January, 2018

• 28 January

  Bond traders’ wild ride in 2018 about to kick into overdrive

  

  Bloomberg You’ve traded on inflation data and the prospect of rising sovereign-debt supply. You’ve wagered on Federal Reserve meetings and what the next chairman might do. And you’ve bet on jobs and wage growth that exceed or miss targets. Now try doing it all in one week. With yields threatening to leap higher, bond traders will grapple this week with ...

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• 28 January

  Hong Kong wipes out 2,000% stock gains with IPO clampdown

  

  Bloomberg The world’s most volatile new stocks are vanishing from Hong Kong after regulators tightened oversight of the city’s small-cap Growth Enterprise Market. Stocks debuting on GEM in the past 12 months rose an average 23 percent on their first day of trading, down from an eye-popping 605 percent for the year through January 2017, according to data compiled by ...

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• 28 January

  Putin foes mount protests across Russia ahead of vote

  

  Bloomberg Hundreds of Russians braved sub-zero temperatures to protest against President Vladimir Putin, who’s seeking to prolong his almost two-decade-long rule in March elections. Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who’s been barred from taking part in the March 18 vote, called on his supporters to rally in more than 100 cities in a bid to put more pressure on the ...

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• 28 January

  Trump condemns ‘despicable’ Taliban bombing in Kabul

  Bloomberg A Taliban suicide bomber detonated explosives in downtown Kabul, killing at least 95 people and wounding 158 others in the worst attack since a truck bombing near the Afghan capital’s diplomatic zone last year. President Donald Trump condemned the bombing as “despicable” and called on the world to act against the extremist group. The bomber used an explosive-laden ambulance ...

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• 28 January

  Trump’s infrastructure push to be featured in State of Union

  

  Bloomberg President Donald Trump plans to use Tuesday’s State of the Union address to build momentum for sweeping legislation on infrastructure and immigration that could buoy the White House and fellow Republicans ahead of crucial midterm elections. Emboldened by a booming economy and victory in his stare-down with Senate Democrats over government funding, Trump will make the case that the ...

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• 28 January

  Czech election: Kremlin ally wins another term

  

  Bloomberg Czech President Milos Zeman, an ardent supporter of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, won a second term in an election victory after warning voters that sheltering Muslim immigrants could lead to terrorist attacks. Zeman, 73, who was also an early fan of US President Donald Trump, took 51.4 percent of votes in a two-day ballot, according results published by the ...

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• 28 January

  Zimbabwe opposition says Mnangagwa rule is illegitimate

  Bloomberg Zimbabwe’s opposition National People’s Party said the country’s new president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, lacks legitimacy and is overseeing military rule ahead of elections he says will take place before July. Mnangagwa should return Zimbabwe to legitimate civilian rule and introduce electoral reforms, Joice Mujuru, head of the NPP, said in an emailed statement. He must also undo “oppressive” legislation that ...

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• 28 January

  Europe approaches trade deal despite barriers

  

  Bloomberg Europe is approaching the next stop in its global market-opening drive aimed at countering US President Donald Trump’s protectionist tilt. Top officials from the European Union will meet with the Mercosur group of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay on January 30 in Brussels to gauge the prospects for a free-trade deal that would follow groundbreaking commercial pacts with Japan ...

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• 28 January

  ‘Fiat Chrysler-UAW contracts not tainted’

  

  Bloomberg The president of the United Auto Workers denied that contracts with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV were tainted by a scheme in which top labour negotiators were enriching themselves from a union training fund. In a letter to UAW members, President Dennis Williams said Fiat Chrysler’s former top labour negotiator “by his own admission is a crook and a liar.” ...

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• 28 January

  Alphabet launches new cybersecurity unit

  

  Bloomberg Google has a new sister: Parent company Alphabet Inc. announced the formation of a new subsidiary company, called Chronicle, focussed on cybersecurity. Chronicle was formed in 2016 inside of X, Alphabet’s experimental lab that has produced its driverless car effort, Waymo, and projects on drones, internet connectivity and the Google Glass headset. In the announcement, the new company stressed ...

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