July, 2017

• 17 July

  Divisive $13bn potash plan to test BHP chairman

  

  Bloomberg BHP Billiton Ltd.’s plan to enter the potash market with a contentious $13 billion project in Canada is adding to challenges facing the incoming chairman of the world biggest mining company. Ken MacKenzie, a 53-year-old board member who takes up the role in September, currently is on a global tour to meet investors in the wake of an activist ...

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• 17 July

  Hedge funds see MiFID win in EU warning to trading platforms

  

  Bloomberg Hedge funds and high-speed traders have been fighting for years to level the playing field with banks on derivatives trading. They just won a round in Europe. The European Securities and Markets Authority said earlier this month that trading platforms should ensure access to a broad array of firms and warned against discriminatory policies that would favor some traders ...

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• 17 July

  Americans lured off job sidelines may limit pay gains

  

  Bloomberg The US labor market was robust enough last month to draw more Americans off the sidelines and into the workforce. The same trend may also be keeping wage gains subdued. While payrolls grew by more than analysts forecast and the unemployment rate barely ticked up from a 16-year low, worker pay rose a less-than-expected 2.5 percent in June from ...

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• 17 July

  London home starts up 42% as builders ignore Brexit woes

  

  Bloomberg London home starts rose to the highest in 18 months even as the number of unsold properties under construction climbed amid uncertainty surrounding Brexit. Construction began on 6,962 units during the second quarter, according to a report by Molior London seen by Bloomberg News. That’s 42 percent higher than a year earlier and the most since the fourth quarter ...

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• 17 July

  Dubai rises above chart barrier, ex-dividend bank weighs on Saudi

  

  DUBAI / Reuters Dubai’s stock index rose above technical resistance on Monday, suggesting a long period of underperformance compared with the region and other emerging markets might be ending, while a bank going ex-dividend helped to pull down Saudi Arabia’s market. The Dubai index gained 0.8 percent to 3,602 points, eclipsing its April peak of 3,573 points. The next, strong ...

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• 17 July

  Asia stocks ex-Japan rise to two-year high

  

  Bloomberg Asian equities ex-Japan rose to their highest in two years as better-than expected economic data in China and receding bets on rate hike by US boosted the growth outlook for the region. China small-cap shares fell amid regulatory concerns. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index ex-Japan rose for a sixth straight session, adding 0.3 percent to 519.85 as of 4:30 ...

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• 17 July

  Emerging currencies can weather ‘rate-rise storm’ better than 2013

  

  Bloomberg As global bonds reel under hawkish rhetoric by major central bankers, AllianceBernstein and Amundi Asset Management say emerging-market currencies will weather the storm better than 2013. Improvements in external balances, higher reserves and subdued inflation are among factors making developing-nation economies from India to Mexico appear less vulnerable to the risk of outflows when their advanced peers begin to ...

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• 17 July

  HSBC bans eomployees from buying stocks, bonds on personal accounts

  

  Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc has instructed about 6,000 employees of its global markets division to cease buying single-name securities on their personal accounts, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Purchases of single-name stocks, bonds and concentrated exchange-traded funds will be prohibited, Global Head of Markets Thibaut de Roux told staff in an email, said the people, who asked ...

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• 17 July

  Yuan set for longest run of gains since 2015

  

  Bloomberg The onshore yuan rose for the sixth day in a row, the longest run of gains since 2015, boosted by a stronger central bank fixing and data showing China’s economy held up in the second quarter. The yuan gained 0.05 percent to 6.7704 per dollar as of 5:14 p.m. in Shanghai, extending its six-day advance to 0.5 percent. This ...

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• 17 July

  Barclays-Qatar trial scheduled for 2019

  

  Bloomberg Four former Barclays Plc executives will stand trial in January 2019 on allegations they conspired to commit fraud over the bank’s 2008 fundraising with Qatar, a London judge said. The trial date was set at a hearing on Monday where former Chief Executive Officer John Varley, Roger Jenkins, Thomas Kalaris and Richard Boath all appeared at Southwark Crown Court. ...

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