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2024-06-02
Bloomberg
Wien Buys in S&P 500 Drop as Birinyi Sees Chance of Correction
The biggest retreat in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index since August is creating a buying opportunity for investors willing to withstand declines that may reach 10 percent, according to Blackstone Group LP’s Byron Wien. The benchmark gauge of U.S. stocks tumbled 2.3 percent to 1,314.55 yesterday after manufacturing expa...
2024-04-07
Bloomberg
Consumer Comfort in U.S. Rises for Second Consecutive Week
Consumer confidence in the U.S. rose for a second consecutive week as an improving job market helped ease the burden of higher fuel costs. The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index climbed to minus 44.5 in the period ended April 3 from minus 46.9 the prior week. A measure of Americans’ views of their own finances increased ...
2024-10-11
Bloomberg
Profit Meets Dream of Obama’s Mother in Finance at Women’s World
The blue spiral-bound book in the Manhattan office of Women’s World Banking Chief Executive Officer Mary Ellen Iskenderian preserves advice from a little- known microfinance expert: President Barack Obama’s mother. The report is as relevant now as when Ann Dunham, an anthropologist who campaigned for financial services...
2024-11-04
Bloomberg
Shiller’s Bubble Warning Dismissed in Loan Surge: Brazil Credit
Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff is disregarding warnings about a housing bubble and is stoking demand instead by helping people buy more homes as prices surge. The government increased the price limit of houses people can buy using the unemployment insurance fund on Sept. 30 after public lending for homes increased m...
2024-04-07
Bloomberg
U.S. Stocks Drop on Japan Earthquake, Government Budget Impasse
U.S. stocks fell, dragging the Dow Jones Industrial Average down from an almost three-year high, as another earthquake shook Japan and a dispute over the federal budget threatened to shut down the American government. Caterpillar Inc., the largest maker of construction equipment, slid 1 percent to lead declines in the ...
2024-10-25
Bloomberg
Supertankers Face Losing Run as Frontline Shuns Oil
Supertanker owners are facing the longest stretch of unprofitable rates in 17 years as the supply of new vessels increases nine times faster than demand for oil. Shipping companies are making $3,826 a day for a single voyage, 88 percent below the $30,900 Frontline Ltd., the biggest operator, says it needs to break even...
2024-04-23
Bloomberg
UBS Hires Bank of America’s Forbes in Revamp of U.S. Unit
UBS AG (UBSN) , revamping its U.S. investment bank under Robert McCann, hired Bank of America Corp. (BAC) ’s James Forbes as vice chairman, adding to a roster of recruits who previously worked at Merrill Lynch & Co. Forbes will focus on trying to win investment-banking mandates from health-care companies, buyout firms ...
2024-01-14
Bloomberg
Generali CEO Greco Targets Higher Cash Flow, Cost Reduction
Assicurazioni Generali SpA (G) , Europe ’s third-largest insurer, plans to cut costs and boost cash flow to more than 2 billion euros ($2.7 billion) by 2015 as it focuses on emerging markets and insurance to restore profitability. Cash flow is expected to increase by 700 million euros from 1.3 billion euros in 2011, th...
2024-04-25
Bloomberg
Gold Rout for Central Banks Buying Most Since 1964: Commodities
Central banks bought the most gold since 1964 last year just before the collapse in prices into a bear market underscored investors’ weakening faith in the world’s traditional store of value. Nations from Colombia to Greece to South Africa bought gold as prices rose for an 11th year in 2011, highlighting the reversal o...
2024-03-27
Bloomberg
Kuwait Finance House Plans to Restructure, Sell Units, KUNA Says
Kuwait Finance House (KFIN) , the country’s largest Islamic lender, plans to restructure, merge or sell unprofitable units, state news agency KUNA reported, citing Chief Executive Officer Mohammed Al-Omar. The bank’s reorganization plan, which involves creating separate divisions for banking, investment, operations and...
2024-10-14
Bloomberg
U.K. Banks Banned From Some Credit Insurance Sales
Barclays Plc , Lloyds Banking Group Plc and other U.K. lenders will be banned from selling most types of credit insurance at the same time they sell the underlying financial products, an antitrust regulator said. The decision today comes a year after Barclays and Lloyds won an appeal blocking the first effort by Britai...
