Author Archive
Global Telecom Surges in Cairo After Veon Offers Funding Support
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Veon exploring option to take the telecom company private
- Egypt regulator says it’ll take steps to support shareholders
Global Telecom Holding climbed the most allowed in a day after its majority shareholder offered to support the company’s funding requirements and look at taking it private.
The shares jumped about 10 percent, the most in three months, in Cairo. They have lost half their value in the past 12 months…
Global Telecom Surges in Cairo After Veon Offers Funding Support
Al Gore’s Firm Leads $100 Million Investment in African Outsourcing Startup
Posted by: | CommentsAndela trains developers in Nigeria and Kenya for contract work with U.S. employers; its investors say remote work could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Software developers videoconferencing at the Nairobi, Kenya, office of Andela. PHOTOGRAPHER: ROOPA GOGINENI FOR BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK
Outsourcing isn’t generally seen as the most high-minded of industries. But when the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the philanthropic organization backed by the wealth of Facebook’s founder, looked to write checks to startups, the first investment it led was for Andela, which places African computer programmers to work remotely for American corporations. By training Nigerian computer programmers, the thinking went, Andela’s office in Lagos would speed the development of the technology industry in those countries. “Technology is the exact opposite of an extractive industry,” says Jeremy Johnson, Andela’s chief executive officer. “Success begets success.”…
The $238 Million Penthouse, and the Hedge Fund Billionaire Who May Rarely Live There
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220 Central Park South, as seen from Columbus Circle in Manhattan.CreditCreditJeenah Moon for The New York Times
By Nikita Stewart and David Gelles
In Manhattan, where multimillion-dollar real estate sales are downright routine, a hedge fund tycoon has managed to set a new standard for conspicuous consumption by paying a fortune for an unfinished piece of property in the sky.
The billionaire, Kenneth C. Griffin, spent $238 million for a penthouse at 220 Central Park South that is still under construction, making it the most expensive residential sale in United States history…
The $238 Million Penthouse and the Hedge Fund Billionaire Who May Rarely Live There
Cantor, SC Lowy Eye India Soured Loans Amid Insolvency Delay
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Merger arbitrage trades are one area investors are considering
- State Bank of India has sought bids for Essar Steel loans
Many global funds have pushed for India to resolve its bankruptcy cases faster, but some investors are finding opportunities in the delays.
As Indian lenders seek to offload soured debt worth billions of dollars, overseas firms such as Cantor Fitzgerald and SC Lowy see the chance for investors to reap returns from delays in the bankruptcy process…
Cantor, SC Lowy Eye India Soured Loans Amid Insolvency Delay
Thai Property Can Stay Hot in Chillier Times
Posted by: | CommentsChinese demand and a tourism boom will soften the impact of overbuilding and weakening global growth.
Clouds are gathering, but the sun’s still shining. Photographer: Dario Pignatelli/Bloomberg
Thailand’s booming property market is at risk of cooling this year as rampant construction threatens an oversupply of apartments amid increasing global economic headwinds.
The country has been a relative bright spot in an otherwise lackluster Southeast Asian real estate market. Thai residential property has experienced substantial growth in recent years, much of it fueled by buyers from China, Japan and Singapore. The thriving hospitality sector has also drawn money from foreign and local investors to fund the building of many new hotels and resorts…
Home-Builder Stocks Bounce Back as Mortgage Rates Slide
Posted by: | CommentsRenewed optimism has lifted home-builder shares this month, but investors remain cautious
Shares of home builders battered during 2018 have soared so far this year, an optimistic sign for the U.S. economy amid fresh worries over a stagnant housing market and slowing global growth.
Although housing data remain decidedly mixed, the National Association of Home Builders’ housing-market index showed home-builder confidence rebounded this month. It was helped by a gradual decline in mortgage rates, along with strong employment growth…
Home-Builder Stocks Bounce Back as Mortgage Rates Slide
Carlos Slim Buys Businesses From Rival Telefonica for $648 Million
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Telefonica sells Guatemala, El Salvador units to America Movil
- Both companies have been battling for years in Latin America
Carlos Slim’s phone empire is set to grow larger with the purchase of operations in Guatemala and El Salvador from longtime rival Telefonica SA.
