Author Archive
Currency Ghosts Fade as Emerging-Market Central Banks Stand Pat
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South Korea, Malaysia poised to keep interest rates on hold
- China growth data key as trade-war concerns continue to loom
South Korea and Malaysia may provide further evidence this week that emerging-market central banks have successfully vanquished the currency crises of 2018, with policy makers in both countries forecast to hold interest rates steady.
Turkey, Indonesia and South Africa all kept rates on hold last week, underscoring how tighter monetary policy in many developing economies is keeping the lid on inflation, part of a mix that’s helping to fuel stocks, bonds and currencies…
Malaysia’s Finance Minister Wants Goldman’s $7.5 Billion, Not an Apology
Posted by: | CommentsLim Guan Eng seeks full reimbursement and reparations for the money the 1MDB fund raised with the investment bank’s help
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia—Malaysia’s finance minister waved off an apology from Goldman Sachs Chief Executive David Solomon for the role of one its then-bankers in the scandal surrounding state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd., saying it wasn’t enough.
Lim Guan Eng said Friday that the only apology that would matter is one that comes with full reimbursement and reparations for the $6.5 billion the 1MDB fund raised with the investment bank’s help. Prosecutors say much of the money was later siphoned off, with several hundred…
Wells Fargo Admits That It Will Remain In A Bad Bank Time Out For 2019
Posted by: | CommentsAmerica’s naughtiest lender will stay under Fed punishment for the whole year.
How is your 2019 going so far, Tim Sloan?
Wells Fargo will continue to operate under a Federal Reserve restriction on its growth through the end of this year, its CEO said on Tuesday, longer than previously estimated.
Shares of the San Francisco bank fell nearly 3 percent on Tuesday.
We’ll take that as a “so-so”?…
Wells Fargo Admits That It Will Remain In A Bad Bank Time Out For 2019
Asking Prices for London Homes Slump to Lowest Since 2015
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Rightmove says owners holding off listing properties for sale
- Prices rise nationally, led by gains in northern England
London home asking prices fell to their weakest level in 3 1/2-years in January as sellers spooked by Brexit held off putting their properties up for sale.
Asking prices in the capital slipped 1.5 percent from December to 593,972 pounds ($765,000), the lowest level since August 2015, according to Rightmove. New listings in the first two weeks of the year were 10 percent lower than in 2018 as owners were deterred by the cost of moving and concern about the political backdrop, the property website said…
What Drove Jack Bogle to Upend Investing
Posted by: | CommentsFor Vanguard’s founder, much of life was a near-death experience
History will remember Jack Bogle, the founder of Vanguard Group, as the great democratizer of capitalism, the person who made it possible for just about everyone to afford to buy a stake in stocks and bonds.
I will remember him as the most extraordinary combination of stubbornness and flexibility I have ever encountered. Mr. Bogle died on Jan. 16 at the age of 89…
What Drove Jack Bogle to Upend Investing
Some People Don’t Think Eddie Lampert Is Motivated Entirely By Love
Posted by: | CommentsSears’ unsecured creditors file a “no ghouls” motion.
We’ve expressed a bit of skepticism about the wisdom of Eddie Lampert’s plan to buy Sears again. He finally had a chance to walk away from his biggest mistake ever, and instead he wants to repeat it. Why?
Sears’ unsecured creditors think they know why…
Some People Don’t Think Eddie Lampert Is Motivated Entirely By Love
Why EU’s Budget Rules Invite Members to Test Limits
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Facing EU budget scrutiny again. PHOTOGRAPHER: DOMINIKA ZARZYCKA/NURPHOTO VIA GETTY IMAGES
The European Union requires all 28 member nations to maintain sound public finances, no matter their size or national challenges. But infractions generally don’t result in real punishment, and smaller countries sometimes complain that the biggest economies have gotten the most leniency. That’s set up a perpetual push and pull between the EU and national governments who test the limits, the way Italy did last year. While Brussels dares do little to enforce the rules, the stigma of being a fiscal pariah is often enough to rattle financial markets and push reprobate countries into discipline…
Central Banks Struggle With Policy Settings
Posted by: | CommentsECB outlook reflects a global shift in central banking
FRANKFURT—The eurozone’s economic slowdown has taken European Central Bank officials by surprise, potentially disrupting their plans to lift short-term interest rates this year.