2024-07-22
Bloomberg
BofA Mortgage Liquidations May Jump on Insurance Unit's Sale, Goodman Says
Bank of America Corp. ’s plan to sell the insurance unit it acquired with Countrywide Financial Corp. may result in it liquidating properties faster after homeowners stop paying on debt underlying mortgage bonds, according to Amherst Securities Group analyst Laurie Goodman. Loans underlying Countrywide’s securities wi...
2024-01-31
Bloomberg
Mystery Bank Heist Is Flashback to Berlin’s Murky Underworld
A hidden tunnel, a fake Dutch passport, and strewn contents of smashed up safe-deposit boxes are among the clues confounding police in Berlin trying to solve a bank heist that recalls the German capital’s past as a hotbed of crime and espionage. Police in the city, the scene of the infamous Sass brothers’ bank raid in ...
2024-06-25
Bloomberg
Bafokeng, Anglo Platinum to List South African Mine Venture Next Quarter
The Royal Bafokeng Nation, which represents a 300,000 strong community in northern South Africa, plans to list the Bafokeng Rasimone Platinum Mine venture with Anglo Platinum Ltd. by October. Bafokeng Rasimone, of which Anglo Platinum owns nearly a third, could produce twice its current 200,000 ounces of platinum annu...
2024-07-30
Bloomberg
Mercedes Leads U.S. in Luxury-Car Theft as NYC Targeted
Daimler AG (DAI) ’s Mercedes-Benz vehicles were the most sought-after luxury brand among U.S. car thieves from 2009 through 2012 as the New York City region had the greatest number of thefts, an insurance-industry group said. More Mercedes C-Class cars, a total of 485, were stolen during the period than any other luxur...
2024-12-16
Bloomberg
Daimler's By-the-Minute Smart Car Rentals Woo Customers From Mazda, Fiat
Daimler AG , maker of the Smart city car, is stealing customers from Mazda Motor Corp. and Fiat SpA with rentals aimed at drivers ready to forgo auto ownership. “I thought I would miss my car,” said Sam Eder, a 33- year-old marketing manager in Austin, Texas, who sold his Mazda Miata in June after signing up with Daiml...
2024-12-28
Bloomberg
Obama Summons Congress Leaders as Budget Deadline Nears
President Barack Obama summoned congressional leaders to a White House meeting three days before a year-end deadline to avoid $600 billion in spending cuts and tax increases as lawmakers gave little sign they intend to act together on a budget plan. Obama, who had been negotiating one-on-one with House Speaker John Boe...
2024-04-28
Bloomberg
Economy in U.S. Grew 1.8% in First Quarter, Less Than Forecast
The U.S. economy grew at a slower pace than forecast in the first quarter as government spending declined by the most since 1983. Gross domestic product rose at a 1.8 percent annual rate from January through March after a 3.1 percent pace in the last three months of 2010, the Commerce Department said today in Washingto...
2024-04-19
Bloomberg
Brazil Reports 92,675 Registered Jobs Created in March
(Corrects revised jobs number in February in second paragraph.) Brazil ’s economy created 92,675 government-registered jobs in March, the Labor Ministry said. The figures compare with a revised 315,315 registered jobs created in February, the ministry said in a report distributed today in Brasilia. Government-registere...
2024-12-12
Bloomberg
Steinbrueck Slams Merkel for Putting Brakes on Banking Union
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s challenger in next year’s German election accused her of slowing progress on a European banking union and said the finance sector must take more of the cost of rescuing banks in the debt crisis. Peer Steinbrueck , the former Social Democratic finance minister who was officially nominated this...
2024-06-28
Bloomberg
Roberts Chooses Restraint Over History on Obamacare
If the U.S. Supreme Court had wanted to make history, it could have: Striking down the individual mandate in the health-care law would have been the most weighty Supreme Court ruling since Franklin Roosevelt ’s first New Deal was ruled unconstitutional three-quarters of a century ago. By upholding the individual mandat...
2024-11-26
Bloomberg
Stocks Drop on Korea Tensions, Europe Debt Woes; Dollar Rises
Stocks dropped, extending a third straight weekly decline for the MSCI World Index, as tensions in Korea mounted and concern deepened that Europe’s debt crisis will worsen. The cost of insuring against defaults by Portugal, Spain and Ireland surged and the dollar strengthened. The MSCI World slipped 1.1 percent at the ...
2024-05-24
Bloomberg
BBVA Studies Sale of Latin American Pensions Operations
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA (BBVA) is considering selling all or part of its pensions units in Chile, Colombia, Peru and Mexico as Spanish banks step up sales of assets in Latin America. BBVA is planning the sale because there isn’t a big enough overlap between its pensions unit and its consumer-banking operatio...
