February, 2019

• 27 February

  Cheap as chips doesn’t cut it in Brexit Britain

  

  Just because it’s a bargain, doesn’t mean it’s worth it. Associated British Foods Plc has said its Primark discount clothing chain had performed well in the UK in the first half of its financial year, offsetting difficult conditions in Germany. This comes days after value bakery brand Greggs Plc said full-year underlying pre-tax profit was likely to be ahead of ...

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• 27 February

  A higher inflation target won’t make Fed more effective

  

  As promised by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, US central bankers have embarked on a comprehensive review aimed at making monetary policy more effective. They will draw on both internal and external inputs and, according to a report over the weekend in the Wall Street Journal, consider “whether to allow inflation to rise above their 2 percent target more often ...

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• 27 February

  Stocks drop on earnings, India; pound strengthens

  

  Bloomberg US equity futures fell alongside European stocks on fresh headwinds from disappointing corporate earnings and geopolitical tension in Asia. The dollar and Treasuries held steady as traders awaited the second half of the Federal Reserve chairman’s testimony to Congress. The Stoxx Europe 600 index declined as Air France-KLM dropped the most ever and Nivea hand-cream maker Beiersdorf cut guidance, ...

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• 27 February

  Corporate America goes on debt diet after a $3trn binge

  

  Bloomberg US companies are finally listening to stock and bond investors that have been pressing corporations to cut their debt loads. General Electric Co. is selling its biopharmaceutical business to Danaher Corp. for more than $21 billion, and using the money to pay down borrowings. Kraft Heinz is slashing its dividend and using the proceeds of asset sales to reduce ...

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• 27 February

  Powell: Fed is in no rush to make policy change decision

  

  Bloomberg Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said a healthy US economy has faced some “crosscurrents and conflicting signals” that officials in January decided warranted taking a patient approach to future interest-rate changes. With inflation pressures “muted,” the Federal Open Market Committee in its decision last month to keep interest rates unchanged “determined that the cumulative effects’’ of its actions and ...

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• 27 February

  Germany to extend Weidmann’s term as Bundesbank chief

  

  Bloomberg German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet agreed to extend Jens Weidmann’s term as head of the Bundesbank by another eight years from May as he waits to see if he is picked later this year for the top job at the European Central Bank. The decision, which needs formal approval from President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, was taken at a meeting on ...

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• 27 February

  BOJ may resort to more QE if yen jumps: Ex-board member

  

  Bloomberg The Bank of Japan may resort to its least preferred tool to expand stimulus next time the yen jumps: more government bond purchases. That’s according to Takahide Kiuchi, a former BOJ policy board member who said the central bank’s favored option — deepening negative interest rates — would face opposition from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration because it would ...

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• 27 February

  Metro Bank shares hit record-low

  

  Bloomberg Metro Bank Plc, the lender founded by US entrepreneur Vernon Hill, plunged to a record low after it disclosed that British regulators are probing how it misclassified assets, an incident that prompted a share sale. Shares in Metro Bank tumbled as much as 20.8 percent to 1,030 pence, the lowest since the London-based lender first sold stock to the ...

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• 27 February

  Banco Santander does U-turn on scrip dividend

  

  Bloomberg Banco Santander SA may return to using a scrip dividend a year after saying it would reward shareholders entirely in cash, in a sign that it’s concerned about capital. Spain’s biggest bank said it would combine any such payout with share repurchases to avoid diluting the existing stock. The lender also decided to increase its medium-term dividend payout target ...

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• 27 February

  Pilot crunch puts Asia travel boom in trouble

  

  Bloomberg An unprecedented travel boom in Asia has spawned new budget carriers and millions of first-time fliers, but a shortage of pilots is threatening to choke that demand. Bamboo Airways Co. in Vietnam was the latest low-cost carrier to start services this year and more are expected to join the race. In Southeast Asia alone, low cost carriers have about ...

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