February, 2018

• 5 February

  Faster jobs growth wouldn’t help the economy

  

  Almost every report, news account and comment on the 148,000 rise in payroll hiring in December characterized the increase as weak, mediocre or somehow disappointing. None described it as strong or solid. As a result, fears of more interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve receded. Yet all of these responses to that data were backward, and it has taken ...

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• 5 February

  US stocks remain down, dollar, Treasuries stabilise

  

  Bloomberg US stocks remained down after recovering from steeper early losses, while European and Asian equities slumped. Treasuries and the dollar stabilised. Oil fell and copper rose. The S&P 500 Index and Dow Jones Industrial Average each fell more than 1 percent at the open on Monday, before a rally in utility and consumer shares pulled them back up somewhat. ...

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• 5 February

  Most Mideast markets sink but blue chips buoy Egypt

  

  Reuters Most Middle Eastern stock markets fell on Monday in line with a weak global trend, with Saudi Arabia seeing profit-taking in cement shares, but Egypt rose on the back of several blue chips, The region had already dropped on Sunday in response to Wall Street’s plunge on February 2, so Gulf markets far outperformed other bourses in Asia, where ...

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• 5 February

  BoE’s Carney faces up to hawkish market as bets on May hike grow

  

  Bloomberg The Bank of England’s (BoE) first policy meeting of the year is also the first test of the market’s newly aggressive interest-rate forecasts that emerged in recent weeks. Investors have ramped up bets that the follow-up to November’s tightening — the first in a decade — will come as soon as May, and economists in the latest Bloomberg survey ...

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• 5 February

  Aussie central bank stranded as reflation skips economy

  

  Bloomberg Australia is emerging as an outlier in the developed-world story of faster economic growth and inflation, pushing the central bank to the sidelines as flat wages and a strengthening currency keep prices in check. Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe and his board will keep interest rates unchanged at a record low for an 18th month at Tuesday’s ...

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• 5 February

  Uganda set to publish Islamic banking regulations soon

  SYDNEY / Reuters The government of Uganda has approved regulations covering Islamic banking with the central bank expecting to publish them soon as part of wider efforts to boost financial inclusion in the East African country. Once the regulations are gazetted, the central bank would be open for applications from financial institutions to offer sharia-compliant products, Governor Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile said ...

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• 5 February

  Singapore banks set for better profits as provisions dip

  

  Bloomberg The worst may be over for Singapore’s three biggest banks. A stronger economy, higher interest rates and rising wealth is expected to boost income at DBS Group Holdings Ltd., Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. and United Overseas Bank Ltd. After several quarters hit by bad loans, a Bloomberg survey shows they’re poised to post double-digit profit growth for the three months ...

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• 5 February

  ECB sees risk of tax race to the bottom following US reform

  Bloomberg As economists ponder how much additional growth is in store for the US economy following the implementation of President Donald Trump’s wide-reaching tax reform, the European Central Bank says the consequences for its own jurisdiction “are highly uncertain and complex.” The tax burden on US corporate income will fall significantly to a level close to that in a number ...

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• 5 February

  New York battles ‘regulator switch’ by Tokyo bank

  

  Bloomberg New York isn’t going to let Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. slip out of its regulatory oversight without fighting back. The state’s banking regulator, Maria Vullo, said in a legal filing that the Tokyo lender’s request last year to shift regulators — trading its state license for a federal one — was granted arbitrarily and unlawfully. Accusing the bank ...

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• 5 February

  UBS warns staff on possible tighter crypto trading rules

  

  Bloomberg UBS Group AG may require staff to seek approval before trading cryptocurrencies in their personal accounts, bringing its policy on whipsawing virtual money into line with its rules on dealing other securities. “At present the Global Policy on Personal Investment is silent on cryptocurrencies and thus disclosure and pre-clearance is not required” in most cases, UBS told staff this ...

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