Emerging Markets May Lose Their Friendly Banker
By · CommentsNeed a loan? Don’t call China.
China’s willingness to extend credit has transformed it into the best friend of emerging markets. But there are reasons to believe the flow of easy money may suddenly dry up — just as distressed economies from Argentina and Venezuela to Turkey and Pakistan look to Beijing for a lifeline that would be less onerous than an International Monetary Fund bailout.
In the last decade, China made more than $62 billion of loans to Venezuela, where hyperinflation prompted the government to devalue the bolivar by 95 percent at the weekend. In July, another $5 billion advance was approved to increase petroleum output there, even though a previous oil-for-loan program backfired…
Some Tesla Suppliers Fret About Getting Paid
By · CommentsAuto maker’s tumultuous year has concerned some of its suppliers, which are pushed to extend payment terms or asked to give cash back
Tesla Inc.’s tumultuous year has fueled concern among some of its suppliers about the auto maker’s financial strength after production of the Model 3 car drained some of its cash, according to industry executives and documents.
A recent survey sent privately by a well-regarded automotive supplier association to top executives found that 18 of 22 respondents believe that Tesla is now a financial risk to their companies, according to the document reviewed by The Wall Street Journal…
-
Majority of Pallonji Mistry’s fortune tied to Tata Sons equity
- Change in legal status makes it harder to sell Tata Sons stake
Billionaire Pallonji Mistry has about 84 percent of his estimated $20 billion fortune locked up in a legal battle with India’s largest conglomerate.
The conflict between Mistry and the Tata Group began with a boardroom coup in 2016, when the former’s son was ousted as chairman of the latter. Mistry is one of the largest shareholders in Tata Sons Ltd., which controls the $100 billion conglomerate, and his family has since filed numerous lawsuits against the holding company’s board, alleging suppression of minority interests and governance lapses…
-
UOB, others have also forecast financing costs to rise ahead
- Yes Bank sweetened terms on new loan by increasing margin
Indian firms have enjoyed the cheapest foreign-currency loan costs in more than a decade, but may find the tides turning as banks become more selective.
That’s the view of Sandeep Bhatt, Mumbai-based senior regional manager for India at Export Development Canada, which has been active on Indian loans including major recent deals such as NatSteel Asia Pte, a unit of Tata Steel Ltd. Spreads on investment-grade dollar loans for Indian borrowers may rise over the next six months, he said…
Dow Rises to Highest Level Since February
By · CommentsInvestors are optimistic about deal activity and trade developments
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose to its highest level since early February on Monday, lifted by investor optimism about deal activity and trade developments.
A busy year for mergers and acquisitions continued as PepsiCoagreed to buy home-carbonation company SodaStream International for $3.2 billion, the latest move by the company to diversify away from sugary sodas and salty snacks…
-
FDA clears Teva to sell a copycat of the life-saving device
- Pharmacists can substitute Teva device for $600 Mylan injector
EpiPen, a life-saving allergy treatment widely criticized for its high price tag, will get generic competition for the first time since the autoinjector was approved more than two decades ago.
The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday cleared Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.’s generic EpiPen and EpiPen Jr. for sale, several years after the Israeli drugmaker filed for approval. Mylan NV has attempted to thwart competition from Teva, claiming that differences in how the epinephrine-injecting devices work would confuse patients. While Teva’s device isn’t identical to the EpiPen, it will be fully substitutable at the pharmacy, the FDA said…
-
Trump imposed new sanctions on Turkey, Russia and Iran in 2018
- Restrictions imposed on Venezuela have triggered a default
Under the presidency of Donald Trump, the U.S. is using sanctions against its adversaries — and even some friends — like never before. The latest batch against Russia and Turkey sank emerging markets, with stocks poised for their worst month since January 2016.
Here’s a refresher of the most recent restrictions imposed by the U.S., the outlook for further sanctions and how markets have reacted…
U.S. Sanctions Bring Stress to Already Battered Emerging Markets
-
Westchester homeowners pay on average $15K in property taxes
- New England per capita property taxes among the highest
Imagine setting aside 10 percent of your salary every year towards paying property taxes on your home. Well, that is a reality for some homeowners in the tri-state area.