The shift underlines the difficulties central banks face getting back to growth rates and policy settings that were considered normal before the global financial crisis…
Central Banks Struggle With Policy Settings
World’s Biggest Investor Tells C.E.O.s Purpose Is the ‘Animating Force’ for Profits
Posted by: | CommentsA year after his annual letter to chief executives urged them to run their companies with the social good in mind, the BlackRock chief Larry Fink said they must step into a leadership vacuum.
BlackRock’s chief executive, Larry Fink, released his annual letter to fellow executives on Wednesday, several hours after it had been spoofed. Mike Cohen for The New York Times
Larry Fink, the investment manager who oversees nearly $6 trillion at BlackRock, set off a yearlong conversation among business leaders and policymakers last January when he wrote a letter to chief executives declaring that companies needed to do more than make profits.
Run-Down Buildings Are Hot Property in Land-Scarce Hong Kong
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Compulsory sales in city climbed to a six-year high in 2018
- Renovating blocks gives developers a foothold in prime areas
In a city with stratospheric land prices, rundown buildings can be hot property.
Hong Kong developers are increasingly acquiring and revamping old buildings as land gets more expensive. The number of applications for compulsory sales — allowing developers to gain full control of an apartment block after securing 80 percent ownership — climbed to a six-year high in 2018, government figures show…
Run-Down Buildings Are Hot Property in Land-Scarce Hong Kong
Davos Predicted the Stock Market Selloff of 2018
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Delegates predicted complacency among investors on Fed rates
- Consensus right on bonds and Bitcoin, but not on commodities
They may not be happy about it, but the masters of the universe proved accurate in predicting the stock market selloff of 2018.
Long ridiculed as a reverse indicator, especially for failing to predict the financial crisis, the consensus of delegates at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting last January looks pretty smart one year on…
Davos Predicted the Stock Market Selloff of 2018
Inflation Is Flagging in European Capital of Negative Rates
Posted by: | CommentsThe country with the European Union’s lowest interest rates also has one of the bloc’s lowest rates of inflation.
Harmonized data published on Thursday by Eurostat placed Danish annual inflation at 0.7 percent in December, a whisker above Portugal and Greece’s rate of 0.6 percent and less than half the euro area’s average of 1.6 percent…
Inflation Is Flagging in European Capital of Negative Rates
Deripaska’s Fortune Swelled $679 Million in January
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U.S. Senate falls short in effort to keep sanctions in place
- Russian tycoon’s net worth had dropped $5.8 billion last year
Oleg Deripaska’s wealth is rising as his problems with the U.S. subside.
His fortune swelled $679 million this year to $3.5 billion as shares of the Russian’s key asset, En+ Group Plc, surged 19 percent. That followed a drop of $5.8 billion last year, the biggest among Russia’s ultra-wealthy, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, after he and his key assets were sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department…
Deripaska’s Fortune Swelled $679 Million in January
Elizabeth Warren Demands That Wells Fargo Be Kicked Off College Campuses
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Massachusetts Democrat says bank has no place on campuses
- Wells Fargo says it’s taking steps to help students succeed
Elizabeth Warren is demanding that Wells Fargo & Co. be kicked off college campuses, a market the bank has said is among its fastest-growing.
The Democratic senator from Massachusetts and likely presidential candidate said Thursday that she requested more information from Wells Fargo Chief Executive Officer Tim Sloan and from 31 colleges where the bank does business. The inquiry follows a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau report said that Wells Fargo charged students the highest fees of 573 banks examined…
Eddie Lampert Wins Sears Auction, Loses More Generally
Posted by: | CommentsHe realizes this means he still owns Sears, right?
For a while, we thought that there might be an actual method to Eddie Lampert’s Sears madness, a reason for persisting in a hopeless case beyond sheer love for the august retailer he’d spent most of this century starving and/or poisoning and/or bleeding to death. He’d already hived off all sorts of valuable bits of Sears, like its real estate, and had plans to take some more. And, of course, as long as he kept Sears afloat and technically solvent, he was earning a fat 8%-11% coupon on the loans he made to it to keep it afloat.
