LONDON (Reuters) – 1/ READY FOR A SCARY EURO ZONE GDP SHOW? Fears of a major downturn in euro zone powerhouse Germany grew this week following “scary” industrial output figures for June and reports due over the coming week that will hold those concerns up to t... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury yields rose on Friday amid confusion over the United States policy on trade with China, while political turmoil in Italy compounded investor concerns, capping a volatile week in the bond market. Treasury yields fell for a sec... More »
(Reuters) – Traders and analysts are considering whether U.S. bond yields would fall below zero as a record amount around the world sank into negative territory this week. The question has become a talking point, and less hypothetical, this week as the U.S. 30... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Precious metal funds recorded the fourth-largest inflows ever in the week to Wednesday and investment-grade funds sucked in money, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said on Friday, as rising trade tensions and global growth concerns prompted a d... More »
(Reuters) – U.S.-based high-yield junk bond funds posted more than $4 billion of outflows in the week ended Wednesday, the largest weekly cash withdrawals since October 2018, according to Refinitiv’s Lipper data, triggered by an escalating trade war between Ch... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The amount of bonds carrying negative yields increased to an all-time peak of $13.2 trillion on Wednesday, up $1.6 trillion or 13.4% from a month earlier in the wake of a dramatic rally in bond markets around the world, J.P. Morgan said on... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese state media said on Sunday the United States has shipped several million tonnes of soybeans to China since the two countries’ leaders met in June, although U.S. government data shows that the volume was much less. The U.S.-China tra... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Global shares eased on Monday and the dollar hit a two-month high against a basket of currencies as markets counted down to a likely cut in U.S. interest rates this week, with much riding on whether the Federal Reserve signals yet more are t... More »
(Reuters) – U.S.-based equity funds posted more than $8.4 billion of cash withdrawals in the week ended Wednesday, following two weeks of inflows, according to Refinitiv’s Lipper. The withdrawals came ahead of next week’s Federal Reserve meeting. In the same w... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Investors edged into the U.S. stock market last week, as the benchmark S&P 500 index hovered near record highs, by adding $1.1 billion into mutual funds and exchange-traded funds that hold domestic stocks, according to data released Wednes... More »
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Former South African President Jacob Zuma told a corruption inquiry on Monday that he had never broken the law with the Gupta family, describing the businessmen at the center of an influence-peddling scandal as friends. Zuma also said ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Environmental activists sought to sow chaos in five British cities on Monday in a bid to force the government to act to help avert what they cast as a climate cataclysm. The Extinction Rebellion group disrupted London with 11 days of protest... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Surprisingly upbeat economic soundings from China lifted the global markets mood on Monday, pushing world shares toward an 18-month high and steering the Aussie dollar and copper upwards. Investors were waiting for a torrent of second-quarte... More »
HONG KONG/NEW YORK/BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Scepticism over AB InBev’s high valuations doomed Budweiser APAC’s IPO of up to $9.8 billion – poised to be the world’s biggest this year – investors and bankers said, putting would-be floats on notice that careful prici... More »
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Former South African president Jacob Zuma told a corruption inquiry on Monday that there was a conspiracy against him and that his enemies had subjected him to a “character assassination” because they wanted him out of power. “This com... More »
(This story has been corrected to fix a typo in final paragraph.) By Luis Valentin Ortiz SAN JUAN (Reuters) – Two of Puerto Rico’s top government officials resigned on Saturday following the publication of a bombshell group chat in which Governor Ricardo Rosse... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Saturday that a two-year budget agreement with the Trump administration must include equal increases in defense and nondefense spending, plus additional money for a program intended to improve heal... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Investors pumped money into bonds and equities in the week to Wednesday with U.S. stock funds adding $1.7 billion, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said on Friday, as markets tried to weigh hopes for major central bank stimulus against economic... More »