Homeowners in New York City’s affluent Westchester suburb pay on average $15,000 in annual property taxes, which is comparable to about 10 percent of the average adjusted gross income of $148,775, according to Bloomberg’s analysis of 2015-2016 IRS filings, the most recent available…
-
Mahathir welcomes Chinese investment in paper industry
- Malaysia is China’s biggest trading partner in Southeast Asia
Chinese investors can help reduce the country’s trade deficit with Malaysia, the Southeast Asian nation’s prime minister said in Beijing on Sunday at an event alongside Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma.
During a question and answer session with Chinese executives who expressed concerns about investing in Malaysia given its recent change in power, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad insisted it still welcomed companies willing to do deals that help employ the country’s workers and improve its efficiency without harming local manufacturers in industries like steel production…
-
AirTrunk raised A$850 million in debt underwritten by Deutsche
- The datacenter provider is looking to expand to Asian cities
Goldman Sachs-backed AirTrunk has raised A$850 million ($618 million) to fund the expansion of its two Australian datacenters and a move into Asia to take advantage of a growing cloud computing market.
Deutsche Bank AG underwrote a senior secured loan that will eventually be syndicated to a broader group of lenders, the Singapore-based startup said in a statement Monday. Its latest financing comes on top of a A$150 million six-year term loan from ING Groep NV and Natixis SA secured in February 2017, plus an unspecified amount of funding from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and an arm of private equity giant TPG…
Oil Prices Are Down. Nobody Told the Gas Pumps
By · CommentsThe high prices people are paying for gasoline will eventually squeeze demand for oil.
Oil’s popularity isn’t what it used to be.
It’s not just a looming global trade war. As I’ve written, not only will tariffs and retaliatory measures stifle the activity that normally stokes consumption, they’ll squeeze economies everywhere. That’s a good way to stifle demand.
Oil Prices Are Down. Nobody Told the Gas Pumps
Insurer’s properties bought from Blackstone in 2016 include Manhattan’s Essex House Hotel
China’s Anbang Insurance Group Co. is looking to unload a luxury hotel collection that it acquired for $5.5 billion two years ago, according to people familiar with the matter, as pressure builds on the company to raise cash following its seizure by the government.
Anbang had been listening to offers to buy individual properties within its hotel portfolio, which includes high-end properties like the Essex House Hotel overlooking Manhattan’s Central Park; the Four Seasons Hotel in Jackson Hole, Wyo.; and the InterContinental…
-
Seeking at least $10 billion of assets in each Asia market
- Credit Suisse APAC wealth head de Ferrari speaks in interview
After years of racing to accumulate assets in the key offshore centers of Singapore and Hong Kong, the challenge for wealth managers in Asia is shifting to cities such as Manila, Jakarta and Shanghai.
Private banks that want to tap into Asia’s growing onshore wealth need to think less about regional asset totals and more about accumulating a critical mass of wealth in the individual Asian countries, according to Francesco de Ferrari, head of Asia-Pacific private banking at Credit Suisse Group AG. For the Zurich-based bank, the target is at least $10 billion in each of its 11 key markets across Asia, de Ferrari said in an interview earlier this month…
-
Sorrell’s former strategy chief Read tipped to get the top job
- Read’s style and approach are a shift from the previous regime
As WPP Plc closes in on appointing a successor to its long-time former CEO and founder Martin Sorrell, one man stands as the front-runner: Mark Read.
Read, Sorrell’s former strategy and digital chief, is the favored candidate internally to run the world’s largest advertising group. There’s growing confidence that he will get the role after a drawn-out process that’s already lasted four months, according to a dozen WPP executives, who asked not to be named discussing a company matter.
Wall Street Erases the Line Between Its Jocks and Nerds
By · CommentsThere used to be a strict hierarchy: Traders made money and won glory while programmers wrote code and stayed out of sight. Those days are over.
Wall Street Erases the Line Between Its Jocks and Nerds
-
August drop was the biggest for the month since 2001
- First-time homes are now the cheapest since 2015 in London
U.K. home sellers are offering the deepest summer price cuts on record as they try to get rid of their homes during the holidays.
