm response from market

  

  Bloomberg Mario Draghi’s latest and potentially last salvo to boost the euro-area economy risks not being enough. The European Central Bank president, who will leave office in October after spending his entire eight-year tenure crisis-fighting, announced a new round of long-term loans to banks and promised interest rates won’t be lifted from record lows until 2020. The fresh effort to ...

  Read More »
• 11 March

  MUFG beats Credit Suisse to win $500mn bond deal only to stumble

  

  Bloomberg Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. (MUFG) has been on an expansion kick in the debt market. But its first attempt as a sole underwriter on a dollar high-yield bond sale didn’t go so well. The bank’s securities unit bought $500 million of bonds directly from oil and gas exploration firm CNX Resources Corp., with plans to parcel them off ...

  Read More »
• 11 March

  Goldman Sachs cuts 10 staff in commodities unit

  

  Bloomberg Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is cutting 10 staff in its commodities division as the bank reviews the footprint of the once-dominant unit, according to a person familiar with the matter. It is cutting seven trading jobs and three sales jobs in Singapore, London and Houston, representing about 5 percent of the unit’s staff, the person said, asking not to ...

  Read More »
• 11 March

  Boeing in crisis as second 737 crash in months grounds flights

  

  Bloomberg Boeing Co. Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg faces his biggest crisis yet following the second deadly crash of a 737 Max jetliner, prompting some airlines to ground the best-selling plane and sending the shares on track for their biggest loss since just after the 9/11 attacks. China ordered its carriers to ground all 96 of Boeing’s newest 737 model, ...

  Read More »
• 11 March

  Amazon’s vendor purge sows panic among suppliers

  

  Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc. — has abruptly stopped buying products from many of its wholesalers, sowing panic. The company is encouraging vendors to instead sell directly to consumers on its marketplace. The retailer makes more money that way by offloading the cost of purchasing, storing and shipping products. Meanwhile, Amazon can charge suppliers for these services and take a commission on ...

  Read More »