May, 2023

• 1 May

  At least 18 killed as bus plunges off cliff in Mexico

  

  MEXICO CITY / WAM At least 18 people were killed and 33 injured when a bus fell off a cliff in western Mexico, Reuters said. The prosecutor’s office in Nayarit, the state where the accident occurred, said the vehicle fell some 15 metres (49.21 feet) down a ravine on a highway connecting the state capital Tepic and the tourist destination ...

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• 1 May

  Ruling party candidate scores big win in Paraguay vote

  

  BLOOMBERG Santiago Pena, a former finance minister, scored a major victory in Paraguay’s presidential election, as voters gave the ruling Colorado Party a third straight mandate to run the South American country. Pena, 44, had 43 percent of the vote with more than 98 percent of voting stations counted, according to preliminary results from the electoral court. His main challenger, ...

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• 1 May

  China’s factory sector contracts as recovery concerns linger

  

  BLOOMBERG China’s manufacturing activity unexpectedly contracted in April, a sign the economic recovery remains patchy and may be struggling to sustain momentum. The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 49.2 from 51.9 in March, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said. The gauge dropped below the level of 50 — which signals contraction from the previous month — ...

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• 1 May

  Singapore should avoid economic contraction in 2023, says PM Loong

  

  BLOOMBERG Singapore should avoid an outright contraction in its economy this year, despite being battered by the effects of a global slowdown, the city state’s prime minister said. While the city-state’s economic growth will slow, inflation may moderate in the second half of this year, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in an e-mailed speech. The Monetary Authority of Singapore ...

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• 1 May

  Pakistan sees inflation reaching new high in April

  

  BLOOMBERG Pakistan said inflation in April was expected to accelerate to a record after increases in food and energy prices and a depreciation in the currency. Price gains may be in a range of 36%-38% year-on-year, from 34.8% in March, the finance ministry said in its monthly Economic Update and Outlook. A slow recovery in damages from last year’s floods ...

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• 1 May

  Ermotti taps UBS veterans for Credit Suisse transition team

  

  BLOOMBERG  UBS Group AG Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sergio Ermotti selected one of the lender’s former executives, Tom Naratil, to be a key member of the new management team, according to a report by NZZ. Naratil will become the group’s chief financial officer (CFO) and lead the integration division that will oversee Credit Suisse merger, the newspaper said. Bloomberg had ...

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• 1 May

  Goldman Sachs, BofA slightly push back call for Bank of Japan move

  

  BLOOMBERG  Goldman Sachs and Bank of America (BofA) pushed back their call for when the next policy change from the Bank of Japan (BOJ) is likely to come, after Governor Kazuo Ueda continued with a largely dovish message at his first policy meeting. Economists at Goldman and BofA now have a base-case forecast for the central bank to adjust its ...

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• 1 May

  JPMorgan to acquire failed regional bank First Republic

  

  BLOOMBERG  JPMorgan Chase & Co won the bidding to acquire First Republic Bank in an emergency government-led intervention after private rescue efforts failed to fill a hole on the troubled lender’s balance sheet and customers yanked their deposits. JPMorgan will take over First Republic’s assets, including about $173 billion of loans and $30 billion of securities, as well as $92 ...

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• 1 May

  Bond volatility has busted safety valve of 60/40 portfolio

  

  BLOOMBERG The biggest swings in bonds in more than a decade this year are a fresh challenge to the time-honoured 60/40 investment strategy. Holding 60% of portfolios in stocks and 40% in bonds, revered as reliable for decades, fell 17% last year, the worst performance since 2008. While it’s unlikely such a dismal result will be repeated this year, some ...

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• 1 May

  Hawkish Fed may damp stock rally, says Morgan Stanley

  

  BLOOMBERG Stock market investors holding on to hopes that the Federal Reserve will cut rates in the second half could be disappointed later this week, according to Morgan Stanley’s Michael Wilson — a staunch Wall Street bear. The US central bank is expected to hike interest rates on May 3, marking the 10th consecutive increase going back to March 2022. ...

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