The average asking price for homes across the country in August tumbled 2.3 percent from July, according to property website Rightmove’s housing index. In London, the plunge was even steeper at 3.1 percent…
U.K. Home Prices Dip With London Leading `Late Summer Sale’
-
Harsh economoic measures may test Maduro’s grip on power
- Inflation likely to worsen after devaluation, wage increase
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced dramatic measures to rescue the country’s flailing economy, including a staggering 95 percent devaluation of the bolivar, in a move that will test the capacity of already beleaguered citizens to stomach even more pain.
The official rate for the currency will go from about 285,000 per dollar to 6 million, a shock that officials tried to partly offset by raising the minimum wage 3,500 percent to the equivalent of just $30 a month. While Maduro boasted in Friday night’s announcement that the International Monetary Fund wasn’t involved in the policies, aspects of the moves bore a resemblance to a classic orthodox economic adjustment, albeit with some confusing twists…
The largest commercial pension fund in Denmark is making a big bet on real estate as it adjusts its portfolio in anticipation of very low interest rates for a very long time.
Michael Bruhn, head of real estate at PFA in Copenhagen, just spent more than $1 billion on property in Germany as he adds to a real estate portfolio that’s now worth over $9 billion…
A $76 Billion Fund’s Growing Bet Shows Normal Is a Long Way Off
-
Investigators zoom in on loans obtained by taxi businesses
- Prosecutors consider filing charges by the end of August
U.S. authorities investigating whether President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, committed bank and tax fraud are focusing on more than $20 million of loans obtained by taxi businesses owned by him and his family, the New York Times reported.
Federal investigators are also looking at whether Cohen violated campaign finance or other laws by helping arrange financial deals to secure the silence of women claiming they had affairs with Trump, the paper said, citing people familiar with the matter. The inquiry has entered the final stage and prosecutors were considering filing charges by the end of the month, the paper said, citing two of the people…
Pakistan Should Beware an Easy Chinese Bailout
By · CommentsBeijing’s debt forgiveness may come with strings attached.
As former cricket star Imran Khan prepares to take his oath as Pakistan’s new prime minister Saturday, there’s one thing he must be clear about: Pakistan may be China’s friend at the moment, but the relationship could quickly turn sour.
In the next month or so, Islamabad may have to take another bailout package from the International Monetary Fund — the country’s 13th. The State Bank of Pakistan now holds just over $10 billion in foreign exchange reserves, giving enough room to buy only two months’ worth of imports…
Oil Hedge Fund Manager Andurand Lost 15% in July
By · Comments-
Andurand Capital Management is down 5 percent January to July
- Oil investors were wrong-footed after Saudis hiked production
Pierre Andurand, one of the most bullish oil investors, lost 15.2 percent in July after markets sold-off, bringing his eponymous hedge fund into the red for the year, according to people familiar with the matter.
After the July loss, the oil-focused Andurand Capital Management LLP fund was down 5 percent through the first seven months of the year, the same people said, asking not to be named discussing private data. The losses came as global oil benchmarks suffered their biggest monthly drop since 2016…
-
Insurer’s asset manager boosts bet on commercial lending
- Deal called ‘important step’ in MetLife’s real estate push
MetLife Inc.’s asset manager struck a deal with State Street Corp. to originate and service as much as $2 billion in commercial mortgages.
The companies will co-lend each loan under the multiyear agreement, New York-based MetLife said Thursday in a statement…
MetLife, State Street Strike $2 Billion Mortgage Partnership
Turkey’s Energy Bill Soars as Its Currency Tumbles
By · CommentsLira’s plunge makes it harder for nation to pay for needed fuel imports, putting broader economy at risk
Turkey faces another big problem after it deals with the immediate impact of its currency crisis: How is it going to pay for its dependence on imported oil and natural gas?
Turkey imports the vast majority of its fuel needs. Its devalued lira makes paying for such imports more expensive. Meanwhile, the economy is rapidly running out of hard currency to pay for that imported energy and support all its other foreign-currency needs, especially among Turkish companies who have borrowed heavily in U.S. dollars…
The Singh brothers were heirs to a health-care empire.
Along the river Beas in North India sits a sprawling spiritual commune that’s somewhere between a traditional ashram and a Florida gated community. There’s a grand meeting hall with tiered spires and pearl domes, but also tract housing and an American-style supermarket. It’s home to 8,000 devotees of the Master: Gurinder Singh Dhillon.
