August, 2016

• 25 August

  Clinton is making her trust problem worse

  

    Hillary Clinton enjoys about a five-point polling lead over Donald Trump. One way to look at this is that it’s a margin, at this stage of a presidential race, that is rarely reversed. Here’s another way. The Democrats had a successful convention, the Republicans didn’t. Clinton’s campaign has been smooth; Trump’s has careened between disasters. She has reached out …

  Read More »
• 25 August

  Louisiana’s flood left Republicans at a loss

  

    The Republicans won’t stop harping about President Barack Obama’s handling of the Louisiana floods. Their media focus until this week was to talk exclusively about whether he would break into his August vacation and tour the damage. When he got there, of course, it was (for them) too little, too late. What has been noteworthy about this coverage is …

  Read More »
• 25 August

  Cyber extortion is no way for a hacker to get rich

  

    Once upon a time, a regular hacker could make decent money in the world of ransomware, malicious software that locks up parts of a victim’s computer and demands payment to restore access. Now those days are gone. I blame globalization. Ransomware has only recently entered the public consciousness, thanks to the high-profile extortion of a Los Angeles hospital and …

  Read More »
• 25 August

  US stocks swing as Yellen speech draws near

  

    New York / Bloomberg U.S. stocks fluctuated amid a batch earnings after erasing an early decline, while investors awaited clues on the path of interest-rate increases before a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Friday. HP Inc. sank 4.9 percent after forecasting earnings that may miss analyst projections. Signet Jewelers Ltd. dropped 14 percent as its profit …

  Read More »
• 25 August

  Gulf markets extend losses in early trade

  Dubai / Reuters Gulf stock markets extended losses in early trade on Thursday with banks leading Saudi Arabia down, as investors continued to pull out of equities over concerns about the region’s economic slowdown and policies of austerity. The Saudi index, which on Wednesday fell below minor technical support on the April low of 6,066 points, sank a further 1.4 …

  Read More »
• 25 August

  Oil trades near one-week low after surprise US stockpile gain

  

    Bloomberg Oil traded near the lowest close in a week as U.S. crude stockpiles unexpectedly increased, keeping supplies at the highest in at least three decades with the peak summer demand period approaching its end. Futures were little changed in New York after falling 2.8 percent on Wednesday. Inventories rose by 2.5 million barrels last week, according to the …

  Read More »
• 25 August

  Nordea, DNB to merge Baltic operations

  

  Riga /AFP Two Scandinavian banks, Nordea and DNB, announced on Thursday they will merge operations in Baltic eurozone members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Their new bank will be the second-largest financial institution in the region behind market-leader Swedbank, with assets worth 13 billion euros ($14.6 billion) and more than 3,000 employees. “Nordea and DNB have entered into an agreement to …

  Read More »
• 25 August

  Kenya president signs law capping bank interest rates

  

    Bloomberg Shares of Kenya’s biggest banks plunged after President Uhuru Kenyatta signed a law that caps the interest rates lenders can charge on loans and set minimum payments on deposits. KCB Group Ltd., the nation’s largest bank by assets, led the slump to head for the steepest decline in 13 years after Kenyatta signed the law saying he sympathized …

  Read More »
• 25 August

  Maybank posts third straight profit drop on loan impairments

  

    Bloomberg Malayan Banking Bhd. posted a third straight decline in quarterly profit as the biggest Malaysian lender more than tripled allowances for loan impairments. Net income fell to 1.16 billion ringgit ($288 million) in the three months through June from 1.58 billion ringgit a year earlier, the Kuala Lumpur-based company said in a stock exchange filing on Thursday. Revenue …

  Read More »
• 25 August

  EU, Portugal agree 5bn-euro bailout for CGD bank

  

    Lisbon /AFP The European Commission and Portugal said they have agreed on a 5-billion-euro deal to recapitalise the state-owned Caixa Geral de Depositos (CGD) bank, including through a 2.7-billion-euro injection of state funds. The deal was provisionally approved by European Union competition chief Margrethe Vestager to meet the 28-nation bloc’s tough rules on preventing unfair government aid for businesses. …

  Read More »