Bloomberg A surge in equities is blunting the attraction of China’s world-leading bond rally, prompting analysts to recommend clients pile into stocks rather than debt. News that the US will extend a tariff truce is likely to fuel that momentum. The rally since January 3 has added more than $1 trillion to the value of the country’s equities, while China’s ...
Read More »Key Fed officials support new approach to meet inflation goal
Bloomberg Two Federal Reserve officials highlighted the benefits of an approach to monetary policy called average inflation targeting, which would entail accepting overshoots of the central bank’s 2 percent price goal to make up for times when inflation was too low. San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly and John Williams, who preceded her in that role before shifting to run ...
Read More »Barclays CEO vows buyback as trading outperforms rivals
Bloomberg Barclays Plc’s Jes Staley promised more buybacks and dividends to shareholders as the bank’s traders outperformed most of their Wall Street and European peers. Fourth-quarter income at the London-based firm’s markets unit fell 2.5 percent from a year earlier to 945 million pounds ($1.2 billion), a performance that beat many of the bank’s rivals. While the last quarter of ...
Read More »StanChart to take $900 million charge over US, UK regulatory investigations
Bloomberg Standard Chartered Plc is booking a $900 million charge tied to regulatory probes in its fourth-quarter results, a move that will erode earnings as its top executive prepares to unveil a turnaround plan. The provision will cover the UK bank’s estimates for potential penalties from investigations over US sanctions violations, currency trading issues and financial-crime controls, the company said. ...
Read More »Philippine central bank stays hawkish on policy
Bloomberg The Philippines central bank remains guarded on monetary policy and is keeping a hawkish bias, Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo said, indicating it’s not ready to cut interest rates just yet. “We are more on the hawkish side in the sense that we recognize the risks on the market,†he said in an interview with Bloomberg TV’s Nejra Cehic from ...
Read More »EY probed as Swedbank hires firm in laundering review
Bloomberg EY, the accounting firm engaged by Swedbank AB following a report that the lender was involved in money laundering, is being probed in Denmark over the Estonian dirty-money scandal surrounding Danske Bank A/S. The investigation of EY has been running since October, after Danske admitted that much of the $230 billion that flowed through a tiny Estonian branch between ...
Read More »Vietnam Airlines weighs buying up to 100 Boeing 737 Max jets
Bloomberg Vietnam Airlines is considering an order of 50 to 100 Boeing Co. 737 Max planes this year to replace its aging fleet of Airbus SE single-aisle aircraft and may also buy long-range jets in preparation for flights to California. The new aircraft will be for delivery between 2020 and 2030, Duong Tri Thanh, chief executive officer of the state-owned ...
Read More »Canada retail sales fall for 2nd month on gasoline prices
Bloomberg Falling gasoline prices pushed down Canadian retail sales for a second straight month in December, ending what was a weak fourth quarter and lackluster year for the industry. Retailers posted a 0.1 percent drop in receipts in December, extending a 0.9 percent drop in November — the most sluggish back-to-back monthly performance last year. For all of 2018, sales ...
Read More »Qantas to recoup fuel bill on strong ticket demand
Bloomberg Qantas Airways Ltd. expects to completely recover higher fuel costs this fiscal year due to strong demand for air travel, even after rising oil prices dented first-half profit. The airline’s first-half underlying profit before tax fell 19 percent to A$780 million ($559 million) from a year earlier but Qantas announced more returns to shareholders with a A$305 million stock ...
Read More »Guangzhou Airport rally seen fizzling as earnings set to slide
Bloomberg Optimism over a travel boom in southern China has fueled a surge in shares of China’s third-biggest airport. But some analysts say the rally in Shanghai-listed Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport Co. will probably run out of steam soon. Baiyun Airport has gained 25 percent this year, outperforming a 20 increase in the broader A-share market. It was mainly fueled ...
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