Manhattan Home Prices Fall Under $1 Million for the First Time Since 2015
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Buyers seeking bargains send median to three-year low
- Price cuts grew bigger in fourth quarter, deepening to 6.2%
Manhattan home prices fell in the fourth quarter, with the median slipping to less than $1 million for the first time in three years, as ample inventory continued to allow buyers to demand sweeter deals.
Condo and co-op prices declined to $999,000 in the three months through December, a drop of 5.8 percent from a year earlier, appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate said in a report Thursday. Many apartments were sold for less than sellers originally sought, with an average discount of 6.2 percent from the last list price. That’s up from price cuts of 5.4 percent a year earlier…
Billionaire Bill Koch Doesn’t Have to Sell His Oxbow Carbon
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Delaware Supreme Court reverses order for sale of company
- Two investors sought forced sale of petroleum-coke producer
William Koch, founder and chief executive officer of Oxbow Carbon & Minerals LLC Billionaire Bill Koch doesn’t have to sell his Oxbow Carbon LLC so two private equity firms can recoup an investment of more than $250 million in the energy company, an appeals court ruled, reversing a lower-court order.
The Delaware Supreme Court said Thursday that a trial judge misconstrued an investment agreement when he ruled that Crestview Partners LLC and Load Line Capital LLC could force the sale of Oxbow…
Morgan Stanley Targets Singapore’s Rich Chinese Entrepreneurs
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Bank is expanding operations for family offices in the city
- Asia wealth management head Vincent Chui speaks in interview
Vincent Chui Photographer: Ore Huiying/Bloomberg
Morgan Stanley, the world’s second-largest wealth manager, is beefing up its services for rich clients in Singapore with a focus on Chinese entrepreneurs looking to set up family offices in the city state.
“The city is a key business hub for China entrepreneurs, as well as a family office nexus,” Vincent Chui, who heads the bank’s Asia wealth operations, said in an interview. The U.S. bank hired Wee Yee Yeong to head its Singapore wealth business this year, and plans to add relationship managers there and in Hong Kong, he said…
Expecting a Huge Payout, Investment Banker Loses His New Job Instead
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Banco Santander said on Tuesday that it would no longer hire Andrea Orcel as its chief executive after it refused to pay him more than $50 million in deferred compensation he was owed by his previous employer, UBS.CreditCreditSimon Dawson/Bloomberg
Andrea Orcel is Europe’s most famous investment banker, a suave, brash and fabulously wealthy dealmaker who counts many of the Continent’s chief executives as his longtime clients.
Last fall, he agreed to become one of those C.E.O.s. He accepted a job running the day-to-day operations of Banco Santander, a sprawling European and American lender whose ruling Botín family is one of Mr. Orcel’s oldest patrons…
Wall Street Rallies for Squash in Harlem at Harvard Club Benefit
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StreetSquash celebrates 20th anniversary, raises $1.4 million
- ‘It’s playing chess while running,’ Samsung’s David Eun says
20th anniversary cake. Photographer: Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg
Not only were the squash courts busy Wednesday night at the Harvard Club in Manhattan, but about 600 guests filled the main halls with squash enthusiasm.
What does that look like? A lot of tall and lean people darting around, filling up on carbs and talking about the game as they raised $1.4 million for the nonprofit StreetSquash…
Wall Street Rallies for Squash in Harlem at Harvard Club Benefit
In spite of the unwashed masses and its leader’s errors, Bridgewater Associates did pretty well last year. And that means Ray Dalio, who delights in making mistakes like no other, did pretty well, too.
The 2018 return not only marked the strategy’s best performance since 2011: It also resulted in a mega-payday for Dalio, who personally netted a cool $2 billion, according to preliminary estimates from Institutional Investor…
The estimated $2 billion Dalio appears to have earned last year works out to about $5.5 million per day — or $228,310 per hour if he worked 24/7 without sleep…
Leslie Moonves to Take CBS to Arbitration Over $120 Million Severance
Posted by: | CommentsLeslie Moonves, the former chief executive of CBS, plans to fight a decision by the company’s board that denied him a $120 million severance payment after he was fired for cause following numerous allegations of sexual misconduct.
