October, 2017

• 29 October

  The case for the US mission in Niger

  If there is anything to be gained from President Donald Trump’s ‘disgraceful’ attack on the credibility of the widow of a US Special Forces soldier killed in Niger, it’s that Americans are finally becoming aware of the expanding US mission against extremist violence now spreading across the Sahel region of Africa. As Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford explained ...

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• 29 October

  Thomas Piketty’s theory of inequality gets dinged

  

  People tend to like big, sweeping theories of economic history. When Karl Marx foretold a supposedly inevitable series of class conflicts and revolutions that would end in a communist utopia, the idea was so powerful that it inspired revolutions, alternative economic systems and wars. Other thinkers depicted economic history as the triumph of a particular culture, or the inevitable ascendance ...

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• 29 October

  Give India some credit for capital initiative

  

  After three years of hand-wringing, India has finally done the right thing by its struggling banks. The 2.1 trillion rupees ($32 billion) capital infusion into state-run lenders announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday evening has been well received by rating companies, despite its unconventional structure. As much as 1.35 trillion rupees will come from banks’ own resources. The ...

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• 29 October

  China won’t have a typical ‘minsky moment’

  

  Zhou Xiaochuan, the long-serving and respected governor of the People’s Bank of China, raised eyebrows last week when he cautioned that the country could have a ‘Minsky Moment’ if “we are too optimistic when things go smoothly.” Although he was right to warn against policy complacency and general economic overconfidence, particularly in the context of a growth model that still ...

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• 29 October

  Bond traders face their fears in week that may change everything

  

  Bloomberg This week is fraught with peril for Treasuries traders, no matter if they’re bulls or bears. The next five trading days will bring a torrent of market-moving information: President Donald Trump is poised to finally announce his nominee to lead the Federal Reserve; US central bankers have an interest-rate decision to make; a House committee is set to release ...

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• 29 October

  Saudi Telecom beat, petchems lift Riyadh; rest of Gulf sluggish

  

  Reuters Petrochemical stocks and an earnings beat by Saudi Telecom Co lifted Riyadh’s stock market on Sunday while other Gulf bourses were sluggish, once more ignoring a strong performance by Wall Street on the previous trading day. The Saudi stock index climbed 0.7 percent. Unusually, four of the 10 most active stocks were petrochemical producers after oil prices rose sharply ...

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• 29 October

  Ermotti reboots UBS buyback expectations

  

  Bloomberg UBS Group AG Chief Executive Officer Sergio Ermotti is reviving investors’ expectations for a share buyback after the bank’s capital buffers rebounded and profit increased. The bank’s CET1 capital ratio rose to 13.7 percent in the three months through September, up from 13.5 percent in the second quarter. UBS has pledged to return at least half its net profit ...

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• 29 October

  Deutsche Boerse cuts profit target

  

  Bloomberg Deutsche Boerse AG Chief Executive Officer Carsten Kengeter resigned amid growing shareholder pressure after he became embroiled in an insider-trading probe. The company also said it isn’t likely to meet its full-year earnings targets. The CEO will step down on December 31 “in order to allow the company to focus its energy back onto clients, business and growth and ...

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• 29 October

  RBS shows resilience with strong capital in Q3

  

  Bloomberg Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc signalled it’s in a better position to handle its remaining legacy issues after posting stronger than expected capital ratios in the third quarter. The shares rose. The Edinburgh-based lender’s common equity Tier 1, a measure of financial resilience, jumped to 15.5 percent in the period from 14.8 percent at the end of June, ...

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• 29 October

  Shadow banking gets bad rap; Treasury seeks to erase the term

  

  Bloomberg Firms such as Blackstone Group LP, Apollo Global Management LLC and Fortress Investment Group LLC are often slapped with the vaguely sinister label, shadow bank, because they provide financing but aren’t regulated like traditional lenders. President Donald Trump’s Treasury Department now says that’s downright unfair and wants global regulators to stop using the term when describing investment giants. “The ...

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