January, 2019

• 13 January

  In 2019, aluminum is the market to watch closely

  On the long list of leading indicators that market participants attempt to use to figure out where the economy may be headed, don’t overlook aluminum. Despite the many market-soothing words uttered by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and former chairs Janet Yellen and Ben S. Bernanke at the American Economic Association’s annual meeting in Atlanta, economic and market risks have ...

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• 13 January

  A trade deal between US, China is only half the fight

  

  Equity markets have been rallying on the prospect that the trade-related cloud hanging over the global economy could be lifting. The S&P 500 index is up more than five percent, buoyed both by last week’s strong US jobs figures and the sense of momentum in talks between US and Chinese negotiators. The two countries can reach a deal they “can ...

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• 13 January

  Google knows you better than doctor

  

  Thanks to a combination of Google, WebMD and the $6,000 deductible on my health insurance, I haven’t been to a doctor to talk about an illness in years. Millions of Americans have similar habits; in fact, one in 20 Google searches are for health-related information. “Dr. Google” may not have an MD or a board certification, but it does have ...

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• 13 January

  The story of mutiny, surrender in India’s banking elite

  

  Chandra Shekhar Ghosh is a new arrival on India’s banking scene. Billionaire Uday Kotak is a seasoned campaigner and Asia’s richest banker. No wonder then that Ghosh is falling in line with a central bank command, while Kotak is suing. The disputes concern the founders’ maximum permissible ownership. The Reserve Bank of India is pushing the largest shareholders of Ghosh’s ...

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• 13 January

  Cutting economic outlook kept growth risks balanced: ECB

  

  Bloomberg European Central Bank (ECB) officials agreed that a cut to their 2019 growth projection in itself acknowledged that risks to the outlook for the euro-area economy had increased. That effectively allowed President Mario Draghi to avoid saying in December that the balance of risks was to the downside, which would have jarred alongside a decision to halt bond buying ...

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• 13 January

  China’s biggest bank cuts space at New York’s Trump tower

  

  Bloomberg Two of China’s New York power players are pulling back from Trump — Trump Tower, that is. First, a big Chinese conglomerate, HNA Group Co, moved to sell a Manhattan office tower four blocks from Trump Tower after US authorities raised national security concerns. A deal has finally been cut. Now, China’s biggest bank, Industrial & Commercial Bank of ...

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• 13 January

  Deutsche Bank sued over $53mn tax bill

  

  Bloomberg M.M. Warburg & Co, a private bank under investigation in Germany over a series of controversial tax deals, has opened a new legal front by suing Deutsche Bank AG to pick up the bill. Warburg filed a suit in Frankfurt in December to force Deutsche Bank to pay a 46 million-euro ($53 million) tax bill the company received over ...

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• 13 January

  UBS to make Orcel wait for new CEO gig

  Bloomberg Andrea Orcel, the former top dealmaker at UBS Group AG, will have to wait until April to take on his new role as chief executive officer at Banco Santander SA after the Swiss bank decided to enforce his entire six-month garden leave, people familiar with the matter said. Orcel was expected to make the move early in the first ...

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• 13 January

  Policy stability seen as African central bankers’ terms end

  

  Bloomberg The possible replacement of the governors of three key African central banks this year could yield an unexpected surprise: policy stability. Time is running out on the first terms of Nigeria’s Godwin Emefiele, Kenya’s Patrick Njoroge and South Africa’s Lesetja Kganyago. While all three are eligible to serve another term at the helms of their central banks, this isn’t ...

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• 13 January

  Some airport security lanes to close as shutdown pinches TSA

  

  Bloomberg The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) plans to begin closing a handful of security checkpoints at airports around the US as soon as this weekend in response to staff shortages as impacts of the three-week partial federal government shutdown begin to expand. Miami International Airport has shut one of its concourses for several days and has moved flights to other ...

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