Mr. Moonves, 69, told CBS that he was demanding an arbitration hearing, according to a securities filing on Wednesday. His termination agreement gives him that right, and he had up to 30 days after his Dec. 17 firing to challenge the board’s decision to not pay him the severance…
Leslie Moonves to Take CBS to Arbitration Over $120 Million Severance
Wall Street Grows Antsy as Shutdown Threat to Stocks Intensifies
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Now a 40% chance it extends into February, Evercore ISI says
- The longer it lasts, the higher chance it leaks into markets
A growing group of analysts and investors is warning that the U.S. government shutdown could soon hurt stocks.
Already confronting an increase in volatility, an uncertain outlook for interest rates and a trade war that threatens to damp global growth, traders now have to factor in the economic effects of the partial closure, in its record 27th day…
Wall Street Grows Antsy as Shutdown Threat to Stocks Intensifies
Lone PG&E Bull Refuses to Ditch ‘Buy’ Rating Even After 80% Wipeout
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PG&E said it’s heading toward bankruptcy on wildfire costs
- Utility’s shares have plummeted since early November
If you liked PG&E Corp. at $47 a share in early November, you’ll love it at six bucks now.
That, in a nutshell, is what the troubled utility’s last remaining bullish analyst is telling investors after reiterating his “buy” rating on the shares.
Hedge Fund Can Give Olympus a Clearer Focus
Posted by: | CommentsGiven its history of controversy, the camera and medical-device maker’s embrace of ValueAct is encouraging.
Can you teach an old dog new tricks? Olympus Corp. investors appear willing to bet so.
Shares of the camera and medical-device maker, which was mired in a $1.7 billion accounting scandal in 2011, have surged to their highest in almost three years after the Japanese company announced a leadership and board shakeup in response to pressure from U.S. hedge fund ValueAct Capital Management LP.
Hedge Fund Can Give Olympus a Clearer Focus
‘Stealth Easing’ Spreads in China Property as Debt Risks Mount
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A worker pulls a cart under the Liede Bridge over the Pearl River in Guangzhou, China.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
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Cities tweak property rules as market continues to slow
- Nomura sees ‘major’ nationwide easing amid cooling economy
“Stealth easing” is Nomura Holdings Inc.’s description of measures rolled out in some Chinese cities in recent months to counter a faltering property market.
In one of the latest cases, Beijing’s city government offered two residential land plots for sale without specifying maximum prices for the apartments to be built on them, the South China Morning Post reported on Wednesday…
Odey Hedge-Fund Partner Orlando Montagu Is Leaving to Run Sandwich Business
Posted by: | CommentsOrlando Montagu, a partner at Crispin Odey’s hedge-fund firm, is leaving to focus on his family’s famous invention, the sandwich.
Montagu is a direct descendant of the 4th Earl of Sandwich, who was credited with inventing the snack in the 18th century. He will leave Odey Asset Management at the end of March after more than 16 years at the firm. He’ll work at his family’s mostly U.S.-based business, also known as Earl of Sandwich, which has plans to open in London…
Odey Hedge-Fund Partner Orlando Montagu Is Leaving to Run Sandwich Business
Goldman’s M&A Bankers Shine, Traders Stumble as Malaysian Scandal Looms
Posted by: | CommentsThe Wall Street firm’s profit rises, stock responds by rising 9.5%, its best day in nearly a decade
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s merger bankers bailed out its bond traders, who fared badly in late 2018’s choppy markets and saw their bonuses shrink as a result.
Goldman’s fourth-quarter profit of $2.54 billion, or $6.04 a share, rose from a year ago and easily beat the $1.64 billion, or $4.27 a share, predicted by Wall Street analysts. Quarterly revenue of $8.1 billion was flat, while full-year revenue was the highest since 2010…
Goldman’s M&A Bankers Shine, Traders Stumble as Malaysian Scandal Looms
Wall Street’s Earnings Week Bonanza Eases Investors’ 2018 Pain
Posted by: | CommentsBank investors were ready for some good news.
