Procter & Gamble Co.’s (P&G) 2019 outlook is starting to look more attainable. The company behind brands such as Pampers diapers and Dawn dish soap reported that organic sales — a figure that excludes M&A and currency effects — rose a robust 4 percent in the first quarter over a year earlier. That made for P&G’s strongest growth on this measure ...
Read More »Europe can’t get a tight grip on its dirty money
As another top Scandinavian bank faces money-laundering accusations, it’s clear that the rules are changing for European lenders under intense US pressure. A closer scrutiny of clients with links to the former Soviet Union and other high-corruption regions is fast becoming a necessity. Though the motives behind the pressure can be questioned, the outcome is mostly positive for Europe. Its ...
Read More »Behind stock market’s ordeal are cracks in profit foundation
Bloomberg Package maker Sealed Air Corp fell the most in six months after saying higher raw material costs would crimp the bottom line. A few days earlier it was rising freight outlays at Fastenal Co., where $1.1 billion of market value was erased. On October 9, paint maker PPG Industries Inc. mentioned rising expenses. The shares cratered. From railroads to ...
Read More »Riksbank zeroing in on first rate increase in seven years
Bloomberg Sweden’s central bank could next week give a clearer signal that it’s ready to tighten already in December as policy maker are growing eager to end almost four years of negative interest rates. Governor Stefan Ingves and his colleagues are on Wed-nesday expected to keep their benchmark unchanged at minus 0.5 percent, but could signal a greater probability that ...
Read More »Investors hunt for biotech winners as wider stocks churn
Bloomberg Biotechnology stocks have helped lead the market lower recently, but investors still appear eager to dabble in some of the industry’s riskiest prospects. Since hitting a 52-week high on October 1, the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index, the broadest gauge of the industry’s performance, has fallen more than 6.5 percent. Fears that higher interest rates and heightened global trade tensions could ...
Read More »â€˜Italy’s banks at risk from widening bond yield spread’
Bloomberg An increase in Italy’s bond yield spread is a risk for domestic banks and is adding to tensions in the financial system, according to Cabinet Undersecretary Giancarlo Giorgetti. “The spread is a risk for banks, which we can’t ignore,†the top official of coalition partner the League said in an interview with daily Il Messaggero published on Sunday. The ...
Read More »Euro may take lower path into ECB as Draghi set to maintain rhetoric
Bloomberg The euro could revisit its year-to-date low as persistent political risks may lead Mario Draghi to refrain this week from painting a rosier picture for the bloc’s economy. Market dynamics have shifted only slightly since the European Central Bank’s last meeting, yet not in a supportive way for the common currency. Data may be suggesting the forecasts for growth ...
Read More »Goldman says time to buy the dip in emerging markets
Bloomberg This year’s selloff in emerging-market assets has created a whole lot of value, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The firm’s asset-management arm says it’s time to buy as months of underperformance for developing-nation securities relative to their US peers won’t last much longer. The divergence was an anomaly, spurred in part by sanctions on Turkey and Russia as ...
Read More »Swiss banking secrecy rule dealt setback in October
Bloomberg Two events this month may have finally brought the curtain down on secrecy rules that were the key to Geneva and Zurich’s private banking heyday, when foreign clients could come armed with suitcases of cash and their bankers would look other way. Swiss tax authorities announced they’d shared details on 2 million accounts with other countries for first time ...
Read More »Boeing’s tanker to miss delivery date, says US Air Force chief
Bloomberg Boeing Co. won’t deliver its first KC-46 aerial refueling tanker by month’s end as it had agreed, according to US Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson, the latest in a procession of missed deadlines since the company won the contract in 2011. Air Force officials are meeting with planemaker “to try to lay down path forward for delivery and to ...
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