India is making a second big fiscal gamble. The first – a switch from sales to consumption taxes – has failed to achieve revenue targets. The government, which two months ago was trying in desperation to tax everything that moved, has suddenly changed tack and is slashing levies on company profits. Will this revive animal spirits and sputtering GDP growth, ...
Read More »Europe’s passive fund revolution
The UK Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) is the nation’s biggest steward of public sector retirement savings by membership, responsible for nest eggs almost 6 million members worth 275 billion pounds. So the revelation that it’s under pressure from the government to shift more of its money into passive products should be a wake-up call to a stock-picking industry still ...
Read More »SoftBank’s eyes wide shut just won’t work anymore
They built him up. And now they want to bring him down. SoftBank Group Corp.’s sudden turn against WeWork CEO Adam Neumann highlights how the Japanese conglomerate has wielded far more dollars than sense in its investment strategy. Officials tied to SoftBank want Neumann to step down as CEO, according to reports over the weekend. SoftBank and its Vision Fund ...
Read More »US equity futures decline, Europe stocks dip; oil falls
Bloomberg US equity-index futures dipped while stocks slumped in Europe and Asia as investors weighed the deepening political gridlock in Washington against prospects for reduced trade tension between America and China. The dollar advanced and oil fell. Contracts for all three main equity gauges signalled more declines at the New York open as traders grappled with the impeachment investigation into ...
Read More »India’s Sensex snaps 3-day winning run
Bloomberg India’s equities benchmark snapped a three-day winning streak, tracking declines in global stocks, as investors assessed the potential fallout of an impeachment inquiry of US President Donald Trump. The S&P BSE Sensex dropped 1.3 percent to 38,593.52 at the 3:30 pm close in Mumbai, while the NSE Nifty 50 Index also fell by the same magnitude. Both gauges surged ...
Read More »BofAML spots bargain upside bet on US stocks
Bloomberg For US equity investors wary of a sell-off but loath to miss out on a stocks rally, Bank of America Merrill Lynch is pitching an options strategy known as a calendar risk reversal. Relatively muted swings and a wide price gap between bullish and bearish options bets means it is attractive to sell a medium-term put on the S&P ...
Read More »Daxing airport helps China rival US in skies
Bloomberg Just five years ago, Daxing was a dusty area of farmland to the south of Beijing, largely neglected by visitors to the city. That’s no longer the case, now that an enormous airport has emerged there to thrust China even closer to toppling the US as the world’s biggest aviation market. Beijing Daxing International Airport, an 80 billion yuan ...
Read More »India’s SpiceJet targets Cargo unit IPO amid e-comm boom
Bloomberg Indian budget carrier SpiceJet Ltd plans to sell shares in its logistics business in an initial public offering, as the rise of e-commerce drives demand for fast shipping across the region. The one-year-old cargo division, known as SpiceXpress, could be listed on a stock exchange within 12 months, SpiceJet Chairman Ajay Singh said in an interview at Bloomberg’s New ...
Read More »Sainsbury to shut stores after Asda failed bid
Bloomberg J Sainsbury Plc pledged to reduce costs and close stores as Chief Executive Officer Mike Coupe seeks to move on from a failed bid to take over rival grocer Asda. The UK supermarket operator plans to reduce expenditures by around $623 million over the next five years as it integrates dozens of Argos home-goods outlets, acquired in 2016, into ...
Read More »Thomas Cook’s Condor gets $420m lifeline from Germany
Bloomberg German airline Condor’s request for emergency financing was granted by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government in a bid to get the tourist carrier through the winter after the demise of UK parent Thomas Cook Group Plc. The bridging loan worth 380 million euros ($420 million) must be approved by the European Commission and will be valid for six months, according ...
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