Shares of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. jumped the most for an earnings day since 2008, while Bank of America Corp.’s post-results climb was the steepest in more than seven years. For both firms, shareholders looked past bond-trading slumps and focused on bright spots like merger-advisory fees and lending income…
Wall Street’s Earnings Week Bonanza Eases Investors’ 2018 Pain
‘Patron Saint’ of the Investing Business: Remembering Jack Bogle
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John Bogle Photographer: Matt Furman/Redux
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Founder of Vanguard, pioneer of index funds dies at age 89
- Industry giants from bank CEOs to fund managers react
John Bogle turned investing upside down.
By founding Vanguard Group, and persisting through the disappointing early years of running the first index mutual fund available to individual investors, he ended up slashing fees paid by hundreds of millions of regular people.
‘Patron Saint’ of the Investing Business: Remembering Jack Bogle
Rising Borrowing Costs Spell Trouble for Commercial Real Estate
Posted by: | CommentsThe last time yields were this close to interest rates was near the market’s previous peak in 2007
An important indicator in the U.S. commercial real-estate market is signaling that a decadelong bull run is on shaky ground heading into the new year.
The gap between long-term borrowing rates and what some types of commercial properties on average yield is the narrowest it has been since 2008, according to data firm Trepp LLC…
Rising Borrowing Costs Spell Trouble for Commercial Real Estate
Goldman Says Rich People Will Drag Down the U.S. Economy by Spending Less
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Wealth effect could hurt GDP growth by 0.5 ppt, economist says
- Spending on jewelry, pleasure boats strongly tied to market
The stock-market sell-off is going to be a significant drag on the U.S. economy this year as wealthy households feel its impact, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Lower equity prices could take half a percentage point off U.S. gross-domestic product growth in 2019, with overall tighter financial conditions restricting expansion by around 1 percentage point, Goldman economist Daan Struyven wrote in a note Tuesday. In October, he had said the positive wealth effect from equity gains in 2017 and early 2018 had likely evaporated…
Snap CFO’s Exit Followed Request to Board for More Money
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Stone went around Spiegel to seek a raise, people say
- Executive also sought promotion to Khan’s former strategy job
Snap Inc. Chief Financial Officer Tim Stone, whose resignation after just eight months in the job roiled the social-media company’s share price, left after a dispute with management over pay.
Stone went around Chief Executive Officer Evan Spiegel to ask Snap’s board directly for a significant raise, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The incident sparked tension between the two, resulting in Stone’s departure. Stone also asked to be promoted into a chief operating officer-type role, after the departure of strategy chief Imran Khan at the end of last year, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters. Spiegel instead hired two outsiders: Jeremi Gorman as chief business officer and Jared Grusd as chief strategy officer…
Wall Street’s Big Landlords Are So Hungry for Houses They’re Building Them
Posted by: | CommentsCompanies that once gobbled up foreclosed suburban homes are now acquiring new ones for the rental market
Millennials aren’t the only ones having a hard time finding houses to buy. So is Wall Street.
A shortage of houses in the entry-level price range where first-time buyers and big rental-home companies both shop is prompting some institutional landlords to start building new ones themselves…
Wall Street’s Big Landlords Are So Hungry for Houses They’re Building Them
Wall Street’s Mr. Fix-It Has $338 Million Riding on Fiserv Deal
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Frank Bisignano left JPMorgan to run debt-laden First Data
- He recieved $102.2 million in total compensation for 2017
First Data Corp. was Frank Bisignano’s big bet, rooted in the idea that waiting for Jamie Dimon to retire wasn’t worth it.
Five years after leaving one of Wall Street’s top jobs to lead the debt-laden payments processor, he helped engineer a deal with Fiserv Inc. that could be worth as much as $338 million for him…
Wall Street’s Mr. Fix-It Has $338 Million Riding on Fiserv Deal
House Passes Latest Plan to Fund the Government: Shutdown Update
Posted by: | CommentsThe partial shutdown of the government entered its 26th day with no public signs from President Donald Trump’s White House or Congress of any negotiations to end it.
House Passes Latest Plan to Fund Government (5:50 p.m.)
The House on a 237-187 vote passed the latest in a series of bills to end the partial government shutdown with little Republican support…
House Passes Latest Plan to Fund the Government: Shutdown Update
Dubai Ruler in Talks to Buy Some of Europe’s Most Famous Luxury Hotels
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The Aldrovandi Villa Borghese in Rome.