America Movil SAB will buy all of Telefonica’s Guatemalan operation and 99.3 percent of those in El Salvador for $648 million, the Mexican telecom giant said in a filing Thursday. The deal is subject to regulatory approval…
Carlos Slim Buys Businesses From Rival Telefonica for $648 Million
Billionaire Miami Beach Developer Dismisses Rising Sea Levels as ‘Paranoia’
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Billionaire Peres is planning two condo projects by the ocean
- Peres also runs Multiplan, a Brazilian shopping-center company
Miami Beach Photographer: Jeff Greenberg/Universal Images Group Editorial via Getty Images
A South Florida developer is questioning the well-established facts of climate change, and is putting his money where his mouth is, investing millions to build residential projects in highly exposed Miami Beach.
Brazilian billionaire Jose Isaac Peres is hosting an inaugural party Thursday for the sales center of his planned 81-unit 57 Ocean, where the penthouse will cost $31 million. He’s also seeking permission to build another condo project, a four-story development on Ocean Drive…
U.K. Launches Inquiry to Find Advantages for Banks in Brexit
Posted by: | CommentsU.K. lawmakers will investigate how the country can take advantage of Brexit to remove regulatory barriers for British banks.
Parliament’s Treasury Committee will launch an inquiry on Friday into the future of the financial-services industry after the U.K. leaves the European Union. It will look into what the government’s priorities on banking should be as it negotiates future trading relationships and whether current regulatory barriers that apply to third-party countries should be maintained…
U.K. Launches Inquiry to Find Advantages for Banks in Brexit
Ken Griffin Spends Extra $38 Million On New York Pied-À-Terra Because Of Course He Did
Posted by: | Comments$200 million does not buy enough comfort for the three or four days KG spends in the Big Apple every year.
Ken Griffin doesn’t live in New York. He also doesn’t live in Miami, Palm Beach or London. Still, he now owns (or owned) the most expensive residence in the first three of those places (as well as his actual hometown, Chicago), and one of the most expensive residences in the fourth.
Singapore Is Seeing an Unprecedented Mortgage Slowdown
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Rising interest rates, latest curbs have slowed home lending
- Lack of demand may accelerate decline in city’s house prices
Rising interest rates and the latest round of property curbs have put the brakes on mortgage demand at Singapore’s banks, potentially further dragging down the city’s housing market.
Home-loan growth slowed to 1.9 percent in the first 11 months of 2018, less than half the 4.2 percent increase posted in 2017, the latest Monetary Authority of Singapore data show. Mortgage growth will stay stuck below 2 percent this year, according to Diksha Gera, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence…
Index Funds Are King, But Some Indexers Are Passive-Aggressive
Posted by: | CommentsInstead of picking stocks to beat the market, they’re picking sectors, styles, and parts of the world.
Vanguard Group founder John C. Bogle in 2014. PHOTOGRAPH: PETER FOLEY/BLOOMBERG
Vanguard Group founder Jack Bogle, who died on Jan. 16 at age 89, ushered in an era of low-cost investing for the many. He launched the first index mutual fund for individual investors at the end of 1975 for the purpose of passive investing: Skip the stockpicking, save on fees, and simply ride the ups and downs of the overall market. His fringe idea has become mainstream. Sometime this year, analysts at Morningstar Inc. say, assets in passively managed U.S. equity funds are likely to surpass assets in actively managed ones. By pushing down fees across the industry, Bogle may have saved American investors $1 trillion over his lifetime, calculates Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Eric Balchunas…
Remember when Danske Bank got caught doing some pretty dumb money laundering? And also how it made us think of another bank with that particular habit?
Well, funny coincidence: So did The Fed!…
Going Forward, Federal Regulators Should Announce When They Are NOT Probing Deutsche Bank
Leveraged-Loan Protections Go From Bad to Worse
Posted by: | CommentsCovenants moved to “uncharted territory,” Moody’s research shows. But the year-end slump may have restored some balance between buyers and sellers.
Look before you leap. Photographer: Leon Neal/Getty Images Europe
If a day of reckoning does arrive in the market for leveraged loans or collateralized loan obligations, as suggested most recently by Barclays Plc Chief Executive Officer Jes Staley, investors can’t say Moody’s Investors Service didn’t warn them.
New Talks to End Shutdown Mark First Hint of Break in Impasse
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Trump may accept three-week funding plan, spokeswoman says
- Talks come after Senate rejects two bills to reopen government
Senators began a new effort to end the 34-day partial government shutdown after blocking two rival spending bills. The White House signaled President Donald Trump was open to a plan to reopen agencies for three weeks, but at a price.
