February, 2019

• 19 February

  Europe’s Amundi does more with less

  

  Size alone wasn’t enough to shield Amundi SA from the market turmoil that prompted investors to pull money from the asset management industry as a whole in the fourth quarter. But bulk is helping Europe’s biggest fund manager weather the storm better than its competitors. Net outflows of 6.5 billion euros ($7.4 billion) in the final three months of last ...

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• 19 February

  Imagine Canada becoming a tax haven for Americans

  

  Taxes on rich Americans are probably going up if Democrats win both the presidency and Congress anytime soon. Whether it’s to provide revenue for more government spending on health care or the environment, or simply to reduce inequality, it seems likely that the well-off will pay more. The idea receives wide support. Exactly which type of taxes would go up, ...

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• 19 February

  Chinese state media add more fuel to $882 billion equity rally

  

  Bloomberg Chinese state media sought to highlight the growing bull case for the country’s shares. A front-page story in the China Securities Journal noted a bullish trend in financial markets, while Shanghai Securities News said insurers are optimistic about the country’s equities. The articles come against the backdrop of the Shanghai Composite Index advancing 12 percent from Jan. 3 and ...

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• 19 February

  ‘Global equities still better value than bonds’

  Bloomberg Earnings growth will continue to underpin equity gains despite more frequent bouts of volatility and mounting risks for financial markets, according to Lazard Asset Management. The US economy is in much better shape than investors believe and current market valuations suggest, Ronald Temple, co-head of multi-asset and head of U.S. equity at the $216 billion investment manager, told a ...

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• 19 February

  US equity futures, Europe stocks retreat; dollar edges higher

  

  Bloomberg US equity futures followed declines across Europe as investors awaited fresh clues on the outlook for global trade and growth. The dollar edged higher with Treasuries. Contracts on the Nasdaq, Dow Jones and S&P 500 indexes all turned lower as traders returned from the long weekend and before the next round of talks between America and China to try ...

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• 19 February

  Euro-area slowdown: ECB lays groundwork for response

  

  Bloomberg Some of the European Central Bank’s heavy hitters are laying the groundwork for action. The top economist and the market chief at the Frankfurt-based institution have already signalled they’re discussing options in case the current euro-area slowdown worsens, and the vice president echoed that on Tuesday. There have been similar hints from Francois Villeroy de Galhau, who is the ...

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• 19 February

  Greece submits plan to revive ailing banks

  Bloomberg Greece’s government submitted to the European Commission a plan to help the country’s banks speed up their bad-loan disposals, in a bid to restore confidence in the battered sector, according to two people familiar with the matter. Greek banks are grappling with 88.6 billion euros ($100 billion) of bad loans, a legacy of the country’s financial crisis. That constrains ...

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• 19 February

  HSBC bracing for riskier times after Q4 profit miss

  

  Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc is bracing for riskier times after missing fourth-quarter earnings estimates, warning that political tensions in its key markets have made the prognosis for 2019 far less predictable. Chief Executive Officer John Flint has vowed to keep a keener eye on costs while avoiding additional payouts to shareholders, after a disappointing quarter capped his first year in ...

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• 19 February

  $76 billion fund gives contrarian call for Indonesia interest rate cuts

  Bloomberg Indonesia’s central bank should signal interest-rate cuts to draw more foreign money into the nation’s bonds, according to a top emerging markets asset manager. The current-account deficit will remain manageable and Bank Indonesia has room to reverse some of the rate hikes it implemented last year, Anil Kumar, who helps manage about $76 billion of funds at Ashmore Plc, ...

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• 19 February

  Japanese M&A spree a boon for foreign banks

  Bloomberg Japan Inc.’s record acquisition spree is proving to be better news for overseas investment banks than for their home-grown rivals. Foreign firms led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grabbed the first three places in Japan’s merger advisory rankings last year, handling deals worth a combined 44.6 trillion yen ($403 billion), according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Nomura Holdings Inc, ...

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