Source: Aldrovandi Villa Borghese
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Jumeirah owner looking at hotels in Capri, Rome and Istanbul
- Sahenk’s Dogus Holding restructured bank loans in December
Turkish billionaire Ferit Sahenk is in talks to sell some of Europe’s most famous luxury hotels to the investment firm owned by Dubai’s ruler as part of a debt restructuring, people with knowledge of the matter said.
The discussions involve properties including the historic Capri Palace in Italy, the Aldrovandi Villa Borghese in Rome and Istanbul’s Grand Hyatt, the people said, asking not to be identified because the talks are private…
Cuomo Assails Predatory Lending Tactic That Uses N.Y. Courts
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Andrew Cuomo Photographer: Peter Foley/Bloomberg
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Governor seeks to curb abuse of confessions of judgment
- Will propose legislation aimed at cash-advance industry
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is seeking to end his state’s role as the nation’s collections department for predatory loans to small businesses.
Cuomo plans to submit legislation to curtail the use of confessions of judgment, he said Tuesday in his annual message to the state legislature. Confessions are legal instruments that allow lenders to seize the assets of borrowers without notice or a court hearing…
Cuomo Assails Predatory Lending Tactic That Uses N.Y. Courts
German Co-Living Firm to Expand in U.S. With $300 Million Deal
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Medici to open Quarters locations in technology-heavy cities
- Funding provided by family office of investor Ralph Winter
Medici Living Group, a provider of communal housing for millennials, is planning a $300 million U.S. expansion as it seeks to increase the global reach of its Quarters co-living brand.
Over the next three years, the Berlin-based firm intends to add 1,300 rooms across U.S. cities with large pools of technology talent, it said in a statement. The expansion will be financed by W5 Group, a family office run by European real estate investor Ralph Winter…
Morgan Stanley Names 145 Managing Directors, Its Top Rank
Posted by: | CommentsMorgan Stanley named 145 additional managing directors in an annual wave of promotions to the firm’s highest rank, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
The latest class includes 39 women, roughly in line with their share in last year’s group, which included 153 people. Regionally, 61 percent of those promoted are in the Americas, with 26 percent in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and 13 percent in Asia, the person said, asking not to be named because the breakdown hasn’t been publicly announced…
Morgan Stanley Names 145 Managing Directors, Its Top Rank
How Fiat Chrysler Sped From Laggard to Leader in Detroit
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“We went from survival mode in 2009 to a level of stability with a balance sheet and resources that we have never enjoyed in the past,” Mike Manley, chief executive of Fiat Chrysler, told reporters on Monday at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.CreditCreditBrendan Mcdermid/Reuters
DETROIT — A decade ago, Chrysler was the weakest of the three Detroit automakers and staved off collapse with the help of a government-backed bankruptcy. Today, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles appears to be the sturdiest by many measures, in large part because it stopped making sedans well before its competitors.
Bonds That Were Ground Zero for China Debt Woes Now Top Pick
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Investors recommend buying more LGFV notes in 2019: survey
- Stepped-up stimulus measures boost demand for such bonds
China’s stimulus measures are seen easing financial stress at the nation’s debt-laden town builders, making them among the top picks for investors this year, a Bloomberg survey showed.
Some 15 out of 20 analysts and portfolio managers recommend adding more bonds of local government funding vehicles to their portfolios in 2019, according to the survey done in recent weeks. After Chinese government bonds, LGFVs are the most sought after by respondents in the survey, followed by convertible notes…
China Injects Record Funds to Counter Tax, Holiday Cash Demand
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PBOC pumps in net 560 billion yuan via open-market operations
- Today is peak of tax payments, Citic Securities says
China’s central bank boosted injections via open-market operations to the most on record to meet seasonal demand for cash due to tax payments and major holidays.
The People’s Bank of China pumped in a net 560 billion yuan ($83 billion) into the financial system on Wednesday, the biggest one-day addition on record. The PBOC is offering reverse repos to maintain sufficient liquidity in the banking system during the peak season for tax payments, according to a central bank statement…
Malaysia Blames Goldman Sachs for Stolen Billions
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Accused of helping to carry out an international multibillion-dollar fraud, Goldman Sachs has tried to pin the blame on a few rogue bankers.