“The three-week CR would only work if there is a large down payment on the wall,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Thursday, referring to a stopgap spending bill and the president’s demand for $5.7 billion for a wall at the southern border…
At $238 Million, It’s the Highest-Price Home in the Country
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A hedge fund billionaire has purchased a Central Park penthouse apartment for $238 million — the most anyone has ever paid for a home in the United States.
The sale, which closed Wednesday, was confirmed by a spokesman for the buyer, Kenneth Griffin.
The unit, a nearly 24,000-square-foot combination of two apartments, is at the top of 220 Central Park South, an under-construction tower developed by Vornado Trust Realty and designed by the firm of Robert A.M. Stern.
Chan Zuckerberg-Backed Fund Targets Bay Area Housing Crisis
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Partnership for the Bay’s Future seeks more than $500 million
- Group advocates promoting investment, local policy changes
The philanthropy started by Facebook Inc.’s Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan is backing a fresh effort to address the housing shortage in the San Francisco Bay area, where an explosion of tech wealth has deepened inequality and contributed to an affordability crisis.
The Partnership for the Bay’s Future — which the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is starting in conjunction with the San Francisco Foundation, the Ford Foundation and other groups — will seek to preserve and create affordable housing through a new $500 million investment fund. It’s also targeting a $40 million fund aimed at government policy changes, according to a statement Thursday. Facebook and Genentech are among the companies making contributions…
Elizabeth Warren’s Wealth Tax Would Cost Jeff Bezos $4.1 Billion in First Year
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Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest person, would have to pay $4.1 billion in the first year under U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren’s soon-to-be proposed wealth tax, based on his current net worth of $137.1 billion.
The Amazon.com Inc. founder and the other 174 Americans on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a ranking of the world’s 500 richest people, would collectively owe $61 billion.
Elizabeth Warren’s Wealth Tax Would Cost Jeff Bezos $4.1 Billion in First Year
Ken Griffin Will Never Have To Suffer The Indignity Of A Five-Star London Hotel Again
Posted by: | CommentsHe’s looking forward to the welcome baskets from his new neighbors, the entire Royal Family.
He’s already got the finest accommodations, both professionally and personally, in New York City. He’s made sure to own the most expensive home in Chicago, such as it is. He’s in the process of turning the entirety of Florida into his own personal 65,000-square-mile beach retreat. So it only makes sense that Ken Griffin would now turn to his situation for the handful of days he spends in Citadel’s third city, London. No. 3 Carlton Gardens was good enough for Charles de Gaulle, and after a top-to-bottom no-expense-spared renovation, including a pool, staff quarters and private gardens, KG guesses it’s good enough for him…
Bank of Korea Stands Pat on Interest Rates
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Economic growth likely to be slightly below October projection
- Korea will maintain its accommodative monetary policy stance
South Korea’s central bank kept its key interest rate unchanged as it assesses the impact of an increase in borrowing costs in November and mounting economic risks at home and abroad.
All but one of 25 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had forecast the Bank of Korea would keep the seven-day repurchase rate at 1.75 percent on Thursday, while one projected a 25-basis-point cut…
Bank of Korea Stands Pat on Interest Rates
Lessons for Corporate Boardrooms From Yahoo’s Cybersecurity Settlement
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The former officers and directors of Yahoo agreed to pay $29 million in a lawsuit over a series of data breaches.CreditCreditMarcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press
That changed in the first month of 2019.
The former officers and directors of Yahoo agreed to pay $29 million to settle charges that they breached their fiduciary duties in their handling of customer data during a series of cyberattacks from 2013 until 2016. Three billion Yahoo user accounts were compromised in the attacks. The settlement ended three so-called derivative lawsuits filed in Delaware and California against the company’s former leadership team and board, including Marissa Mayer, Yahoo’s former chief executive. Insurance coverage will pick up the tab…
Venezuela Bond Investors Say the End May Be Near for Maduro’s Regime
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Country’s debt is posting its biggest advance in one year
- Trump recognizes Guaido as Venezuela leader, rebuking Maduro
Venezuelan bonds are posting their biggest gains in a year as President Nicolas Maduro’s opponents gain momentum in their efforts to oust him amid large protests throughout the country. World leaders are now saying they’ll recognize Juan Guaido, the head of the National Assembly, as the interim president.
Canadian Pension CEOs at Davos 2019?