(Reuters) – U.S.-based money-market funds attracted about $28 billion in the week ended Wednesday, their largest weekly inflow since mid-May, as the S&P 500 Index rose above 3,000 for the first time on Wednesday. It was money funds’ third consecutive week of c... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve will likely reduce key U.S. borrowing costs by a quarter point at its upcoming July 30-31 policy meeting with the chance of a 50 basis-point decrease, Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts said on Wednesday. The U.S. c... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission lowered its estimates on Wednesday for euro zone growth and inflation, saying uncertainty over U.S. trade policy posed a major risk to the bloc. In its quarterly economic forecasts, the European Union’s executive ar... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Croatia has submitted a formal bid to join the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM-2), an early stage on the path to membership of the euro currency, the head of the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers said on Monday. The move could... More »
ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece’s opposition conservatives returned to power with a landslide victory in snap elections on Sunday, and Prime Minister elect Kyriakos Mitsotakis said he had a clear mandate for change, pledging more investments and fewer taxes. The win... More »
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s central bank could cut its benchmark policy rate for the first time in four years if the U.S. Federal Reserve delivers a widely expected cut in late July, analysts say, as Chinese policymakers step up support for the slowing econom... More »
(Reuters) – Shared office space manager WeWork Cos is looking to raise $3 billion to $4 billion in debt before it goes public, a person familiar with the matter said on Sunday, a move aimed to fuel investor confidence in the company. The potential debt offerin... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – A shrewd negotiator who has run the IMF but has little monetary policy experience, Christine Lagarde will face the challenge as the European Central Bank’s new chief of having to revive the euro zone economy with a largely depleted policy... More »
LONDON/SYDNEY (Reuters) – Stocks rallied and bonds retreated on Monday as the United States and China agreed to restart trade talks, leading investors to pare wagers on aggressive policy easing by the major central banks. The dollar firmed on the safe-haven ye... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s Big Four lenders are pushing back on the regulator’s plan to require banks make detailed credit checks on borrowers to estimate loan affordability instead of relying on indices, with the No.2 lender saying such checks are not fea... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Profitability across the euro zone bank sector is low and weakening growth could further dampen the sector’s prospects, European Central Bank Vice President Luis de Guindos said on Tuesday. Negative ECB rates are not the cause of the weak... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s finance ministry said on Monday it would look at whether the regulation regime around mini-bond investments, used to raise funds for small businesses, is up to scratch following the collapse of investment firm London Capital & Fina... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Qatar is making $3 billion dollars worth of new investments in Pakistan, in the form of deposits and direct investments, state news agency QNA said on Monday. Following this investment, the economic partnership between Qatar and Pakistan will... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – The Turkish lira, bonds and shares gained on Monday after the opposition dealt a stinging blow to President Tayyip Erdogan by winning control of Istanbul in a re-run mayoral election on Sunday. Turkish assets have lost value since March am... More »
MILAN (Reuters) – A controversial plan for Italy to issue so-called mini-bills to settle overdue state payments is opening cracks within the country’s ruling League party, after a prominent party official on Sunday dismissed it as “unrealistic.” Mini-bills, or... More »
MUMBAI (Reuters) – Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor Viral Acharya has resigned six months before the scheduled end of his term in office, citing personal reasons, the central bank said on Monday, confirming a media report. Acharya’s departure was no... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The frontrunner to be Britain’s next prime minister, Boris Johnson, came under renewed pressure on Sunday to explain the circumstances of a late-night row between him and girlfriend that led to the police being called to their home. Polls co... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – After years of using the internet, satellites, algos and other innovations to mine ‘Big Data’ for that edge over rivals, the world’s biggest investment firm is trialing a gizmo that puts the focus back on humans — its own portfolio managers.... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s central bank believes it will likely have to cut interest rates further from the current record low of 1.25% in order to push down unemployment and revive growth in wages and inflation. Minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s ... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Investors in Australian mortgage bonds are demanding higher premiums to buy the riskiest tranches of new debt, as a slowing economy stokes concerns a property downturn could get worse and increase home loan defaults. High-yield investors are... More »
HONG KONG/SYDNEY (Reuters) – Fears of a global recession are on the rise as the U.S.-China trade war re-escalated in May, sending investors to the safety of U.S Treasuries, the Japanese yen and gold. But in Asia, investors are exploring new sanctuaries, from C... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s banking watchdog on Friday said it had imposed stricter licensing conditions on AMP Ltd’s pension fund units following concerns regarding its compliance with superannuation laws, sending its shares down more than 4%. The move com... More »
