April, 2018

• 8 April

  Brewing trade war will leave markets with few winners

  In the childhood tale, Goldilocks ate the porridge, sat in the chair and slept in the bed until the bears showed up to settle the score. And so it was in markets last year, as each downdraft was followed by a stronger updraft as investors responded to economic and financial conditions that were just right. But this year, the bears ...

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• 8 April

  Big Tech needs strict privacy principles, not a breakup

  

  A new idea has come into vogue — breaking up Big Tech. The list of people calling for antitrust action against Amazon, Facebook, Google, Apple, and other big tech companies is growing. New York University marketing professor Scott Galloway has lead the charge, arguing that these companies’ size and technological disruption have lead to a host of social ills, from ...

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• 8 April

  Don’t worry about the ethics of self-driving cars

  

  Self-driving cars keep killing people. Just in the past few weeks, one crashed into a highway barrier and another ran over a pedestrian. This will inevitably lead to much hand-wringing about the ethics of the algorithms that drive autonomous vehicles. Yet tragic as such accidents might be, I have a hard time caring. I don’t even see the issue as ...

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• 8 April

  What government interest is served by disenfranchising felons?

  

  The bumpy path of Desmond Meade’s life meandered to its current interesting point. He is a graduate of Florida International University law school but cannot vote in his home state because his path went through prison: He committed non-violent felonies concerning drugs and other matters during the 10 years when he was essentially homeless. And Florida is one of eleven ...

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• 8 April

  Banks see fast pace for Mideast, Africa deals in ‘bumper year’

  

  Bloomberg Asset sales from Saudi power plants and football clubs to African energy firms are set to help deliver a bumper year for deals in the region. Investment banks expect the pace of transactions in the Middle East and Africa to gain momentum after a busy first quarter. Mergers and initial public offerings in the first three months of 2018 ...

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• 8 April

  China forex reserves up as dollar weakness continues

  

  BEIJING / Reuters China’s foreign exchange reserves rose slightly in March as broad US dollar weakness continued and escalating trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies bolstered expectations of a firmer Chinese currency. Reserves rose $9 billion in March to $3.143 trillion, compared with a drop of $27 billion in February, central bank data showed on Sunday. Economists polled ...

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• 8 April

  Fed’s Evans optimistic on inflation, wants rate hikes

  

  CHICAGO / Reuters Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans, one of the Fed’s most dovish policymakers, said that he is optimistic inflation will reach the Fed’s 2 percent goal and that slow, gradual rate increases will be appropriate. “Fiscal policy has been much more supportive of further growth and so the need for accommodative monetary policy is less than ...

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• 8 April

  Thai central bank governor says accommodative policy needed

  

  Bloomberg Thailand’s monetary policy should remain accommodative to nurture the economic recovery and as inflationary pressure remains weak, central bank Governor Veerathai Santiprabhob said. Thailand is still in the “early stage of a recovery of domestic demand,” Veerathai said in an interview with Bloomberg TV in Singapore. The most important factor in deciding policy is inflation pressure, followed by the ...

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• 8 April

  Second-biggest Pakistan bank targets ‘enormous’ youth market

  

  Bloomberg Pakistan’s second-largest bank by assets aims to double its current-account deposits in five years as it extends its reach into the nation’s rising middle class through new technology and a branch revamp. United Bank Ltd. is seeking to increase its number of customers by about 40 percent to 10 million in three years, with domestic current-account deposits doubling to ...

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• 8 April

  Czech central banker Hampl sees faster rise in rates

  Reuters The Czech National Bank (CNB) may raise its main interest rate above 1 percent by the end of this year, sooner than its staff forecast predicts, as the economy is overheating, Vice-Governor Mojmir Hampl was quoted as saying. The central bank’s board kept the two-week repo rate at 0.75 percent at its last policy meeting on March 29 after ...

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