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The Investor Leadership Network (ILN), a G7 initiative, put out a press release, ILN, MDBs and SIF to accelerate collaboration on sustainable initiatives:
Leaders from the Investor Leadership Network (ILN) and Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) are pleased to announce the start of discussions to establish a partnership and accelerate their collaboration around ongoing ILN initiatives…
Canadian Pension CEOs at Davos 2019?
Once the World’s Greatest Port, Hong Kong Sinks in Global Ranking
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City was likely overtaken by Guangzhou and Busan last year
- Li Ka-shing’s terminal operator freezes pay to cut costs
The Hong Kong container terminals under the super blood wolf moon on Jan. 22. Photographer: Anthony Kwan/Bloomberg
Hong Kong’s continued slide down the rankings of the world’s great ports has pushed billionaire Li Ka-shing’s freight-terminal operator to take action.
HongKong International Terminals Ltd., the city’s biggest container-terminal operator and part of Li’s CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd., is freezing salaries for all its staff this year due to rising competition and the U.S.-China trade war. It has also formed an alliance with rival dock operators in Hong Kong in a bid to cut costs…
Wall Street’s Hopes for the New Congress Go From Not-So-Good to Oh Dear
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Representative Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) exits a Democratic caucus meeting to elect new leadership on Capitol Hill on Nov. 28, 2018, in Washington.
PHOTOGRAPHER: ZACH GIBSON/GETTY IMAGES
The House Financial Services Committee is now stacked with Democrats who eschew corporate donations.
The House Financial Services Committee has long been a coveted gig for any member of the U.S. Congress—Democrat or Republican. The panel helps shape major economic policies but, more important for members perpetually up for reelection, it virtually guarantees access to campaign cash from the banks, hedge funds, and other financial companies keen to keep them happy…
Survival is the Ultimate Performance Measure of a Business
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A great business is one that dominates and endures. I find that 99% of articles and books that study great businesses and leaders focus on the factors that lead to domination. Very little research is dedicated to endurance.
If I were to ask – What is the #1 characteristic of an exceptional business?
Many would say – The fastest growing companies.
Some would say – The company that earns the most money.
Others would say – The largest companies…
Survival is the Ultimate Performance Measure of a Business
Mars Inc. CEO Grant Reid Is Thinking a Hundred Years Ahead
Posted by: | CommentsThe iconic candy company is more than a century old—and is now big into cats and dogs.
The family-owned company, based in Virginia, does more than $35 billion a year in revenue and has expanded beyond candy to become a powerhouse in the pet space. In a rare interview, Reid speaks with Bloomberg Businessweek Editor Joel Weber…
Mars Inc. CEO Grant Reid Is Thinking a Hundred Years Ahead
Zermatt’s $60 Million, Glass-Bottomed, Swarovski-Encrusted Gondola
Posted by: | CommentsEurope’s longest and tallest has Pininfarina-designed seats—and is an attraction unto itself.
It’s easy to live the sky-high life in Zermatt: The Swiss ski resort lives in the eternal shadow of the Matterhorn, one of Europe’s tallest peaks, and its slopes are among the Continent’s steepest. Now you can also see it all from the world’s highest tri-cable gondola lift, which rolls in and out of—you guessed it—Europe’s highest mountain station.
Already dizzied by the thought of it? Try adding a $60 million price tag, a glass floor, and more than 1 million sparkling crystals…
Chilling Davos: A Bleak Warning on Global Division and Debt
Posted by: | CommentsDAVOS, Switzerland — As business and political leaders arrive in the Swiss Alps for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, a surprisingly alarming letter from an influential investor who studiously eschews attention has already emerged as a talking point.
The letter, written by Seth A. Klarman, a billionaire investor known for his sober and meticulous analysis of the investing world, is a huge red flag about global social tensions, rising debt levels and receding American leadership…
Chilling Davos: A Bleak Warning on Global Division and Debt
PG&E Says $150 Billion Could Be Price Tag of a Judge’s Fire Plan
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Judge called for tree trimming, power shutoffs to stop fires
- Utility says it would take 650,000 workers to implement
PG&E Corp. estimates it would cost as much as $150 billion this year alone to comply with a federal judge’s extraordinary fire-safety proposal.