It is an argument that the government of Malaysia, where the fraud was carried out, is not buying…
Malaysia Blames Goldman Sachs for Stolen Billions
Cracks Start to Show for U.A.E. Banks as Bad Loans Set to Rise
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Provisions could rise by as much as 20 basis points: analysts
- Defaults are likely to increase in property and SME business
Cracks are starting to show in the United Arab Emirates’ banking sector as a property and retail slump take its toll on lenders.
One of the country’s smallest banks is being bailed out, problem loans are expected to rise this year and lenders are exploring mergers to stay competitive. Slow property sales, higher interest rates and a rise in lending amid improved economic growth could mean provisions jump as much as a quarter, according to analysts…
Rare Singapore Hotel Site Gets Record $415 Million Bid
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Commercial buildings in the central business district in Singapore. Photographer: Nicky Loh/Bloomberg
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Oxley Holdings unit puts in winning offer of $415 million
- Private residential plot gets tepid response after July curbs
A rare plot of land that’s zoned for a hotel near Singapore’s central business district has attracted a record bid as developers shift focus after last year’s property cooling measures.
Hedge Fund Called ‘Destroyer of Newspapers’ Bids for USA Today Owner Gannett
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Gannett owns USA Today, The Detroit Free Press and other publications.CreditCreditJacquelyn Martin/Associated Press
By Edmund Lee and Tiffany Hsu
A New York hedge fund known for gutting newsrooms is backing a hostile takeover bid for Gannett, the publisher of USA Today and 100 other newspapers. The unsolicited offer, worth over $1.3 billion, would create the largest newspaper company in the United States and further consolidate a struggling industry.
In an open letter to the Gannett board, MNG Enterprises, which is owned by the hedge fund Alden Global Capital, offered on Monday to pay $12 cash per Gannett share, a 23 percent premium on the company’s closing price on Friday. Gannett shares were trading about 19 percent higher around midday…
Who Could Get Hurt by PG&E’s Fire-Driven Bankruptcy: QuickTake
Posted by: | CommentsPG&E Corp., owner of California’s largest electric utility, warned Monday that it plans to file for bankruptcy protection on Jan. 29, pushed to the brink by wildfire lawsuits that could cost the company $30 billion. It’s the latest fallout from two years of massive blazes that have killed more than 130 Californians and destroyed tens of thousands of properties. The move could trigger big changes for PG&E, its 20,000 employees and the roughly 16 million people it serves. It raises the question of whether people who blame PG&E for burning down their homes will receive the compensation they want. And could bankruptcy derail California’s fight against global warming?
Four Chinese Tycoons Just Transferred $17 Billion to Trusts
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Sunac chair transfers $4.5 billion to trust on New Year’s Eve
- China’s rich rush to protect their wealth as taxes loom
Four Chinese tycoons transferred more than $17 billion of their wealth into family trusts late last year, underscoring how the rich are scrambling to protect their fortunes from the nation’s newly toughened tax regime.
Asian Stocks Are Caught in the Longest Sell-off in 16 Years
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MSCI Asia Pacific falls for tenth consecutive session
- Trade tensions, EM turmoil, stronger dollar behind move
It’s a losing streak investors haven’t seen since 2002.
The benchmark MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell for a tenth consecutive day Wednesday, extending its recent decline to almost 5 percent and bringing the loss in value to almost $700 billion this year…
Asian Stocks Are Caught in the Longest Sell-off in 16 Years
For Hedge Fund Stars, Being Right in 2008 Proved to Be a Curse
Posted by: | CommentsEinhorn, Paulson, and Howard made their names in the crisis, but they faded in the decade that followed.