His group, the Radha Soami Satsang Beas, says it has more than 4 million followers worldwide. Many call him a God in human form. But in the secular world of money, Dhillon, 64, is a key character in one of the most dramatic collapses in the annals of Indian business: The unraveling of the financial and health-care empire owned by the Singh brothers, Malvinder and Shivinder…
-
Trade war, China slowdown and stronger dollar are main drivers
- Malaysia, Indonesian bonds among investors’ top picks
From a rising dollar to an escalating trade war, emerging Asian bonds and currencies have had nothing but trouble this year. Investors in the region are bracing for more – at least in the near-term.
A series of Bloomberg News interviews with fund managers from Pacific Investment Management Co. to Amundi SA shows that trade tensions, tariffs and elections are still seen as the main headwinds to Asian markets. What happens in China will be key, with some holding out for a stabilization in the yuan, while others say Asia’s strong economic fundamentals will offer a buffer to any volatility…
U.S. Stocks Surge on Upbeat Earnings
By · CommentsThe Dow records biggest one-day gain in four months; Walmart soars
U.S. stocks soared Thursday, bringing the Dow Jones Industrial Average its biggest one-day gain in four months, as upbeat earnings reports and stabilizing commodities prices helped calm investors’ fears about the global economy.
Stocks around the world had slumped just…
The world’s wealthiest family just got $11.6 billion richer.
Walmart Inc. reported its strongest sales in more than a decade Thursday, sending the retailer’s shares soaring as much 11 percent and boosting the fortunes of Walton family members Alice, Jim, Rob, Lukas and Christy. Their collective net worth surged to $163.2 billion as of 9:35 a.m. in New York, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a ranking of the world’s 500 richest people…
Walton Family’s Wealth Surges $11.6 Billion as Walmart Rallies
Argentina Seeks More Financing With Peso Rout Deepening
By · Comments-
Officials are meeting with investors in New York this week
- Peso has hit new lows despite government’s emergency measures
Argentina is considering proposals for additional financing that may include swaps and credit lines, according to people who met with government officials in New York this week.
Deputy cabinet chief Mario Quintana, Central Bank Vice President Gustavo Canonero and Finance Secretary Santiago Bausili told investors they are reviewing proposals but declined to give details, according to people who met with them. The people asked not to be named because the talks are private…
Selloff sparks fears of broader contagion for tech stocks around the world
The shine is off Asia’s tech darling.
Tencent Holdings Ltd. shares fell as much as 5% on Thursday in Hong Kong after the Chinese internet giant reported its first year-over-year quarterly profit drop in more than a decade. The selloff extended a rout that has wiped out more than $175 billion of the company’s market value since January…
Tencent’s Rout This Year Has Wiped Out Over $175 Billion in Market Value
-
Province sells C$3.65 billion of bonds in two separate deals
- May show effort to advance program ahead of commission report
Canada’s most indebted province sold C$3.65 billion ($2.8 billion) of bonds in a return to debt markets after a longer-than-usual break following a change in government.
Ontario priced C$1 billion of 10-year fixed-rate securities earlier today, and followed that up shortly afterwards with a sale of C$2.65 billion of five-year floating-rate notes, a record for a domestic deal…
Banks Are Eyeing $1.5 Trillion in Credit Card Secrets
By · CommentsCardlytics wants to use your purchasing data to market to you.
Few people can get inside your head—or at least the part of your brain that makes spending decisions—quite like Scott Grimes and Lynne Laube. The co-founders of Cardlytics Inc. deal in some of the most valuable and revealing personal data on the planet: how people use their debit and credit cards. They’re quietly helping some of the largest banks in the U.S. to mine what’s known in the trade as purchase data and use it to encourage customers to buy more things with their plastic.
It’s a Lovely Trade War for China’s Property Firms
By · CommentsThe government is nudging open the door for developers’ funding to counter a slowdown.
The trade dispute with the U.S. hangs like an ax over China’s economy, but for the country’s real estate developers, it’s a boon. Onshore funding is opening up and the government is once again smiling on higher prices.
Property investors should be doubly relieved: Beijing’s measures to rein in financial risk and cut developers’ access to debt have so far failed to tamp down price gains, even as they took a toll on stock prices…
-
Plans can help older doctors, lawyers stash more than $300,000
- Treasury proposed regulations Aug. 8 blocking some strategies
There’s one area where the traditional pension plan is getting new life — as a tax dodge for wealthy business owners.
