March, 2019

• 3 March

  Macron can revive his French revolution

  France’s Yellow Vest protest movement seems to be losing steam. Turnout is diminishing, public support is weakening, and anger has flared over anti-Semitism in its ranks. If the marchers are mostly staying home, though, the problems they identified haven’t gone away. In fact, they could define President Emmanuel Macron’s remaining time in office. The protesters first took to the streets ...

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• 3 March

  Actually, Australia should be panicked about coal

  

  Sydney is a wonderful, modern town. But, over the past few days, all anyone here has wanted to talk to me about is that most 19th-century of industries: coal. It’s not hard to see why, after a startling report — quickly denied — that some Chinese ports had blocked shipments of Australian coal. The Australian dollar briefly tanked on the ...

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• 3 March

  Theresa May keeps everybody locked in Brexit purgatory

  

  Theresa May tried to execute a u-turn while claiming to remain utterly consistent. Having promised dozens of times to deliver Brexit on time on March 29, she told parliament she would support a short delay to the exit date if that was the wish of lawmakers. But her core message was unchanged: The choice before MPs next month will still ...

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• 3 March

  Next ECB chief economist is more than a dove

  

  Philip Lane, the governor of the Central Bank of Ireland, is set to be the next chief economist of the European Central Bank (ECB) – a key policy-setting position. Lane is considered a monetary policy dove, but there’s more to his views on how the euro area should function. He has controversial positions on the need for a European safe ...

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• 3 March

  Goldman, JPMorgan still see upside in China assets

  

  Bloomberg Chinese stocks have had a great start to 2019, and it may not stop there. The benchmark CSI 300 Index has risen 25 percent this year, outperforming all other major stock gauges. The offshore yuan has risen more than 2 percent versus the US dollar. And while Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. say some sectors ...

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• 3 March

  Domestic revenge ignites in UK stocks as Brexit D-Day averted

  

  Bloomberg A can kicked down the road is better than one that explodes in your face. And so, in stock markets at least, people are feeling more relaxed about Brexit than for some time. With UK Prime Minister Theresa May agreeing to possibly postpone the March 29 scheduled departure date if her deal fails and, at the same time, the ...

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• 3 March

  Trump says dollar too strong, swipes at Fed for rate hikes

  

  Bloomberg President Donald Trump said that the US dollar is too strong, and took a swipe at Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell as someone who “likes raising interest rates.” The US economy is doing well in spite of the actions of the central bank, Trump said during a wide-ranging speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland. ...

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• 3 March

  RBC follows US banks in trading declines

  

  Bloomberg The debt-trading malaise that hurt US lenders last quarter has extended north of the border, though Royal Bank of Canada’s equities traders helped soften the blow. The lender saw a 12 percent drop in trading revenue from fixed income, currencies and commodities in the three months through January, advancing the trend that affected US banks including JPMorgan Chase & ...

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• 3 March

  Interest rate hike just the start for ‘firefighting’ Tunisia central bank

  

  Bloomberg Tunisia’s central bank warned over the deteriorating state of the country’s finances and called for additional efforts to curb inflation after the first hike in interest rates since June. The current-account deficit reached an “unprecedented” 11.2 percent of gross domestic product in 2018, according to Governor Marouane El Abassi. The decision to raise the benchmark by 100 basis points ...

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• 3 March

  Bank Indonesia leaves key rate unchanged

  Bloomberg Indonesia’s central bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged, dropping some of its more hawkish comments of the past as the Federal Reserve’s policy pause helped to ease pressure on emerging markets. The seven-day reverse repurchase rate was left at 6 percent for a third month, as predicted by all 33 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Bank Indonesia hiked six ...

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