2024-08-22
Bloomberg
Eng, KNM, NCB Holdings, Sunway, Ta Ann: Malaysia Equity Preview
Shares of the following companies may have unusual moves in Malaysia trading. Stock symbols are in parentheses and prices are as of the previous close, unless stated otherwise. Malaysia’s FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBMKLCI) Index fell 0.8 percent to 1,472.16. Eng Teknologi Holdings Bhd. (ENG MK): The Malaysian electr...
2024-06-25
Bloomberg
India Boosts Foreign Debt Cap by $5 Billion to Defend Rupee
India has increased the amount of rupee-denominated debt overseas investors can own to arrest a slide in the currency, which sank to a record low on June 22. The ownership ceiling on government bonds was raised by $5 billion to $20 billion, the central bank said in an e-mailed statement today. Long-term investors such ...
2024-07-26
Bloomberg
Junk Appeals With Spreads Wider Than Pre-Crisis, McClellan Says
Junk-rated corporate bonds are “attractive” with relative yields on the debt still wider than before the financial crisis, according to JPMorgan Private Bank’s Megan McClellan. Speculative-grade securities yielded 640 basis points, or 6.4 percentage points, more than similar-maturity Treasuries as of yesterday, accordi...
2024-07-27
Bloomberg
Santander Profit Drops on Spain, Insurance Reserve in U.K.
Banco Santander SA (SAN) , Spain ’s biggest bank, said second-quarter profit fell 38 percent as loan losses rose in Spain and Brazil and the company set aside money to compensate U.K. customers mis-sold mortgage-loan insurance. Net income dropped to 1.39 billion euros ($2 billion) from 2.23 billion euros a year earlier...
2024-07-20
Bloomberg
Senate Democrats Set to Pass Extension of Unemployment Benefits
Senate Democrats are poised today to break an impasse over financing unemployment benefits that has resulted in aid being cut off to more than 2.5 million Americans. With the seating of Carte Goodwin, the successor to the late Senator Robert Byrd , Democrats say they will have the 60 votes needed to overcome procedura...
2024-07-16
Bloomberg
Medicaid Expansion’s Costs to States Leave Governors Undecided
Governors who haven’t decided whether to expand Medicaid to more low-income Americans, a key provision of President Barack Obama ’s health-care overhaul, said the program may wring too much money from their states. Republican governors said at a conference in Williamsburg, Virginia, over the weekend that they will wait...
2024-09-28
Bloomberg
Mets Ruling Reduces Madoff Trustee’s Lawsuit to Foremost Fraud Allegation
The New York Mets ’ owners may still have to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to the trustee liquidating Bernard Madoff ’s investment firm after a judge dismissed nine of the 11 counts in his lawsuit. The trustee, Irving Picard , sought $300 million in profit and $700 million in principal from Sterling Equities Inc....
2024-11-20
Bloomberg
Raskin Says Treasury Agenda Aims to Make U.S. Growth ‘Durable’
Sarah Bloom Raskin , nominated to become first female U.S. deputy Treasury secretary , said the department’s work on housing finance and financial regulation will help underpin the country’s long-term economic prospects. “We have the chance to make important long-term and durable progress for the country,” Raskin said ...
2024-03-27
Bloomberg
BTG IPO Leads Statist Brazil Loosening Shackles for Equities
Back to the game. That’s where billionaire Andre Esteves is leading Brazil with a share sale that may open the market for initial public offerings and ease the economy’s reliance on government loans. It’s also one of the meanings Esteves, 43, gives for the acronym in his soon-to-be-public company, Banco BTG Pactual SA,...
2024-11-02
Bloomberg
Ads Pushing for Romney Victory Vary by Area on Abortion Issue
What voters are being told is at stake for abortion and reproductive rights in the U.S. presidential race depends upon where they live. Republican Mitt Romney’s only television ad on those issues airs in population centers of closely contested states including Virginia, Florida and Ohio. It features a woman at her home...
2024-03-20
Bloomberg
Sock Maker Hack Shows Small-Business Risk Chased by AIG
Jim Throneburg invented Thorlos socks in 1980 and set out to build a brand worthy of the slogan, “caretakers of the world’s feet.” His company, Thorlo Inc., recently found out that it’s also in the business of taking care of customer data. In January, the Statesville, North Carolina-based business discovered hackers ha...
2024-11-21
Bloomberg
Europe Is Breaking. How Many EUs Will There Be?
