March, 2018

• 3 March

  Hong Kong skyscrapers aren’t on China’s yellow brick road

  

  Chinese billionaires who want to buy overseas assets without irking Beijing need to keep their eyes on the road. China Energy Reserve & Chemicals Group Co., a unit of state oil behemoth China National Petroleum Corp., has bowed out of the consortium that paid a record $5.2 billion for Hong Kong skyscraper The Center, barely four months after the deal ...

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• 3 March

  China’s insurance regulator may get a hostile takeover

  

  With top Communist Party officials gathering in Beijing to set key government posts, the insurance regulator is looking like the weakest link. China is considering a merger of its banking and insurance watchdogs to streamline the fragmented regulatory system, as Bloomberg News reported in late January. A combination could be announced soon after the National People’s Congress, which starts next ...

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• 3 March

  Trade wars are bad and impossible to win

  It’s always dangerous to say that Donald Trump has set a new low for presidential discourse, because he sets new lows with dreary regularity. Nonetheless, his heedless declaration that “trade wars are good, and easy to win” deserves special recognition. No president should need to be told that trade wars are, in fact, bad and impossible to win. By imposing ...

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• 3 March

  Indian economy bouncing back, but not high enough

  

  The Indian economy has been short of good news recently. So the latest GDP growth figures, released on February 28, come as a bit of a relief: The economy grew at 7.2 percent in the last three months of 2017, slightly faster than expected. For the entire financial year — due to end on March 31 — the government’s statisticians ...

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• 3 March

  Apple can turn three solid iPhones into a blockbuster

  

  What can be better than two new iPhones? Three new iPhones. Apple is planning to release three new smartphone models later this year, Bloomberg News reported. The trio of devices will include a supersized version of the current iPhone X, a less expensive model that includes some of the iPhone X’s key features, and the company’s typical update to the ...

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• 3 March

  Bitcoin has entered the awkward adolescence stage

  

  Last fall, as cryptocurrencies seemed on the brink of a linkage with the traditional financial system, there were predictions of a price explosion along with institutional, regulatory and mainstream acceptance of the currencies. Others predicted disaster or a collapse to zero value. In the end, despite some dramatic price moves, not much happened. Still, liquid crypto derivative trading gives us ...

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• 3 March

  Draghi confronts limits of his power as Latvian crisis endures

  

  Bloomberg For all his influence on the wider European economy, Mario Draghi is finding out that he has little sway in fixing a much more local problem. Almost two weeks after a member of his Governing Council was briefly detained for bribery and extortion, the European Central Bank president still has few options available to address a lingering crisis that ...

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• 3 March

  Green, Islamic investors find common ground with Indonesian sukuk

  

  SYDNEY / Reuters A first sale of green Islamic bonds by Indonesia could help open the door for more crossover deals across Asia, as religious and environmentally-minded investors find a middle ground in the sukuk funding format. Last week, Indonesia became the first Asian sovereign to sell green sukuk, raising $1.25 billion via a five-year deal, alongside a $1.75 billion ...

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• 3 March

  Pakistan drafts ‘rules’ for Islamic firms, securities

  

  Islamabad / Reuters Pakistan’s capital market regulator has drafted governance rules that cover sharia-compliant companies and securities, the latest government initiative aimed at develo- ping the country’s Islamic finance industry. The move by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) marks the first time a regulator has defined comprehensive requirements for companies that deem themselves to be compliant with ...

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• 3 March

  BofA sees $6trn stock slump, clashing with Credit Suisse

  

  Bloomberg The swings are getting bigger in stocks, and the divide is getting wider among people whose job is to forecast them. Bank of America (BofA) strategists led by Michael Hartnett say they see another correction coming, similar to the one in early February when about $6 trillion was erased globally. This year’s turbulence is part of a topping process ...

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