Bloomberg Private home sales in Singapore jumped 51 percent in September as developers marketed more projects post the hungry-ghost festival month, a period Chinese buyers consider inauspicious, and as buyers moved past the additional cooling measures imposed in July. Developers in the city-state sold 932 units, the Urban Redevelopment Authority said in a statement on Monday. That compares with 617 ...
Read More »Trump threatens more China tariffs, doesn’t seek ‘depression’
Bloomberg President Donald Trump threatened to impose another round of tariffs on China and warned that Chinese meddling in US politics is a “bigger problem†than Russian involvement in the 2016 election. Asked in an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes†whether he wants to push China’s economy into a depression, Trump said “no†before comparing the country’s stock-market losses since ...
Read More »US claim of currency manipulation tested in Treasury report
Bloomberg The US Treasury is poised to render a verdict on President Donald Trump’s claim that China is manipulating its currency as a trade war between the two nations intensifies and rattles markets. While the US hasn’t designated China as a currency manipulator since 1994, Wall Street is bracing for the prospect that the Treasury Department will do so this ...
Read More »Netflix earnings will test waters for tech giants
Bloomberg Beleaguered technology investors are looking to Netflix Inc. to stop the bleeding. The company’s earnings are poised to be even more closely watched than usual after last week’s market rout. Netflix is one of the first major US companies to report third-quarter results — and 2018’s best-performing FAANG stock — making it especially influential in the wake of a ...
Read More »Pound losses capped as ‘Brexit’ hopes linger
Bloomberg The pound capped losses following a weekend of fruitless Brexit talks on conviction that the UK and the European Union would eventually reach a deal to avoid a chaotic divorce. Sterling was little changed in mid-morning trading in London as people familiar with the matter said there would be no further attempt to resolve the impasse before an EU ...
Read More »Carl Icahn blasts Dell plan to return to public markets
Bloomberg Activist investor Carl Icahn has come out against Dell Technologies Inc.’s plan to return to public markets, arguing that the proposed transaction undervalues shares that track its stake in VMware Inc. The billionaire said he would solicit votes against the deal and potentially propose an alternative transaction allowing investors to cash out if they want. Icahn also disclosed in ...
Read More »Trump risks an even greater ‘chicken war’
The staggering tariffs being levied on China will almost certainly test President Donald Trump’s claim that “trade wars are easy to win.†He might be right, but the president doesn’t seem to have contemplated a different question: What happens when trade wars come to an end? When one country imposes tariffs on another, the eventual resolution of the conflict does ...
Read More »The ‘Amazon effect’ can drive prices up
In recent years, the so-called “Amazon effect†has been used to explain low inflation in developed economies: Prices are supposedly lower – and more transparent – online, forcing offline retailers to reduce prices. The effect, however, can go both ways – the influence of e-commerce makes prices fluctuate more often, reacting immediately to shocks like energy price and exchange rate ...
Read More »IL&FS: The Indian hydra that must be slayed
For its roads, power stations and other useful assets to live, a bankrupt Indian infrastructure lender must die. Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd. (IL&FS) was seized by the government this month after unexpected defaults on its $12.5 billion of debt spread panic through money and equity markets. A new six-member board chaired by banker Uday Kotak will have to sort ...
Read More »Global economic leaders point to mounting risks
The finance ministers and central bankers from almost 190 countries who gathered in Bali for the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank (IMF) drove, I suspect, the final nail into the coffin of the notion of a synchronized pickup in global growth. In a tone that contrasted with the optimism of their spring meetings in April, ...
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