December, 2018

• 4 December

  China despairs of its ‘financial underbelly’

  

  Dismantling the opaque underbelly of China’s financial system is proving far tougher than Beijing could have imagined. After rolling out a stream of reactive regulatory measures over the past year, authorities are now preparing to effectively phase out the $176 billion peer-to-peer lending market, Bloomberg News reports. Small and medium-size P2P platforms will be wound down, while large ones will ...

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• 4 December

  Why Indian airlines keep struggling to take off

  

  Anyone puzzled by how the Indian economy manages to grow swiftly while somehow failing to be prosperous could do worse than look at the state of India’s airlines. Over the past four years, passenger growth in India has been rapid: The number of flights taken has increased between 15 and 20 percent per year. Demand growth this year is likely ...

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• 4 December

  Stocks decline as trade hopes fade; curve flattens

  

  Bloomberg The rally in risk assets sparked by the trade truce faded as investors grew skeptical that the US and China made any meaningful breakthrough. The Treasury yield curve continued to flatten and the dollar retreated. The S&P 500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq indexes all gave up a chunk of Monday’s gains at the New York open, while the Stoxx ...

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• 4 December

  Pound rallies as market grabs sign Brexit is reversible

  Bloomberg The pound rallied after an adviser to the European Union’s top court suggested that the UK should be allowed to reverse its notice to leave the bloc. Sterling snapped three days of losses following the non-binding opinion from Advocate General Manuel Campos Sanchez-Bordona of the EU Court of Justice, who said “the possibility continues to exist” to revoke the ...

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• 4 December

  Yuan poised for biggest two-day gain in a decade

  Bloomberg The real winner from the trade thaw between the US and China is proving to be the yuan. The currency rose 0.66 percent to 6.8403 per dollar, taking its two-day gain to 1.7 percent, the biggest since at least 2007. Bonds rallied, with the yield on 10-year government debt falling to its lowest level since April 2017, amid speculation ...

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• 4 December

  Powell: Strong economy has not reached all Americans

  

  Bloomberg Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that while the central bank has made progresstowards a “strong economy” with rising wages, many lower-income workers have been left behind. “The Federal Reserve’s mission is to promote a strong economy and sound financial system,” Powell said in remarks prepared for delivery in Washington. “I am glad to say we have made a ...

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• 4 December

  Pakistan plans to curb central bank’s power to manage currency

  

  Bloomberg Pakistan’s government plans to make the central bank report any planned currency adjustments to a committee, a move seen to curb the regulator’s independence as the nation negotiates an International Monetary Fund bailout. The State Bank of Pakistan has weakened the rupee for the fifth time this year and raised the key interest rate — roiling the stock market. ...

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• 4 December

  Danske has $2.7bn capital buffer: CEO

  

  Bloomberg Danske Bank A/S has built a capital buffer of as much as $2.7 billion to absorb potential fines as it deals with the fallout of its role in one of Europe’s worst ever money laundering scandals. Acting Chief Executive Officer Jesper Nielsen says the amount “significantly” exceeds what Denmark’s regulator has ordered Danske to hold in connection with the ...

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• 4 December

  Carney defends BOE’s Brexit scenarios report

  

  Bloomberg Mark Carney defended the publication of the Bank of England’s Brexit scenarios, telling Parliament that the institution couldn’t hold back its analysis once lawmakers had asked for it. The BOE had released a report on PM Theresa May’s deal and other Brexit outcomes. Its worst-case scenario for a chaotic exit sees the economy shrinking by 8 percent within a ...

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• 4 December

  Barclays Brexit preparation sets bar for top global banks

  

  Bloomberg Barclays Plc’s plan to quickly move European business to Dublin in preparation for Brexit is one of the most ambitious yet and gaining plaudits from regulators, according to people familiar with the talks. The UK lender plans to book almost half its EU-related trading risk within the bloc by the time the UK leaves, according to people familiar with ...

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