Prospects for the survival of the euro area are looking up, raising a new question to dominate debate about the continent’s future: Will there be one European Union, or several? To save itself from oblivion, the euro area is embarking on an unprecedented degree of integration that was left undone when Europe started a ...
2024-10-14
Bloomberg
Ex-Heavyweight Boxing Champ Michael Spinks Sues Former Promoter’s Estate
Ex-heavyweight boxing champion Michael Spinks sued the estate of his former promoter, Ronald E. “Butch” Lewis, alleging Lewis failed to properly manage millions of dollars Spinks earned in his career and violated agreements to continue paying the boxer’s living expenses. Lewis, who died this year, commingled his person...
2024-01-09
Bloomberg
Sandy Shows Disaster-Relief Funding Is a Disaster
The Hurricane Sandy aid discussion has been noticeably lacking in common sense. On Jan. 4, the House of Representatives approved a scaled-back $9.7 billion aid package and promised to debate the additional $51 billion offered by the Senate on Jan. 15. But the most obvious solution to disaster-relief spending remains u...
2024-02-15
Bloomberg
Soros, Och-Ziff Cut AIG Holdings as Baupost Takes Stake
Billionaire George Soros and Och- Ziff Capital Management Group LLC scaled back investments in American International Group Inc. and Baupost Group LLC took a stake as the U.S. bailout of the insurer wound down. The family office of Soros disclosed an investment of 8.9 million shares as of Dec. 31, down from 15.2 millio...
2024-05-30
Bloomberg
House Clears Two-Month FEMA Flood Insurance Measure
The U.S. House of Representatives voted to extend for two months the National Flood Insurance Program one day before its scheduled expiration. The Federal Emergency Management Agency contracts, required for businesses and residences in flood-prone areas, would be reauthorized through July 31 under the bill, H.R. 5740. ...
2024-11-16
Bloomberg
Japanese Government Panel Abandons Plan to Break Up NTT, Mainichi Reports
A Japanese government panel abandoned a plan to separate Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp.’s fiber-optic operations into an independent company, the Mainichi newspaper reported, without saying where it obtained the information The panel will this month release a report proposing that the government leave NTT intact ...
2024-10-22
Bloomberg
Weschler Rise From Grace Leads to Role Advising Buffett
Ted Weschler’s first job after college was at chemical maker W.R. Grace & Co. (GRA) In 2007, six years after the company filed for bankruptcy, his hedge fund held 15 percent of the shares. That’s when he called Joe Rice. Rice, a South Carolina lawyer, represented workers who claimed asbestos products manufactured by Gr...
2024-03-27
Bloomberg
Court Reluctant on Gay Marriage Turns to Benefit Question
The U.S. Supreme Court takes up its second gay-marriage case in two days, one that gains new significance after the justices signaled reluctance to decide whether same-sex couples have a constitutional right to wed. Justice Anthony Kennedy , the court’s likely swing vote, yesterday asked whether the court made a mistak...
2024-10-22
Bloomberg
Former PWS Chief Pleads Guilty to U.K. Charges in Costa Rican Bribe Case
Julian Messent, the former chief executive officer of PWS International Ltd, pleaded guilty to paying more than $2 million in bribes to win contracts in Costa Rica. Messent admitted to two counts of corruption for funneling money to at least three Costa Rican officials to retain reinsurance contracts from a state-owned...
2024-04-24
Bloomberg
Too-Big-to-Fail Bill Seen as Fix for Dodd-Frank Act’s Flaws
“Too-big-to-fail” legislation unveiled in Washington today is needed to rein in the biggest U.S. banks because the Dodd-Frank Act has failed to guard taxpayers against future bailouts, the bill’s sponsors said. The four largest banks -- JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) , Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc. and Wells Fargo ...
2024-06-30
Bloomberg
Malaysia Stocks: Berjaya, Kinsteel, Merge, United Malacca
Shares of the following companies had unusual moves in Malaysia trading. Stock symbols are in parentheses and prices are as of the 12:30 p.m. break in Kuala Lumpur. The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBMKLCI) Index fell from a record, losing less than 0.1 percent to 1,574.32. The measure has gained 1.9 percent this quarter,...
2024-07-11
Bloomberg
Treasuries Approach Record Low After Note Auction, Fed Minutes
Treasury 10-year note yields approached all-time lows after the U.S. sold $21 billion of the securities at a record rate and minutes from the Federal Reserve ’s last meeting showed some members favor more stimulus. The auction attracted record high demand from a group of investors that include pension funds and insuran...