The figure would be about five times as much as PG&E’s forecast liabilities for wildfires that scorched the state in 2017 and 2018. The estimate was included in PG&E’s response Wednesday to a call by U.S. District Judge William Alsup for the utility to trim tree branches and inspect and repair thousands of miles of power lines or cut local electricity supply to prevent wildfires…
A Hedge Fund Got Sued by the SEC. The Shutdown Sent the Case Into Purgatory
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Agency alleged Statim’s Joseph Meyer lied about performance
- SEC case against him has been stalled by government’s closure
The SEC) headquarters in Washington. Photographer: Zach Gibson/Bloomberg
The day after Christmas, a hedge fund manager who made the remarkable promise that he would never lose investors’ money was accused of stealing from his clients by U.S. regulators.
But then the partial government shutdown hit and the Securities and Exchange Commission’s case went into purgatory, with all court proceedings put on hold…
A Hedge Fund Got Sued by the SEC. The Shutdown Sent the Case Into Purgatory
The 20%-a-Year Stock Picker Who Wishes His Edge Would Disappear
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David Webb quit his job at 33, got rich investing in Hong Kong
- His research, reform push could undermine his competitive edge
Most great stock pickers do all they can to preserve their competitive edge. David Webb is trying to make his disappear.
The former Barclays Plc banker isn’t opposed to making money per se. After earning about 20 percent a year from his personal investments in Hong Kong shares since 1995 –- more than double gains in the city’s benchmark index — he seems happy to have amassed a fortune of at least $170 million…
Lance Roberts: The Case For A 50% Market Correction
Posted by: | CommentsRunning out of gimmicks to goose ‘earnings’ growth
So, did the nauseating last few months of 2018 signal the end of the secular bull market?
Or is the rebound that kicked-off 2019 a sign that the uptrend is still intact? Or it is just a dead-cat bounce?
Lance Roberts, chief investment strategist and chief editor of Real Investment Advice, returns to the podcast with fresh data that suggests the bear market that emerged late last year is still in play.
Of greater concern to him, though, is where things are headed from here:
Hong Kong’s Billion-Dollar Plunges Highlight Share Pledge Danger
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Company founders can use stock as collateral and not reveal it
- Jiayuan’s 89% drop was only the latest case to hit investors
Hong Kong’s share pledge problem is raising its head once again.
Jiayuan International Group Ltd. sank as much as 89 percent on Thursday on what turned out to be a margin call on stock used as collateral by its chairman. The sudden plunge, the biggest decline in the world this year of a company worth more than $1 billion, was the latest example of a Hong Kong-listed business losing almost all its value in a matter of minutes and then revealing that an insider had pledged a substantial amount of their shares for loans…
Billionaire Quandt’s Legacy Lures Rich Investors to Spa Town
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Heirs of industrialist Harald Quandt run multi-family office
- HQ Trust now handles the assets of around 100 wealthy families
Hidden on the edge of a spa town, less than half an hour’s drive from Frankfurt, is a company that lets you invest alongside one of Germany’s richest families.
Visitors to HQ Trust in Bad Homburg are quickly introduced to the most famous family member, Harald Quandt. Not in person —- the German industrialist died in 1967 —- but via a pair of specially-commissioned portraits of him by Andy Warhol that hang in the lobby (there are also two of his wife)…
Colleges That Rushed to Fund Electric Scooter Startups Don’t Love Them on Campus
Posted by: | CommentsWhy the campus safety office and the endowment manager may feel differently about Bird.
Colleges are nervous about the boom in shared electric scooters, which riders can rent with an app and then leave at their destination for the next rider. Administrators see students zipping down campus streets and sidewalks as a safety hazard. They worry about unused scooters littering the quad and people tripping over them…
Colleges That Rushed to Fund Electric Scooter Startups Don’t Love Them on Campus
Fleeing Clients Are Grim Reality in Banks’ Push to Manage Money
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UBS not immune to market swings that’s made clients nervous
- Credit Suisse warns of ‘difficult’ quarter despite resilience
Managing money for the wealthy — once touted as a panacea for banks burned by investment banking’s cutthroat rivalry and lenders’ smothering capital requirements — is proving to be anything but.
UBS Group AG, the world’s largest wealth manager, predicted lower revenue from its asset management and wealth divisions in coming weeks after seeing $13 billion yanked during the final months of 2018. Credit Suisse Group AG signaled that its assets under management were resilient during the recent equities meltdown, but warned it’s been a “very difficult quarter.”…
Asian Stocks Pare Early Losses; Yen Declines: Markets Wrap
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Technology shares lead U.S. stocks lower; yen holds gains
- West Texas crude oil extends decline; dollar steadies
Asian stocks reversed early losses Wednesday as traders juggled continuing doubts about the prospects for Sino-American trade progress with signs of China stimulus and moves in Congress to end the U.S. government shutdown. The yen slid.
