May, 2016

• 31 May

  Risky reprise of debt binge stars USA firms, not consumers

  

    Bloomberg Consumers were the Achilles’ heel of the U.S. economy in the run-up to the last recession. This time, companies may play that role. Among the warning signs: rising debt, lagging profits and mounting defaults. While the financial vulnerabilities aren’t likely to lead to another downturn soon, economists say they point to potential potholes down the road for an ...

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• 31 May

  Indexes diverge but end the month at a loss

  

    Dubai / Reuters Share market indexes in the Middle East diverged on Tuesday, with Saudi Arabia’s index outperforming peers as some positive news lifted shares, but all markets ended with losses for the month. Riyadh’s index rebounded 1.4 percent, ending three sessions of declines, although volumes were the lowest since last October. The index was down 5.3 percent in ...

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• 31 May

  Deutsche under radar in Treasury rigging probe

  

    Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG has emerged as a focus of a probe into whether traders rigged auctions for USA government debt, the New York Post reported, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter. No bank has been accused of wrongdoing, but investigators are narrowing their focus after requesting documents and communications from all of the 22 primary dealers in ...

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• 31 May

  CCB, ICBC plan to sell asset-backed securities

  

    Bloomberg China Construction Bank Corp is planning to sell asset-backed securities tied to non-performing loans, said a person familiar with the matter. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd is also planning an offering, other people said. CCB is preparing to make an offering of ABS tied to soured loans, and the size and price haven’t yet been decided, ...

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• 31 May

  ECB to keep deploying tools to combat low inflation risk: Visco

  

    Bloomberg The European Central Bank will keep using all instruments at its disposal to counter the risk of low inflation in the euro region, Governing Council member Ignazio Visco said. “For monetary policy, the main challenge remains the persistence of excessively low inflation,” Visco, who is also governor of the Bank of Italy, said in a speech delivered on ...

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• 31 May

  Saudi to hire HSBC banker for debt office

    Bloomberg Saudi Arabia hired HSBC Holdings Plc banker Fahad Al Saif to start a debt management office that will be responsible for the kingdom’s first international bond sale, two people with knowledge of the matter said. Al Saif joined the Ministry of Finance on an open-ended secondment from HSBC’s Saudi British Bank, the people said, asking not to be ...

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• 31 May

  Egyptian pound holds steady against dollar

    Reuters Egypt’s central bank kept the pound steady against the dollar at its official foreign currency auction on Tuesday, central bank data showed, and the currency was stable on the black market. The central bank sold US$118.6 million at a cut-off price of 8.78 dollar, unchanged from last week. The central bank has kept the pound artificially strong since ...

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• 31 May

  Aussie corporate loans at 7-year high stirs animal spirits

  

    Bloomberg Australian lending to businesses is growing at the quickest pace since the global financial crisis in a sign that the ‘animal spirits’ long sought by the country’s central bank are finally stirring. Loans to companies climbed 7.4 percent in April from a year earlier, the most since January 2009, according to the Reserve Bank of Australia. Record low ...

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• 31 May

  HK realty endures deep slump before curbs go

  

    Bloomberg Memo to Hong Kong developers calling for the government to ease property curbs amid a slump in home prices: Don’t hold your breath. Declines in the residential property market have to get a lot worse before Hong Kong’s lawmakers would consider rolling back measures they introduced more than five years ago to rein in prices, according to eight ...

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• 31 May

  Chinese builders’ credit profiles deteriorates

  

    Bloomberg Credit rating companies are warning that the financial health of property developers in China is deteriorating even as the nation’s real estate market shows signs of recovery. Fitch Ratings said on Tuesday that a divergence in the performance of Chinese developers is driving more rating downgrades and outlook cuts in the industry, while S&P Global Ratings issued a ...

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