(Reuters) – U.S.-based equity funds attracted $4.4 billion of inflows in the week ended Wednesday, following two consecutive weeks of cash outflows totaling $34 billion, according to Refinitiv’s Lipper, as the United States and Mexico struck a deal to avert ta... More »
SYDNEY/HONG KONG (Reuters) – China may be an odd choice for investors seeking shelter from a Sino-U.S. trade war. Yet, money managers in Asia are pouring funds into Chinese stocks as the long-term promise of a growing middle class trumps more immediate fears a... More »
BUDAPEST (Reuters) – The head of Hungary’s oldest scientific institute said it was considering taking legal action to challenge government moves to take more control over research work and budgets. The nationalist administration of Prime Minister Viktor Orban ... More »
MILAN (Reuters) – Italy’s ruling parties could expose the nation to market shocks and put its savings at risk if they were not ready to compromise with the European Union over their budget plans, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told Corriere della Sera newspaper... More »
BENGALURU (Reuters) – India’s retail inflation likely accelerated to a seven-month high in May on rising food prices, but it is expected to remain well below the Reserve Bank of India’s target, giving it room to ease policy further, a Reuters poll found. The R... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – After almost three years of successfully predicting a global economic revival, world bond markets are furiously flagging the risk of yet another recession, as well as low inflation for a generation. Spooked by the escalating U.S.-China trade... More »
ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s prime minister and economy minister have formed an unofficial alliance with the president to prevent the euro zone’s third-largest economy being dragged into financial crisis by its ruling parties, sources say. Prime Minister Giuseppe ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Investors plowed a record $12.3 billion into investment grade bond funds and ditched equities over the past week, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said on Friday, as worries over trade tensions and the world economy reinforced a run for safe-ha... More »
(Reuters) – Investors’ aversion to risk-taking intensified in the latest week, stemming from trade tensions between the United States and China as well as Mexico, with U.S.-based domestic equities funds posting $10 billion of cash withdrawals, according to Ref... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. money market fund assets rose for a sixth consecutive week, bringing the total to a fresh nine-plus year peak as investors piled cash into low-risk funds on concerns about global trade tensions, a private report released on Wednesday ... More »
ROME (Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte will present an ultimatum to fractious ruling parties on Monday to speed up government action or face his resignation, Italian newspapers La Repubblica and Il Corriere della sera reported. Conte will make ... More »
(Reuters) – Ratings agency S&P said on Friday it had raised Indonesia’s sovereign credit rating to ‘BBB’, citing the country’s strong economic growth prospects and supportive policy dynamics. S&P had previously rated Indonesia at ‘BBB-‘, the lowest investable ... More »
(Reuters) – Investors rattled by U.S.-China trade tensions pulled roughly $22 billion from U.S.-based equity funds in the week ended May 29, according to data released by Refinitiv’s Lipper research service on Thursday. U.S.-based investment-grade bond funds, ... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. money market fund assets rose for a fifth consecutive week, bringing its total to more than a nine-year high as investors pour cash into low-risk funds on concerns about escalating U.S.-China trade tensions, a private report released ... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Investors jumped back in to the U.S. stock market for the first time since mid-April by sending roughly $3.7 billion into mutual funds and exchange-traded funds that hold domestic equities last week, according to data released Wednesday by... More »
BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Hungary is preparing legislation to strip the Hungarian Academy of Sciences of its research network, giving the government more control over scientific activity, the news website index.hu reported on Tuesday. Hungary’s oldest and largest a... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The results of the European parliamentary election are likely to lead to less ambitious euro zone integration plans and set Italy up for more clashes with the European Commission over its fiscal policy, euro zone officials said on Monday. ... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump pressed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday to even out a trade imbalance with the United States and expressed confidence, despite Japanese wariness, that “good things” would come from North Korea. Trump i... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Investors have added to their global equity holdings for the first time in 2-1/2 months and continued to pile into bonds, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said on Friday, as worries about the U.S.-China trade spat sent shudders through financia... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Investors continued a four-week long retreat from the U.S. stock market last week by unloading a net of nearly $9.6 billion in assets from domestic mutual and exchange-traded funds, according to data released Wednesday by the Investment Co... More »