Shares in Hong Kong, China and Korea led the turnaround, even after all major U.S. benchmarks declined. White House adviser Lawrence Kudlow said that negotiations scheduled for next week will be “very, very important” and “determinative.” Meantime, the Senate scheduled a vote for Thursday on Democratic-backed legislation to reopen the government, the first sign of a possible way out of the shutdown. China’s central bank pumped liquidity into the banking system through a new tool…
Jeff Gundlach Mournfully Concludes That We Mortals Cannot Handle His Truth
Posted by: | CommentsJ-Gundz didn’t quit Twitter so much as he quit on “us.”
It seems like only yesterday that Jeff Gundlach warmed the cockles of our cold, dead heart by announcing that he had joined Twitter to share his thoughts on investing and also call bullshit on Business Insider.
Over the last few, precious months, Jeffrey has dropped truth bomb after truth bomb and moved markets with his megamind-like thinking. He also likes to livetweet Buffalo Bills games, play arch political pundit and verbally roll his eyes at Larry Kudlow. As much as we like to hew to icy snark around here, we have to say this: Jeffrey Edward Gundlach is very good at Twitter…
Why a PG&E Bankruptcy Could Change Climate Calculus
Posted by: | CommentsThe plan by PG&E Corp., owner of California’s largest electric utility, to file for bankruptcy protection won’t be felt just by its ratepayers, employees and suppliers. It will have an effect on whether residents of areas devastated by wildfires will receive the compensation they’re expecting, and whether California can live up to its ambitious goals on climate change. But the decision also represents a shock to investors who just two months ago were paying above par for PG&E’s bonds. Most broadly, it points to the danger that global warming could pose for many companies. Those risks aren’t always obvious, and assessments of them are often buried deep within securities disclosure. Is it time for them to move from the fine print to become an active market concern?…
Larry Weinberg Survived Horrific War Injuries, Founded Home Builder and Owned NBA Team
Posted by: | CommentsSon of Jewish immigrants launched business as a college student and advocated strong U.S. support for Israel
IHeartMedia Nears Bankruptcy Exit With Court Approval of Plan
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Radio broadcaster receives confirmation of Chapter 11 plan
- Aims to exit bankruptcy within the first half of the year
iHeartMedia Inc. gained court approval for a plan that would cut about $10 billion of debt and allow it to emerge from bankruptcy within the first half of this year.
The biggest U.S. radio broadcaster got confirmation in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas for a creditor-supported plan that reduces its debt to $5.75 billion from $16.1 billion and spins out Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc. into a separate company, according to a statement. That could position both companies as takeover targets…
This Hedge Fund Turned 0% Yields Into Double Digit Returns
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Amulet Capital made double-digit returns trading JGB futures
- Japan bond market remains distorted despite volatility return
A small Japanese hedge fund has managed to clamber its way to double-digit annual returns despite focusing solely on the country’s zero-yielding government bond market.
Amulet Capital Management Co. enjoyed an average annual return of 22 percent over the past three years, according to chief executive officer Toshiharu Matsuda, a former derivatives trader with Nomura Holdings Inc. The fund employs a trend-following JGB futures trading strategy and has found itself on the right side of market reaction to policy changes from the Bank of Japan…
Qatar Plans to Support Lebanon With $500 Million Bond Buy
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Emirate’s bond investment won’t be a game changer for Lebanon
- Qatari ruler was one of few leaders to attend summit in Beirut
Qatar said on Monday it plans to buy $500 million of Lebanese government bonds to help support one of the world’s most indebted countries. Eurobonds rallied by the most since September.
Lebanon’s struggling economy needs a cash infusion to reassure bond holders still reeling from mixed remarks by officials about the possibility of debt restructuring this month…
China Retail, Real Estate Slow More Sharply Than Overall Economy
Posted by: | CommentsThe services sectors that account for the biggest chunk of China’s expansion slowed more sharply than the overall economy last quarter.