Pensions, also known as defined-benefit plans, can be used by doctors, law partners and wealth managers to stash hundreds of thousands of dollars in income a year. By doing so, they’ll get around the income limits Congress created to bar them from a generous new tax break for owners of pass-through entities, who report the firms’ income on their individual tax returns…
The Supreme Court probably has enough votes already to overturn state laws that were the product of anti-Catholic bias.
The latest concern from liberals about the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court is that he might vote to strike down state constitutional provisions and laws that bar direct funding to religious schools. It’s probably accurate, but the issue is more complicated than you might think. The state provisions can be traced in part to anti-Catholic prejudice going back 150 years or more. Under current Supreme Court doctrine, these provisions are already vulnerable to being overturned as religious discrimination – whether Kavanaugh is confirmed or not.
-
Gulf state’s emir pledges $15 billion of investments
- Lira rallies as regulator curbs ability to bet against it
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has found a benefactor to help pull Turkey from the brink of a financial crisis as Qatar promised to invest $15 billion in the country.
The lira extended gains to 6 percent after Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Bin Al Thani made the pledge after a 3-1/2-hour meeting with Erdogan in Ankara on Wednesday. It follows a string of urgent steps Erdogan has taken to protect its economy from an escalating feud with U.S. counterpart Donald Trump over an American pastor held in Turkey…
Latest Economic Worries Crush Metals Prices
By · CommentsCopper is set to enter bear-market territory
Copper closed in bear-market territory as metals fell across the board Wednesday, punished by the latest worries that a global economic slowdown will weaken demand.
Front-month copper for August delivery had its worst day of the year, slumping 4.4% to $2.5570 a pound on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange and hitting its lowest level since June 2017. The red metal entered a bear market for the first time since November 2016 and is now down 22% from its four-year highs set in June…
Latest Economic Worries Crush Metals Prices
Midstates Is in Talks to Buy Some Sandridge Assets
By · Comments-
Company is pursuing its operations in Mississippi, Oklahoma
- Midstates made an unsolicited offer for Sandridge in February
Midstates Petroleum Co. may soon walk away with at least some of Sandridge Energy Inc. after setting out to acquire all of it earlier this year.
Midstates is in talks to buy Sandridge’s Mississippi and Oklahoma operations, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because it wasn’t public…
-
U.S., China to meet later this month; Treasury yields tick up
- Dollar slips; China’s offshore and onshore yuan gains
Asian stocks largely reversed losses and U.S. equity futures climbed with Treasury yields, after China said its vice commerce minister will visit America for trade talks in late August. The dollar slipped and the yuan climbed.
Investors Abandon Risk as Economic Fears Grip Markets
By · CommentsStocks fall amid investor worries over protectionism, global economic weakness
-
Intiland, Garuda weigh bank loans as they forgo bond sales
- Indonesian dollar loan margins have fallen to record lows
Indonesian borrowers are quickly learning who their real friends are.
Their lenders are continuing to extend loans, as bond investors get cold feet amid concerns about emerging-market volatility…
Indonesia Inc. Finds Haven in Loans Amid Emerging Market Woe
From President Donald Trump’s trade deficit complaints to Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping’s concerns about U.S. efforts to contain his country’s rise, a lot divides the leaders of the world’s two largest economies.
But if you lay aside the overarching disputes, five specific sticking points come up over and over among the diplomats, executives and trade negotiators seeking to end the trade war between Washington and Beijing. Problem is, resolving any one of them would require China to rethink a development model that has made the country rich and kept the Communist Party in power long past the Cold War…
At issue is whether income from apartment complexes was falsified to support larger loans–which often became part of mortgage securities.
Owners of an apartment complex near Pittsburgh, who wanted to take out a mortgage on the buildings, allegedly made vacant units look occupied by turning on radios, placing shoes and mats outside doors and in one instance having a woman tell inspectors her boyfriend was asleep inside.
The owners obtained a $45.8 million loan, which was wrapped into mortgage securities and sold to investors…
U.S. Pursues One of the Biggest Mortgage-Fraud Probes Since the Financial Crisis
-
Analysts on watch for higher borrowing costs in city
- Intervention this week was the HKMA’s first since May
Hong Kong’s currency interventions continued overnight, taking this week’s total to HK$16.8 billion ($2.1 billion).