MILAN (Reuters) – Italy is firmly committed to preserving financial stability while also relaunching investments, Economy Minister Giovanni Tria said on Monday. “The ‘Def’ document clearly states Italy’s will to meet commitments on public deficit and debt,” Tr... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Investors are neither extremely bullish nor bearish, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s gauge of market sentiment, as they weigh the impact of trade tensions between the United States and China. Investors pulled $19.5 billion out o... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Euro zone banks are turning away from cross-border activity, putting at risk the bloc’s banking union and raising the risk of dangerous fragmentation, European Central Bank Vice President Luis de Guindos said on Thursday. With national ru... More »
(Reuters) – Billionaire George Soros’ investment firm, Soros Fund Management Llc, raised its stake in Tesla Inc’s (TSLA.O) convertible bonds due in 2021 by 17.5 million convertible bonds to 37.5 million convertible bonds as of the end of the first quarter, acc... More »
(Reuters) – Some of the biggest, highest-profile U.S. hedge fund investors and money managers fell back in love with FAANGs in the first quarter, according to regulatory filings released on Wednesday. After dumping shares of Facebook Inc, Apple Inc, Amazon.com... More »
(Reuters) – U.S. growth appears to be based “exclusively” on government, corporate and mortgage debt and the economy would have contracted if the United States had not added trillions in debt, Jeffrey Gundlach, chief executive of DoubleLine Capital, said in an... More »
(Reuters) – Financing group Greensill Capital on Monday confirmed SoftBank Group Corp’s Vision Fund has invested $800 million in the British company, a vote of confidence in the UK finance sector that has been navigating Brexit challenges. Greensill, which pro... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Global equities have seen outflows of $20.5 billion in the past week as “trade deal trauma” pushed more money into bonds, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said on Friday, the latest sign of how growing global trade tensions are roiling financia... More »
(Reuters) – Jeffrey Gundlach, chief executive officer at DoubleLine Capital, said on CNBC on Tuesday that he sees a better than 50% chance that new tariffs will happen. Wall Street’s main indexes tumbled more than 1 percent on Tuesday, as the latest turn in tr... More »
(Reuters) – Jeffrey Gundlach, chief executive officer of DoubleLine Capital, said on Monday at the Sohn Investment Conference that his best idea for investors is to buy interest rate volatility on long maturity U.S. Treasuries. Gundlach, known as Wall Street’s... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s central bank said on Monday it will cut reserve requirement ratios (RRRs) to release about 280 billion yuan ($41 billion) for some small and medium-sized banks, in a targeted move to help companies struggling amid an economic slowdo... More »
(Reuters) – Investors gravitated toward the higher-quality spectrum of the credit markets this week, as U.S.-based investment-grade corporate bond funds attracted about $374.5 million in net cash, their 14th consecutive week of inflows. According to Refinitiv’... More »
(Reuters) – Wealth management clients are increasingly willing to pay for financial advice as their needs evolve, choosing an average of five providers, with one-third switching managers in the past three years, global wealth consultant EY said on Tuesday. The... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – A new round of tariffs between the United States and its main partners would only cause a “modest decrease” in the pace of economic growth in the euro zone, according to research by the European Central Bank. The study simulated a two-way... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – Guangdong, China’s top province by economic output, maintained a growth rate of 6.6 percent in the first quarter thanks to improving industrial production and infrastructure spending, the 21st Century Business Herald reported, citing local ... More »
CAIRO (Reuters) – Sudan’s central bank on Sunday strengthened the Sudanese pound to 45 pounds to the dollar from 47.5, state news agency SUNA reported. It said the measure coincided with the sharp rise in the price of the pound against the dollar on the parall... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks around the globe rose on Tuesday to six-month highs as positive economic data in China and Germany boosted investor sentiment, though concerns about the impact of U.S. policy on the healthcare sector paused Wall Street’s rally. Wall... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Short positioning on European equities was the “most crowded trade” for the second straight month in April, a survey of fund managers by Bank of America Merrill Lynch found. Investors called bearish positions on Europe a crowded trade once a... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Greece is looking to strike a deal this weekend to repay early about half of the loans it received from the International Monetary Fund, in a bid to lower the euro zone member’s burden of debt servicing, a senior official said on Friday.... More »
MILAN (Reuters) – Italy’s biggest lender UniCredit said it is among a group of banks accused of running a cartel in trading euro zone government bonds between 2007 and 2012, years when financial crises dragged down banks and several European countries. UniCred... More »
