Bloomberg An Indian environment ministry panel recommended to the government that it allow cultivation of a genetically-modified mustard variety, taking it closer to becoming the country’s first GM food crop for commercial production. The federal government will make a final decision in this regard, said Amita Prasad, an additional secretary with the environment ministry and chairman of the Genetic Engineering ...
Read More »China’s bonds decline for seventh week
Bloomberg China’s 10-year government bonds fell for a seventh week, building on the longest run of declines since 2013, amid concerns the nation’s deleveraging campaign will drive borrowing costs up further. The yield on 10-year sovereign debt climbed eight basis points this week to close Friday at 3.65 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s the longest streak since ...
Read More »Fintech firm backed by China movie stars plans IPO
Bloomberg QuantGroup, a financial technology company backed by Chinese movie stars, is planning a US initial public offering that could raise about $200 million, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The Beijing-based firm has asked banks to pitch for a role on the potential offering, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. ...
Read More »China’s rag trade sees south Asian invasion at Canton trade fair
Bloomberg At Area 15.1 of the sprawling Canton Fair in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, exhibitors from India, Pakistan and Turkey touted their wares to global buyers last week. Their presence at the gathering synonymous with China’s rise as the world’s manufacturing powerhouse illustrates the nation’s shift from sweatshops producing cheap jeans and towels toward branded goods with better ...
Read More »Anthem ends battle for Cigna after court deals blow to pact
Bloomberg Anthem Inc.’s nearly two-year effort to buy rival insurer Cigna Corp. is officially dead. Anthem said that it won’t appeal a Delaware judge’s ruling late that Cigna can walk away from the $48 billion health insurance merger. That leaves the companies to fight over who’s to blame for the deal’s collapse. “The only surprise here is that it took ...
Read More »Sprint, SoftBank in informal deal talks with T-Mobile
Bloomberg Sprint Corp. has started preliminary conversations to merge with T-Mobile US Inc., the latest attempt to consolidate in a market watched closely by US regulators, according to people familiar with the matter. Executives of both SoftBank Group Corp., Sprint’s largest shareholder, and Sprint itself have had informal contact with T-Mobile owner Deutsche Telekom AG about a transaction, said the ...
Read More »Home Capital warns of ‘knock-on effects’ if it fails
Bloomberg Home Capital Group Inc. said it’s seeking new sources of funding to counter a run on deposits and warned a failure of the Canadian lender would have “significant knock-on effects†in the mortgage market. The struggling lender has “breathing room†to stabilize finances and pursue options following an C$1.8 billion ($1.3 billion) plunge in deposits and a 60 percent ...
Read More »Working class has blues, and elites lack answers
With Brexit and the election of Donald Trump, there’s a widespread belief that populism is on the rise in the developed world. Writers and thinkers darkly warn of a crisis if elites don’t accede to the demands — explicit or assumed — of the working class. As I wrote in a previous post, it’s very hard to define whom to ...
Read More »Wells Fargo is having a hard time pleasing anyone
Wells Fargo & Co. is having a hard time pleasing anyone. At its annual investor day, the second-largest US lender by market value lifted the targeted annual savings figure from its cost-cutting program to $4 billion from $2 billion by the end of 2019. The move, which was flagged by analysts after hints from the bank itself, comes after Wells ...
Read More »This levy won’t break Australia’s healthy bank profits
Ask Australians what they hate about their big four banks, and you get a familiar litany of complaints. Borrowing rates are too high, and deposit rates too low. Profits — almost A$23 billion ($17 billion) in the most recent fiscal year — are obscenely fat. Slick sales types promote financial products to under-informed punters without disclosing the full risks. Other ...
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