May, 2018

• 22 May

  UK’s Johnson warns PM May against calling snap election

  

  Bloomberg Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has urged Theresa May not to contemplate calling another early election, after reports that members of parliament are preparing for a snap vote later this year because of the turmoil of Brexit. “We had a general election in June last year, which followed hard on the heels of a referendum, which itself followed hard on ...

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• 22 May

  Even $200bn cut annually won’t slash trade deficit

  

  Questions remain about just how many more US exports China’s promised to buy to avert a trade war: US officials have floated the figure of $200 billion annually, which would cut the bilateral trade deficit in half. Even if that were true, however – and Chinese officials have denied it – that massive buying spree wouldn’t bring down the overall ...

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• 22 May

  The beginning of end of forward guidance

  

  Consistency in central banking is usually a virtue. But Brazil is proving that it’s not the highest virtue. One of the big features of monetary policy in the post-2008 era has been an increase in transparency among central banks, which were too secretive in the bad old days. Key to this transparency has been forward guidance, a clear telegraphing of ...

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• 22 May

  Burberry needs a touch of that Markle sparkle

  

  The sight of Meghan Markle’s mother carrying what looked like a Burberry outfit was enough to ignite speculation she’ll wear the brand to her daughter’s wedding. The British luxury group could certainly do with some Markle sparkle. Organic sales increased by an anemic 2 percent in the three months through March, trailing growth at rivals like LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis ...

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• 22 May

  Italy’s populist future comes fraught with perils

  Two and a half months after an inconclusive general election, Italy looks as if it will soon have a government — a populist coalition between two anti-establishment parties, the Five Star Movement and the League. Having won a clear popular mandate, the two parties must be given a chance to govern. But the program they have in mind is extravagantly ...

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• 22 May

  Don’t raise rates just to keep wages in check

  

  Macroeconomics is getting interesting again. For the past five years, monetary policy was simple and boring — the economy was recovering steadily, but not yet at full employment, and inflation remained muted, so the Federal Reserve simply had to keep interest rates low and not interfere with a good thing. But now this happy era of tranquility may be ending. ...

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• 22 May

  Carmakers’ captives show reasons to be fearful

  

  Bets on the world’s biggest car companies look a bit less safe as the US market confronts slowing sales, an obsession with trucks and ballooning numbers of used cars. Bonds of captive auto-finance companies like Ford Motor Credit Co., Toyota Motor Credit Corp., General Motors Financial Co. and Daimler AG’s financing subsidiary have been trading more like their parents in ...

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• 22 May

  Someone should give Fortis directors a discharge slip

  

  Fortis Healthcare Ltd. has to admit a new owner to keep the lights on. Before it does, though, India’s second-largest hospital chain must write four of its board members a discharge slip. The country’s serious fraud office and the stock-market regulator are investigating Fortis even as it tries to sell itself to one of five serious suitors, which include Malaysian, ...

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• 22 May

  US stocks rise as risk-on creeps back, dollar falls; Italy bonds up

  

  Bloomberg A degree of risk appetite returned to global markets on Tuesday, with developing-nation stocks and currencies rebounding and Italian bonds climbing. The dollar fell as Treasury yields climbed, and the pound advanced. US equity futures pointed to a higher open and the Stoxx Europe 600 Index nudged upward after the MSCI Asia Pacific gauge eked out a gain in ...

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• 22 May

  Malaysia’s foreign stock inflows for 2018 got wiped out

  

  Bloomberg While locals in Malaysia cheer the ouster of the Barisan Nasional coalition for the first time since independence, foreign stock investors are voting with their feet. Foreign inflows into the local stock market of $937.8 million were wiped out as concern remains on how the new coalition party under 92-year-old PM Mahathir Mohamad will continue economic growth. As of May ...

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