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority bought HK$14.6 billion of local dollars on Wednesday, according to the de facto central bank’s page on Bloomberg, after the currency declined to the weak end of its trading band. The aggregate balance will fall to HK$92.6 billion, the first time since 2008 that the measure of interbank liquidity will dip below HK$100 billion…
-
Ex-Noble Group employee Vagner talks for first time on record
- Confirms he is behind Iceberg reports that helped sink Noble
Arnaud Vagner has been a mystery for more than three years.
Noble Group, once one of the world’s biggest commodity trading houses, characterized him as a disgruntled former junior employee behind a series of reports by Iceberg Research, an anonymous group that began attacking its accounting practices in 2015…
The Man Who Triggered a $10 Billion Commodity Collapse Finally Speaks
-
Berkshire’s stake in Goldman was $2.9 billion at end of June
- Company trims stakes in American Airlines, Wells Fargo
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. added to its stakes in two of Warren Buffett’s most favored industries as the billionaire investor widened bets in banking and the airline industry.
Berkshire boosted investments in Goldman Sachs Group Inc., US Bancorp, Delta Air Lines Inc. and Southwest Airlines Co. in the second quarter, the Omaha, Nebraska-based company said Tuesday in a filing. Buffett’s company now holds 13.2 million shares in Goldman Sachs, valued at $2.9 billion at the end of June…
Long-term shareholders were cashing out of HCA Healthcare Inc. in the second quarter, as the stock rallied to record highs in late June — levels since eclipsed by bigger gains this quarter.
Hedge funds Glenview Capital Management, Highfields Capital Management, Wellington Management Group, Magellan Asset Management and Harris Associates cut their stakes in the hospital chain, which saw its shares rise 17 percent in the first half and an additional 27 percent so far this quarter. The investment firms sold a combined 17.3 million shares, according to their latest 13F filings…
Investors Cash Out of HCA Healthcare as Stock Soars to Record
-
Lampert’s hedge fund ESL submits a non-binding proposal
- Fund says it will also solicit buyers for real estate assets
Edward Lampert wants to slim Sears down so it can stay standing.
Lampert, the chief executive officer of Sears as well as its largest shareholder, is proposing to use his hedge fund ESL Investments Inc. to buy the store’s Kenmore and Sears Home Improvement businesses at a valuation of around $470 million, according to a regulatory filing Tuesday…
Sears CEO Bids $470 Million for Kenmore, Home-Improvement Units
Those with at least one collections account removed from their credit reports experienced an 11-point increase, on average
-
Financials or corporates may do SOFR-tied notes in months: TD
- Fannie Mae, World Bank have already done deals based on SOFR
The heir presumptive to dollar Libor is gaining traction with debt issuers and banks may be ready to sell floating-rate notes linked to it within months.
That’s the view of Toronto-Dominion Bank, which was involved with managing the first two bonds ever tied to the new secured overnight financing rate. Those note sales, which both took place within the past month, raised $6 billion for the government sponsored enterprise Fannie Mae and $1 billion for the World Bank…
Turkey Will Put Capital Rules to the Test
By · CommentsA much-touted remedy for financial risk may not be up to the task.
Turkey’s economic and political conniptions have driven a significant sell-off in European bank stocks. This meltdown may illuminate a deeper question about regulation: whether more capital makes banks or the financial system resistant to periodic crises.
Additional capital requirements were the primary regulatory response to the financial crisis of 2008. Global systemically important banks now must increase their total loss-absorbing capacity over time to at least 18 percent of risk-weighted assets and 6.75 percent of unweighted exposure…
The currency is down 9.5% so far this year
The collapse of the Turkish lira rippled to India Tuesday, where the rupee fell to an all-time low against the dollar, as investors sold emerging-market currencies.
The Indian currency fell to an intraday, record low of 70.08 rupees to the dollar in early trade, retaining its position as one of Asia’s worst-performing currencies this year. Analysts said the rupee could fall as low as 70.60 in the next few sessions. It later recovered some ground to 69.89…
Indian Rupee Drops as Lira Turmoil Sends Investors Rushing for the Exits
New Zealand Poised to Crack Down on Foreign Home Buyers
By · Comments-
Legislation will classify residential land as ‘sensitive’
- Adverse housing-market impact could prompt rate cuts: Westpac
New Zealand’s government is poised to ban foreigners from buying residential property, making good on its promise to crack down on offshore speculators who it says are partly to blame for spiraling house prices.