BUCHAREST (Reuters) – The European Central Bank considers that risks to the euro zone financial stability from a no-deal Brexit are “limited” and have been broadly addressed, ECB board member Benoit Coeure said on Friday. But he repeated the ECB’s call on fina... More »
BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Euro zone countries have taken steps to prepare for a no-deal Brexit but are still hoping that this scenario will not occur, the chairman of the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers said on Friday. Mario Centeno told a news conference... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans said on Monday it was understandable for markets to be nervous when the yield curve flattened, though he was still confident about the U.S. economic growth outlook. In what many see as ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Theresa May has lost the confidence of her senior ministers, lawmakers and party members, and should step down, said Andrew Bridgen, a Conservative lawmaker who supports a hard Brexit. “I hope that the cabinet will tel... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – With downside risks looming and uncertainties rife, the U.S. Federal Reserve is prudent to wait for more economic data before deciding whether its next move will be to raise rates, or cut them, Chicago Fed Bank President Charles Evans sai... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Mike Lynch, once hailed as Britain’s answer to Bill Gates, faces Hewlett-Packard (HP) in London’s High Court on Monday in a multi-billion dollar showdown over the U.S. technology company’s 2011 purchase of the Autonomy software business he f... More »
(Reuters) – U.S. prosecutors on Friday added three new criminal charges to their indictment against British entrepreneur Mike Lynch related to the $11.1 billion sale of his software company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard in 2011. Lynch faces a new charge of secur... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Global equity funds saw massive outflows this week, a sharp reversal from last week’s inflows as pessimism over economic growth gripped investors once again, driving them instead to search for yield in credit and buy safer assets like bonds.... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Euro zone banking watchdogs said banks planning mergers should make sure they could be wound down in a crisis, a warning likely to resonate with executives seeking to merge German giants Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank. The two lenders confi... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Fund managers have named bearish bets in European equities as the “most crowded” trade in Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s survey for the first time in its history, suggesting sentiment for one of the world’s most shunned markets may rise fro... More »
MANAMA (Reuters) – As the weekend kicks off in Bahrain, Saudi Arabian and Kuwaiti cars jam the capital’s roads and hotel lobbies fill with visitors looking for bars, restaurants and other night-time entertainment. A new sales tax introduced this year means gov... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Collapsing asset price volatility has turned ‘carry trading’ into one of investors’ top plays of 2019. Many reckon the run is far from over. This strategy sees investors borrow in currencies where interest rates are low to invest in countrie... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – British companies look set to cut investment by the most in 10 years in 2019 because of Brexit, even if Prime Minister Theresa May gets a deal to ease the country out of the bloc, an employers group said on Monday. Business investment was fo... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Investors plowed $14.2 billion into global equity funds this week, the largest amount in a year as investors jumped on to 2019’s stock market rally, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said on Friday, citing flow data provider EPFR. An index of gl... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – The worst is now behind Turkey’s economy, Turkish Finance Minister Berat Albayrak said on Monday, following the release of official data showing the economy contracted at a sharper than expected 3.0 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018. O... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – When President Donald Trump proposes his 2020 federal budget on Monday, official Washington will likely have a quick look, shrug and move on, marking another stage in the quiet decay of the U.S. government’s traditional policy-making pro... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – A $10 billion wipeout over the last week has compounded the worst start to a year for equity flows since 2008, Bank of America Merrill Lynch strategists said on Friday. Citing data from flow-tracker EPFR, BAML’s analysts calculated that just... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The European Central Bank’s fourth round of cheap long-term loans targeted at banks may steer euro zone lenders away from a cliff edge in funding. But it is a symptom of, rather than a cure for, the bloc’s economic malaise that appears to... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The European Central Bank changed tack on its tightening plan on Thursday, pushing out the timing of its first post-crisis rate hike until 2020 at the earliest and offering banks a new round of cheap loans to help revive the euro zone eco... More »
VILNIUS (Reuters) – Euro zone banks will not be able to use a new longer-term lending facility from the European Central Bank to extend mortgages, Lithuanian central bank chief Vitas Vasiliauskas said on Friday. The ECB delayed its first post-crisis rate hike ... More »
