December, 2018

• 11 December

  US can’t stop AT&T deal or TV’s balkanisation

  

  Changes in the TV-entertainment industry’s competitive dynamics are already causing consumer frustration through channel blackouts and general difficulty finding content. The US Department of Justice has fixated on the role played by the gargantuan AT&T Inc.-Time Warner Inc. merger, but its Hail Mary attempt to undo the deal appears doomed to failure. In June, AT&T won a long-fought trial over ...

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• 11 December

  Mark Zuckerberg is more ruthless than clueless

  

  Lawmakers in the United Kingdom released a trove of Facebook Inc. documents that provide an intriguing glimpse inside the company — and obliterate any remaining notions of its chief executive officer as an innocent babe in the woods. As Nate Lanxon and Sarah Frier wrote, internal emails show Facebook wielding user data like a “commodity that could be harnessed in ...

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• 11 December

  Stocks rally on US-China trade wagers; oil gains

  

  Bloomberg US equities rallied with European stocks on optimism about the prospects for success in American-Chinese trade talks. Tech shares and automakers led the S&P 500 Index higher after China was said to move towards cutting tariffs on US-made cars. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index surged the most in eight months. The dollar was steady while Treasuries and core European ...

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• 11 December

  Pound headed to Brexit lows as UK at crisis point

  

  Bloomberg The UK has reached a crisis point and the pound is heading back towards its lowest levels since the Brexit vote, according to BlueBay Asset Management. A second Brexit referendum now seems the most likely outcome after Prime Minister Theresa May delayed Parliament’s vote on her divorce deal, according to the asset manager. The EU is unlikely to offer ...

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• 11 December

  Yuan most volatile since 2015

  Bloomberg Yuan traders haven’t been this dizzy since China’s shock devaluation roiled markets more than three years ago. The currency’s 10-day volatility surged above 8 percent on Monday, the highest level since August 2015. The wild trading contrasts with the calm that descended on Chinese financial assets less than weeks ago, before a meeting between Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald ...

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• 11 December

  ECB wins EU top court fight over legality of QE program

  

  Bloomberg The European Central Bank didn’t overstep its mandate by setting up a quantitative-easing program to stave off deflation, judges at the European Union’s top court ruled. The ECB’s bond purchasing program is in line with the law, the EU Court of Justice said, dismissing the latest in a series of challenges from critics who argue the tool deployed by ...

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• 11 December

  Morgan Stanley clients push back on 2019 emerging-market call

  

  Bloomberg Morgan Stanley is optimistic on emerging-market bonds looking ahead to 2019. Some of its clients less so. “We’ve spent the last two weeks discussing our year-ahead outlook with investors. We received pushback on our constructive view on EM fixed income,” Morgan Stanley strategists including James Lord wrote in a note. “Chief among concerns is the global growth outlook and ...

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• 11 December

  Patel’s exit as RBI governor roils Indian markets

  

  Bloomberg Urjit Patel’s shock exit as governor of the Reserve Bank of India has roiled financial markets. The rupee dropped as much as 1.6 percent against the dollar in early trading on Tuesday, reacting to Patel’s decision to quit nine months before the end of his three-year term for “personal reasons.” Patel’s RBI had been at loggerheads with the government ...

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• 11 December

  Powell boosts efforts to build public trust

  

  Bloomberg Jerome Powell is ramping up Federal Reserve communication to build public trust and help insulate it from political attack. In recent weeks, the Fed has announced a series of initiatives, including a monetary-policy review roadshow, a semi-annual assessment of financial stability, and its inaugural Supervision and Regulation Report. These follow Powell’s early promise of “plain-English’’ explanations and a doubling ...

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• 11 December

  Goldman sees greenback nearing a ‘messy top’

  Bloomberg As market odds increase that the Federal Reserve will pause its rate-hike path, Goldman Sachs says its prediction for a weaker dollar could come sooner rather than later. Over the past week, worsening US economic data — including a tepid jobs report — have led some to consider the chance of a Fed pause in 2019. Goldman Sachs joined ...

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