The Overseas Investment Amendment Bill, which will place limitations on foreign purchasers, is due to receive its final reading in parliament later Wednesday in Wellington. Backed by all three parties that make up the government, the bill is expected to pass…
-
Games gaint has tumbled more than 25 percent since January
- Tencent still can’t draw on the potential of marquee games
Investors in Tencent Holdings Ltd., once the hottest stock in Asia, are trying to figure out where the bottom is.
The Chinese internet giant, best known for its popular games and ubiquitous messaging services, has shed more than $150 billion in market value since a January peak, the biggest wipeout of shareholder wealth worldwide. Some $15 billion evaporated on Tuesday after regulators told the Shenzhen-based company to remove Monster Hunter: World from its PC downloads service just days after the action title’s debut…
Larger Tesla Stake by Giant Saudi Fund Faces Hurdles
By · CommentsPIF is already on the hook to contribute to initiatives including Neom, the $500 billion futuristic megacity
Looks like there’s a market for high-end homes in paradise.
At least 55 homes sold for $5 million or more from January through the end of July on Hawaii’s four most populous islands, up 31 percent from the same period last year, according to data compiled by Hawaii Life Real Estate Brokers…
Luxury-Home Sales Boom in Hawaii, With $5 Million Estates Up 31%
Spotify Technology SA, the music-streaming company that’s gained 47 percent since its April debut, attracted a number of prominent hedge funds in the second quarter.
Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management, George Soros’s Soros Fund Management and Louis Bacon’s Moore Capital Management were among funds that held the stock as of June 30, according to filings released Tuesday. Tiger Global Management, an investor in Spotify before its direct listing, also counted the stock as its biggest investment in the second quarter with a 7.2 percent stake valued at $2.15 billion as of the filing date…
Spotify’s $8 Billion Rally Is Attracting Loads of Hedge Funds
Tycoon’s Fortune Grows $2.4 Billion a Day as Shares Soar
By · CommentsChina Evergrande Group has blown past China Vanke Co. as the nation’s biggest builder by market value after a profit alert sent its shares soaring.
For billionaire Hui Ka Yan, the firm’s controlling shareholder, a 36 percent gain in share price in just four days last week meant his fortune swelled by an average of $2.4 billion a day, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. On Monday, Evergrande was valued at about HK$352 billion ($44.8 billion) versus around HK$288 billion for Vanke…
-
Morgan Stanley says short South African rand versus yen
- Ashmore says there’s plenty of ‘opportunity’ left in EM
As emerging markets take a battering from Turkey’s turmoil, sending stocks and bonds toward their lowest this year, traders are positioning themselves to ride out the pain.
Traders pushed down the value of emerging market assets Monday as Turkish assets sank. The carnage in Turkey added to an already fragile landscape amid tensions between the U.S. and other major economies such as Russia and China. While some investors say bargains are already emerging, others bet the best option is to sell stocks and bonds and put their money into cash…
JPMorgan Chase & Co. retail clients who don’t live in the U.S. will no longer be able to keep investment accounts as the bank shuts a business that it’s operated for decades.
“After careful review, we’ve decided to no longer service Chase retail investment accounts to non-U.S. residents,” said Elizabeth Seymour, a JPMorgan spokeswoman. “This decision allows us to focus on our domestic business which remains core to our long-term growth.”…
JPMorgan to Shut Investment Accounts for Foreign Retail Clients
-
Showbox theater has seen acts from Muddy Waters to Soundgarden
- City council rushes to save venue as musicians rally residents
Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Macklemore played there, as did the greats of an earlier era, such as Duke Ellington and Muddy Waters. Now, there’s a plan to tear down Seattle’s iconic Showbox theater to make way for a 44-story apartment tower — and the city is erupting.
For a town that prides itself for its outsize musical history, from Jimi Hendrix to the Grunge scene of the 1990s, the proposal represents the ultimate growing pain: Should a venue that helped make the city so cool be razed to build more homes for tech workers? It’s a question that keeps arising in one of the nation’s hottest property markets…