Bloomberg The pound slumped to a three-week low after polls showed more Britons favor exiting the European Union, reviving concern a June 23 referendum will throw global markets into turmoil and undermine confidence in the 28-nation trading bloc. Sterling weakened against all 10 developed-market peers after two surveys showed more voters were willing to vote to leave the EU ...
Read More »Brexit pollsters feel the pressure with guaranteed uncertainty
Bloomberg Days before a referendum that seemed to be in the bag for David Cameron, a YouGov Plc poll suddenly showed the “Leave†side ahead. The pound plunged, the prime minister panicked — then Scotland voted to stay in the U.K. by a 10-point margin. Two years on, and British voters are preparing to decide whether to leave the ...
Read More »Rothschild & Co. to buy Martin Maurel, eyes French expansion
Bloomberg Rothschild & Co., part of the banking dynasty focused on advising on mergers, is buying Compagnie Financiere Martin Maurel to expand its wealth-management and lending operations for French families and entrepreneurs. The boards of both companies support the deal, which needs approval from shareholders and regulators, according to a joint statement on Monday. Marseille-based Martin Maurel has received ...
Read More »Carry trade blocked by Iceland in bid to avoid crisis replay
Bloomberg Iceland erected new defenses to block fast money from chasing western Europe’s highest interest rates as the nation prepares to dismantle the last remnants of capital controls that have existed since 2008. Over the weekend, the small north Atlantic island set reserve requirements for new offshore investors forcing them to keep a substantial part of their holdings in ...
Read More »Lukoil Q1 profit drops 59% after crude prices slump
Bloomberg Lukoil PJSC, Russia’s second-largest oil producer, said profit dropped 59 percent in the first quarter as oil prices declined to a 12-year low. Net income fell to 42.8 billion rubles ($651 million) from 104 billion rubles a year earlier, the Moscow-based company said. Russian producers have been partially buffered against the rout in crude by a weaker ruble, ...
Read More »Suning to buy controlling stake in Inter Milan for $306 mn
Bloomberg Chinese retailer Suning Commerce Group Ltd will acquire about 70 percent of Italian soccer club Inter Milan for €270 million ($306 million), making the deal a rare purchase in which a Chinese company will control a major European sports team. Suning will purchase existing and new shares in Inter Milan. Suning’s Inter Milan deal comes as another Chinese ...
Read More »North Korea has its African allies
On May 29, 2016, South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s spokesman announced that Uganda pledged to suspend all military and police ties with North Korea. This announcement followed a bilateral meeting, between Park and Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni. The Ugandan government has been careful to insist that Kampala will maintain diplomatic relations with Pyongyang, but the suspension of military cooperation is ...
Read More »No one is quite sure what causes big recessions
There is an important, but quiet debate in the economics profession about what leads to big recessions: wealth or debt. Almost everyone agrees, at this point, that the Great Recession of 2007-09 was caused by the financial system. But that leaves the question of what, exactly, happens in a financial system that leads an economy to crash. Formal economic ...
Read More »Qatar’s QIA buys Singapore tower from BlackRock for $2.5 billion
Bloomberg Qatar Investment Authority, the sovereign wealth fund of the Middle Eastern country, agreed to buy BlackRock Inc.’s Asia Square Tower 1 for S$3.4 billion ($2.5 billion) in the biggest office transaction in Singapore. Qatar will purchase the office tower in the central business district in the largest single-tower sale in the region, according to a joint statement from ...
Read More »Saudi Real Estate, Starwood agree on Riyadh project
DUBAI / Reuters Saudi Real Estate Co has agreed with U.S. firm Starwood Hotels and Resorts to build two hotels next to a district of Riyadh which the government plans to develop into an international business zone. Starwood will manage a five-star hotel under its Westin brand and a four-star hotel under its Element brand, Saudi Real Estate, which ...
Read More »