May, 2017

• 28 May

  May pledges body to fight terror, promote British values

  Bloomberg Prime Minister Theresa May said her government would set up a commission to combat non-violent extremism and promote “pluralistic” British values and women’s rights, as the fight against terrorism becomes a focus of the election campaign. The proposed Commission for Countering Extremism, introduced in the Conservative manifesto earlier this month, would have legal status and advise the government on ...

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• 28 May

  Should the next FBI director be a politician?

  

  Many analysts have argued that the next FBI director shouldn’t be a politician. But try telling that to Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.), who has been pressing Senate Democratic leaders to consider former GOP congressman Mike Rogers (Mich.) for the post. Ruppersberger told me that in conversations with Democratic leadership, he had endorsed Rogers’s ‘integrity, competence and patriotism.’ Rogers, a ...

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• 28 May

  The era of easy money is hurtling towards an early end

  

  A spat is developing at the European Central Bank about how — and how soon — the institution should signal its intention to scale back its monetary stimulus program. Data buried in the central bank’s most recent survey of companies suggests a rebound in inflation may inflame the debate sooner rather than later. Peter Praet, the bank’s chief economist, said ...

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• 28 May

  Trump’s budget is a waste of everybody’s time

  President Donald Trump’s first budget is truly remarkable in its unseriousness. To see why, try for a moment to take it seriously. The plan purports to be fiscally responsible, saying that the national debt will fall from 77 percent now to 60 percent in 2027. A worthy goal, to be sure. At the same time, it calls for tax cuts ...

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• 28 May

  Europe has no bubbles to fear – for now

  Talk to critics of the European Central Bank’s ultra-loose monetary policy and a common theme emerges: concern about financial stability. Quantitative easing is seen as creating dangerous asset bubbles. Negative interest rates are said to hurt bank profitability, making the financial system more vulnerable to shocks. These concerns are widely misplaced. In fact, the real worry should be the risks ...

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• 28 May

  For Europe, infrastructure is the wrong priority

  

  For the past two decades, the EU has grappled with a productivity slowdown that has kept wages and economic growth in check. Politicians are increasingly mentioning infrastructure as a possible solution: The hope is that building more roads and better bridges can help companies improve efficiency and re-start growth. However, while infrastructure may indeed provide a much-needed stimulus to Europe’s ...

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• 28 May

  For China now, only question is size of bill

  

  Moody’s Corp. downgraded China’s sovereign credit rating for the first time in 28 years. In doing so, the rating agency is acknowledging the dragon in the room: China will have to pay the price for its epic debt binge, whatever policymakers do from here. The burning question in China these days is whether the government is serious about tackling the ...

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• 28 May

  The US intelligence ship is too leaky to sail

  

  UK police investigating the Manchester terror attack say they have stopped sharing information with the US after a series of leaks. Since the beginning of this century, the US intelligence services and their clients have acted as if they wanted the world to know they couldn’t guarantee the confidentiality of any information that falls into their hands. At this point, ...

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• 28 May

  Short sellers resist covering as S&P 500 climbs

  

  Bloomberg It usually doesn’t work this way: stocks vaulting to records, and bearish traders getting more aggressive. Lately, it has. The S&P 500 Index has climbed 7.9 percent since January, including its biggest gain since April in the just-completed week. At the same time, short interest as a proportion of total shares outstanding has also expanded, rising by 0.3 percentage ...

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• 28 May

  Mashreq first bank in Mideast to join SWIFT gpi

  

  Dubai / Emirates Business SWIFT announces on Sunday that Mashreq Bank has signed up for its global payments innovation (gpi) service, to become the first bank in the Middle East to join this international initiative. The bank will be joining forces with 100 leading banks globally. SWIFT gpi dramatically improves the customer experience in cross-border payments by increasing the speed, ...

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