Growth in the retail and wholesale sectors slowed to 5.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018 from a year earlier, down from 7.2 percent at the end of 2017. Real-estate growth slid to 2 percent in the quarter, compared with the 5.9 percent pace a year earlier. Together, they make up almost a third of the services sector…
China Retail, Real Estate Slow More Sharply Than Overall Economy
France Uses New EU Privacy Law to Fine Google $56.8 Million
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French data watchdog levies its first fine under boosted power
- Panel’s decision follows complaint by Austrian group in May
Alphabet Inc.’s Google was at the receiving end of a hefty fine of 50 million euros ($56.8 million) by France’s privacy regulator, which used its new powers to levy much higher penalties for the first time under European Union data protection rules.
France’s data authority CNIL said the amount of the fine was “justified by the severity of the infringements observed regarding the essential principles” of the EU’s General Data Protection Rules, or GDPR. They are “transparency, information and consent,” it said Monday in a statement…
Price cuts. Cookies at open houses. Listings lasting longer than a few weeks on the MLS. The housing slow down is now officially here. Delusions usually end up on a direct path with reality. Housing is always a lagging indicator of underlying economic activity. People will fight to the bitter end to save their homes. Unlike the stock market, prices do not adjust overnight. However, in places like California the weak performance in the stock market last year is going to hit the bottom line for state tax revenues. It is also giving pause to VC money that was chasing absurd companies with nonsensical P/E ratios in search for the next billion-dollar unicorn. But little by little inventory is starting to pile up. People are opting to rent versus buy or in California, or as over 2 million adult “children” have opted to do, move in with their baby boomer parents. So what does the rise in inventory signal for 2019?…
Tycoon Mistry’s Asset Sales in Focus After Downgrades
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Credit ratings of five group firms revised lower in two months
- 154-year-old group is in process of divesting more assets
Pallonji Mistry in 2006. Photographer: India Picture/UIG via Getty Images
Reclusive billionaire Pallonji Mistry is trying to offload more assets and pay down debt after some of his companies had their debt ratings cut late last year.
Ratings on debt instruments of at least five companies in the 154-year-old Shapoorji Pallonji Group were cut in the last two months. The conglomerate’s businesses range from construction to real estate and financial services…
Tycoon Mistry’s Asset Sales in Focus After Downgrades
Enbridge Oil Pipeline Rationing Eases Little After Curtailment
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Apportionment on heavy oil line falls to 39% from 42%
- Rationing eases as heavy oil price surges $7 discount to WTI
A month into Alberta’s mandatory oil curtailment and rationing on the country’s biggest heavy-crude export pipeline system has eased, but very little.
Apportionment, the percentage by which each shipper’s nominated volume is reduced in order to meet a pipeline’s capacity, will be 39 percent on the heavy oil line 4/67 of Enbridge Inc.’s mainline system out of Kerrobert, Saskatchewan, in February versus 42 percent in January, the company said on Monday. Apportionment on light oil line 2/3, by contrast, increased in February to 46 percent from 43 percent in January…
U.S. Futures, Europe Stocks Dip Amid Growth Noise: Markets Wrap
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IMF cuts world growth forecast; trade outlook as murky as ever
- Markets lack conviction as U.S. exchanges shutter for holiday
U.S. equity futures and European stocks slipped on Monday while Asian markets posted modest gains as investors weighed the latest batch of competing headlines on global growth and trade. The dollar was steady and bonds in Europe were mixed.
Brexit Forces Equity, Foreign-Exchange Markets to Leave London
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Cboe to trade European stocks from Netherlands, not the U.K.
- CME moves its foreign exchange derivatives market to Amsterdam
Two key markets are moving out of the U.K. as Brexit forces finance firms to put more of the region’s trading infrastructure on the continent.
CME Group Inc. will move its foreign-exchange forwards and swaps venue, which has trading volumes of about $15 billion a day, from London to Amsterdam, while Cboe Global Markets Inc. will shift most European equities trading to its market in the Dutch capital after Brexit…
Brexit Forces Equity, Foreign-Exchange Markets to Leave London
Poor Earnings Season May Not Stop a Market Rally, JPMorgan Says
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Earnings consensus still too high, but investors seem aware
- Rally started 10 months before positive EPS revisions in 2016
The coming earnings season is likely to be ugly, but that may not be taken badly by an equity market that’s already anticipating negative news, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Particularly weak activity indicators in Europe suggest the coming season is likely to be challenging and below consensus estimates, according to strategist Mislav Matejka, who has cut his expectations for the region’s earnings-per-share growth by 3 percent for the year…
Confident Oil Industry Set to Ratchet Up Spending in 2019
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Most executives plan to maintain or raise capex this year
- Companies say a skills shortage will be a hindrance to growth
After years of gloom, the oil industry’s out of its slump.
