October, 2018

• 30 October

  The winners and losers from a sea change in oil

  

  Despite efforts by the Trump administration to turn it, a supertanker is bearing down on drivers, oil majors, and even Amazon.com Inc. We are 14 months away from a shake-up in the global oil market lacking the drama of, say, Iranian sanctions. It involves a UN-mandated crackdown on air pollution from ships. Still awake? Good, because this could mean some ...

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• 30 October

  Don’t cry for India? A central bank’s lament

  

  Long-simmering discord between the Indian central bank and the government is turning into a very public brawl. The timing couldn’t be more awful for markets. In a hard-hitting speech on central-bank independence, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor Viral Acharya startled his audience by invoking Argentina of 2010. Back then, the Argentinian central bank chief quit after being coerced ...

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• 30 October

  Central banks no longer cushion economies, markets

  

  If governments, companies and markets needed any further reminders that their operating environment is changing, they got it last week. Despite weakening economic momentum and volatile financial markets, a second systemically important central bank, the European Central Bank (ECB), reiterated its intention to stop using large liquidity injections to support economic activity and asset prices. The change in this ‘global ...

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• 30 October

  US stocks turn higher as tech shares reverse slump

  

  Bloomberg US stocks reversed early losses as investors shook off disappointing earnings from General Electric and tech shares reversed a sell-off despite fresh data raised conc-ern about the strength of the housing market. Treasuries fell and the dollar rose. The S&P 500 Index climbed, although its drop from a September record still hovers near 10 percent, putting it on the ...

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• 30 October

  Italian bonds slide as economy slows, debt auction underwhelms

  

  Bloomberg Italian bonds dropped as disappointing economic growth and a tepid debt sale damped investor enthusiasm. The securities snapped a three-day rally after the nation’s growth stagnated in the third quarter and sale prices for 10-year debt at the Treasury auction were below market levels. The weaker average sale price reflected fragile investor sentiment after rating agencies cut their view ...

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• 30 October

  Wall Street may be Powell’s most powerful protector from Trump

  

  Bloomberg The ultimate guarantor of job security for presidential whipping boy Jerome Powell may lie not in Washington, but on Wall Street. President Donald Trump could confront a huge blow back from the financial markets — with stocks, bonds and the dollar all going down — if he made a serious move to oust the Federal Reserve chairman, market professionals ...

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• 30 October

  South Africa central bank sees higher rates to curb inflation

  

  Bloomberg The South African Reserve Bank sees higher interest rates in the next two years to help contain accelerating inflation. The central bank’s quarterly projection model forecasts a benchmark rate of 7.7 percent by the end of 2020 compared to 6.5 percent currently, it said in its six-monthly Monetary Policy Review released in Pretoria, the capital. While policy will remain ...

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• 30 October

  BNP debt trading declines in Q3

  

  Bloomberg BNP Paribas SA joined Deutsche Bank AG in reporting steep third-quarter declines at its debt-trading business, complicating Chief Executive Officer Jean-Laurent Bonnafe’s plans to meet 2020 profit and growth targets. The French bank posted a sixth consecutive quarterly contraction in revenue from buying and selling bonds, currencies and commodities, while gains from equities trading were also lower than analysts ...

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• 30 October

  BofA to pay special bonuses for 2nd year

  Bloomberg Bank of America Corp. plans to reward staff with special bonuses for a second straight year after seeing profits soar on tax cuts and a focus on expenses that’s elimin-ated thousands of jobs in recent months. The lender will give $1,000 cash bonuses in December to eligible employees making less than $100,000 annually, Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan said ...

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• 30 October

  India’s Central Bank is at loggerheads with government

  

  Bloomberg A growing rift between India’s central bank and the government has been many months in the making. In the latest move, the Reserve Bank of India made its disagreement with authorities public in a hard-hitting speech by Deputy Governor Viral Acharya — which he said had the backing of Governor Urjit Patel — defending the central bank’s independence. Failure ...

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