It was the spring of 2008, and David Einhorn gave the most memorable speech of his career. At a conference in Manhattan, the hedge fund manager took to the stage at the standing-room-only concert hall and delivered a scathing attack on Lehman Brothers. The U.S. investment bank, he said, hadn’t disclosed before that year billions of dollars of assets tied to loans and had incorrectly valued some its mortgage-related assets…
For Hedge Fund Stars, Being Right in 2008 Proved to Be a Curse
Meituan Raises $4.2 Billion in IPO Priced Toward Top
Posted by: | CommentsMeituan Dianping, the Chinese food review and delivery giant, has raised about $4.2 billion after pricing its Hong Kong initial public offering toward the top end of a marketed range, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The company priced its sale of 480.27 million new Class B shares at HK$69 apiece, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. The shares were offered at HK$60 to HK$72 each…
Meituan Raises $4.2 Billion in IPO Priced Toward Top
How Bank Workers Emerged From the Crash $12.5 Billion Richer
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Goldman options granted in December 2008 have soared in value
- BofA, Citi among those whose options expired out of the money
Stock options granted at the depths of the financial crisis have yielded billions of dollars for employees at some of the biggest U.S. banks, while others saw the promise of massive payouts vanish as shares of their firms languished.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Wells Fargo & Co. and JPMorgan Chase & Co.employees reaped about $12.5 billion from stock options exercised in the decade since the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., as some bank stocks rebounded smartly…
Tech Investors Prepare to Say Goodbye to Facebook, Google
Posted by: | CommentsNew S&P 500 communication-services sector will include companies currently in the tech, consumer-discretionary sectors
Billionaire Who Once Built Robots to Trade Goes to War With Them
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Interactive Brokers is first to move its stock listing to IEX
- Chairman Peterffy says investors to get ‘better executions’
Thomas Peterffy helped launch the electronic-trading revolution that transformed the U.S. stock market. And while the billionaire hasn’t soured on automation, he’s taking a lead role fighting back against the speediest traders.
Interactive Brokers Group Inc. announced Wednesday that it will list its shares on an exchange run by IEX Group Inc., which was made famous by Michael Lewis in “Flash Boys.” The 2014 book documented the market’s efforts to use a 350-microsecond speed bump to eliminate advantages IEX believed the fastest traders had in U.S. stocks. When shares of Interactive Brokers move over from Nasdaq Inc., it will be IEX’s first win in its delayed plan to list corporations…
Goldman Warns of Bear Market in Latest Wall Street Trade Alarm
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JPMorgan, UBS have also highlighted potential hit from dispute
- Wall Street’s cautious comments come as U.S. stocks outperform
While U.S. equity investors have kept their cool during this year’s escalation of trade tensions, the warnings from Wall Street are only getting louder.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are the latest to weigh in, highlighting the potential danger to Corporate America if a full-blown trade war erupts. In separate notes published this week, strategists at both firms issued estimates on the possible hit to earnings, with Goldman chief strategist David Kostin going as far as calling for a bear market under a scenario where the U.S. imposed 10 percent tariffs on all imports…
JPMorgan CEO James Dimon Said He Could Beat Trump in a Presidential Election
Posted by: | CommentsMr. Dimon said he’s “as tough as [Trump] is, I’m smarter than he is.” After the event concluded, the executive backtracked on his comments
Rich Asians See Crazy Big Losses Amid Longest Market Sell-Off
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More than two-thirds of the toll is from China and Hong Kong
- Combined wealth of billionaires from other regions rose 2.7%
Asia may be minting the most billionaires these days, but the fortunes held by the very richest are shrinking.
The region’s 120 wealthiest people have collectively lost $99 billion this year, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. By comparison, the 173 richest Americans have gained $132 billion…
Rich Asians See Crazy Big Losses Amid Longest Market Sell-Off
U.S. Asks China for New Round of Trade Talks Led by Mnuchin
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Trump hasn’t yet issued $200 billion round of tariffs
- President has threatened to tax nearly all Chinese goods
The U.S. government has proposed another round of trade talks with Beijing to avoid further escalation in Donald Trump’s trade war with China, the president’s top economic adviser said. U.S. equities rose on expectations the development could ease growing tensions.
Senior officials led by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin recently extended the invitation to counterparts in China, said three people familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity. One of the people said the talks, if agreed to by the Chinese, are likely to take place in Washington…
China’s Sovereign-Wealth Fund Interested in Buying HNA’s Deutsche Bank Stake
Posted by: | CommentsOthers expressing interest include Chinese state-owned financial institutions Citic Group, China Merchants Group and China Everbright Group
China’s Sovereign-Wealth Fund Interested in Buying HNA’s Deutsche Bank Stake