Three-quarters of senior oil and gas professionals surveyed by energy and maritime services company DNV GL AS say they are optimistic about the sector’s growth in 2019, their sunniest outlook since before the crude-price collapse in 2014. Confidence across the energy industry is now where it was in 2010, when Brent soared to $95 a barrel, about 50 percent above today’s level…
Company Chairman, Wife Cut Stake as Hong Kong Stock Plunged 89%
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Jiayuan previously said it had no information to disclose
- Developer led a tumble by shares in the city last week
The chairman of a Hong Kong-listed property developer and his wife cut their stake just as the stock plunged 89 percent.
Shum Tin Ching and his wife Wang Xinmei sold 93.6 million shares of Jiayuan International Group Ltd. on Jan. 17 at an average of HK$2.7611 apiece — about a 79 percent discount from the previous day’s close — according to a Hong Kong exchange filing. That reduced their shareholding to 53.92 percent from 57.65 percent. Their trades made up about a quarter of the entire volume in the stock for that day, according to data compiled by Bloomberg…
Nigeria’s $15 Billion Oil Refinery Is on Track, Dangote Says
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Billionaire says 650,000-barrel-day plant to finish next year
- Wood Mackenize says refinery won’t be completed until 2022
Workers climb scaffolding surrounding a storage tank at the under-construction Dangote Industries Ltd. oil refinery and fertilizer plant site in the Ibeju Lekki district, outside of Lagos.
Photographer: Tom Saater/Bloomberg
Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote said he’s on schedule to finish by next year his $15 billion oil refinery, which will be one of the world’s biggest, despite analysts saying the timeline is ambitious.
Hedge Fund Billionaire Griffin Buys $122 Million London Home
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The house is located about half a mile from Buckingham Palace
- Charles McDowell sees ‘real buying opportunities in London’
3 Carlton Gardens, London. Source: Google Maps
There are still buyers out there for top-end homes in London.
Citadel LLC founder Ken Griffin bought 3 Carlton Gardens, a 200-year-old home that overlooks London’s St. James’s Park about half a mile from Buckingham Palace. The billionaire hedge-fund manager paid about 95 million pounds ($122 million) for the property, a Citadel spokesman said…
Hedge Fund Billionaire Griffin Buys $122 Million London Home
Fund Managers Who Called China Stock Bottom See More Gains Ahead
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Deutsche Bank Wealth says China shares will lead Asia advance
- Investors cite earnings growth, government stimulus as reasons
At the end of October, when Chinese shares were in freefall, the chief investment officers at Deutsche Bank Wealth Management made a bold call: the worst was over for the world’s second-largest equity market.
Since the start of November, the MSCI China Index of the nation’s shares has rebounded more than 7 percent…
Fund Managers Who Called China Stock Bottom See More Gains Ahead
Puerto Rico’s $18 Billion Bond Restructuring Nears Completion
Posted by: | CommentsU.S. territory’s oversight board favors sales-tax bonds in deal
Puerto Rico’s federal supervisors are making a final push to write down $18 billion in sales-tax bonds under a settlement that would mark their largest renegotiation yet of the U.S. territory’s crushing debts.
The restructuring proposal covers the revenue bonds known as Cofinas, which make up roughly 40% of Puerto Rico’s core government debt. First issued in 2007, the Cofina bonds are backed by sales taxes that provided investors a secure source of repayment and lowered Puerto Rico’s borrowing costs…
Puerto Rico’s $18 Billion Bond Restructuring Nears Completion
Bank Investors Look Beyond Trading Revenue to Deliver Strong Gains
Posted by: | CommentsLast week, bank stocks posted their strongest five-day gains in more than two years
Wall Street trading desks had a horror-show fourth quarter that dragged on bank results. But investors in big-bank stocks focused instead on gains in lending businesses and improving sentiment around the U.S. economy.
The result: last week, bank stocks posted their strongest five-day gains in more than two years. The KBW Nasdaq Bank index rallied 7.7%, the best one-week rise since the 2016 presidential election. That has erased a big chunk of steep losses suffered amid fourth-quarter market tumult…
Bank Investors Look Beyond Trading Revenue to Deliver Strong Gains