Bloomberg President Donald Trump continues a campaign swing through the South this week, where he’ll try to fire up his core supporters by taking on Democrats’ impeachment effort. Trump was expected to plan rallies in Kentucky on Monday and Louisiana on Wednesday — states he won in 2016 by wide margins — and he’ll also seek to boost Republican gubernatorial ...
Read More »Stocks rise, bonds slip on US-China trade optimism
Bloomberg Stocks advanced worldwide along with US equity futures while bonds slipped on optimism China and America are moving closer to an interim trade deal. The dollar edged higher. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index headed for a four-year high, led by miners and automakers, which jumped after US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said tariffs on vehicle imports into the American ...
Read More »India’s benchmark stock index climbs to record amid results
Bloomberg India’s benchmark stock index advanced to a record on Monday as better-than-expected company earnings continued to attract investors. The S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.3% to 40,301.96 in Mumbai, ending above the previous peak on June 3. The gauge rose for a seventh straight session, to score its longest winning run since March. The NSE Nifty 50 Index also rose ...
Read More »Global outlook could be worse than ‘low for long’
At last month’s meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), I repeatedly heard the same dismal view: The global economy is in for low growth and historically low interest rates for a long time. “Low for long†isn’t even the worst of it. In the event of a new recession, governments have limited monetary and fiscal firepower ...
Read More »BNP’s $300bn hedge fund gamble
It’s rare for a European bank to be adding businesses nowadays, as capital constraints curtail dealmaking. The takeover of Deutsche Bank AG’s hedge fund activities by France’s BNP Paribas SA is an exception. There’s no mistaking what’s driving BNP: Absorbing a larger competitor with a chunky client base is one way to try to salvage its own ailing hedge fund ...
Read More »Don’t let the American economy hit stall speed
People shouldn’t be as worried as they are about the risk of a US recession. That said, it wouldn’t take much to trigger one, which is why the Federal Reserve should take out some insurance by providing added stimulus. Market participants see all sorts of reasons to fret about an imminent slump. Global growth is slowing, trade wars are adding ...
Read More »Lagarde’s task is to lead a cultural revolution
As Christine Lagarde takes over as president of the European Central Bank (ECB), the job looks less daunting than what greeted her predecessor, Mario Draghi, in 2011. Don’t be misled. Thanks to his efforts, the euro system is no longer in imminent danger of breaking apart. But this certainly doesn’t mean all is well. Sooner rather than later, in fact, ...
Read More »The world’s oceans are in need of a bailout
Most environmental problems are concentrated in the area where the pollution is produced. This is good, because it’s a lot easier for a single city or country to deal with an environmental challenge than it is for the international community. There are two huge exceptions to this. The first is global warming, which (as the name implies) affects everyone. The ...
Read More »Squeezing Vodafone won’t solve India’s credit, fiscal crises
The finance industry is in turmoil. Tax collections have hit stall speed. India’s credit and fiscal crises are joined at the hip. Consider the $13 billion in past fees that the government is asking from telecom operators. It’s a desperate attempt to squeeze money from an industry in which most players have already vanished or gone bankrupt. The two old ...
Read More »Twitter upstages Facebook with ban on political ads
Facebook Inc. is a superpower. Twitter Inc. is a relative nobody. Last week, though, Twitter won a round. Just as Mark Zuckerberg’s company reported quarterly earnings, Twitter Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey tweeted that his company would stop accepting advertisements from candidates for elected office. Starting next month, Twitter also won’t accept payments to promote tweets or other ads that ...
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