2024-02-28
Bloomberg
Most China Stocks Fall on Concern Rally Overvalues Profit
Most Chinese stocks fell as bets that the benchmark index’s rally to a three-month high was overdone overshadowed speculation the government will ease bank- lending restrictions. China Oilfield Services Ltd. dropped 0.7 percent after oil prices sank for a second day. Suzhou Anjie Technology Co., which supplies devices ...
2024-08-18
Bloomberg
Korea May Be Forced to Abandon Woori Sale After Attracting Solitary Offer
South Korea may be forced to abandon a second attempt to sell its $5.2 billion Woori Finance Holdings Co. stake after limits on local rivals, public ire and the global equity rout left it with one bid. A group led by Seoul-based MBK Partners Ltd. and Korean Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives submitted the soli...
2024-12-08
Bloomberg
Gay Marriage Gets Supreme Court Review for the First Time
The U.S. Supreme Court will consider gay marriage for the first time, accepting appeals on a California ballot measure banning the practice and a federal law defining marriage as solely an opposite-sex union. The cases, which the court will decide by June, loom as a potential turning point on one of the country’s most ...
2024-10-17
Bloomberg
Obama Says Romney Words Aren’t ‘True’ in Second Debate
President Barack Obama repeatedly challenged the truth of challenger Mitt Romney ’s statements as the two battled over the auto industry bailout, energy policy and last month’s attack in Libya in their second debate. “What Governor Romney said just isn’t true,” Obama said last night after the Republican presidential no...
2024-07-13
Bloomberg
Flaherty Says Passage of Intact Canada Budget Will Lead to Fiscal Balance
Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said legislation implementing his March budget, which passed the Senate intact last night, will allow the government to exit stimulus spending and restore budget balance. “We have an exit strategy and a plan to return to budget balance over the medium term by restraining the grow...
2024-06-17
Bloomberg
Biggest Distressed Debt Investor Marks Europe With 19% Returns
Howard Marks was failing miserably. It was 1977, and the research group he oversaw at Citibank had recommended Nifty 50 stocks that lost 90 percent of their value over the previous decade. Then Peter Vermilye, Citibank’s chief investment officer, gave Marks an option: He could quit research and start a fund focusing on...
2024-09-27
Bloomberg
Citigroup, Massey, David Jones, Kagan, Enron, Goldman in Court News
Norges Bank, Norway’s central bank, sued Citigroup Inc. along with Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit and Chairman Richard Parsons over $835 million in losses in Citigroup stock and bonds. Citigroup misrepresented its financial condition and failed to disclose material information, leading the Norway bank to buy the...
2024-05-04
Bloomberg
Romney Says Obama Treatment of Chen Means ’Day of Shame’
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney accused the Obama administration, in the interest of diplomacy, of failing to protect blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng. Romney said yesterday missteps by U.S. diplomats led the human rights lawyer to leave the American embassy in Beijing, putting him in dang...
2024-12-25
Bloomberg
Asian Currencies Climb on View Global Recovery Is Intact, Paced by Ringgit
Asian currencies rose this week, led by Malaysia’s ringgit and Singapore’s dollar, on optimism the global recovery is intact after the U.S. economy grew more than estimated in the third quarter. The world’s biggest economy grew at a 2.6 percent annual rate, more than the 2.5 percent reported earlier, the Commerce Depar...
2024-02-07
Bloomberg
Obama Health Rule an Affront to Religious Groups: Ramesh Ponnuru
Kathleen Sebelius , the secretary of Health and Human Services, says that a new health-care regulation “strikes the appropriate balance between respecting religious freedom and increasing access to important preventive services.” That’s what she said when announcing that religious non- profit groups would have one year...
2024-11-20
Bloomberg
FDIC Seeks Lawyer Documents as Federal Suits Loom Against Failed Banks
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has sued one law firm and threatened to sue another to obtain documents lawyers received from executives at five banks that have failed since the onset of the credit crisis. The FDIC seeks the return of files and records that officers and directors at the five financial institutions ...
2024-07-17
Bloomberg
Treasury Yields Close to Lows as Bernanke Refrains From Stimulus
Treasury yields were close to record lows after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke refrained from discussing specific steps for further monetary stimulus, sustaining the refuge appeal of the world’s safest assets. Bernanke told told Congress that progress in reducing unemployment is likely to be “frustratingly sl...
2024-04-06
Bloomberg
Ouattara’s Bid to Unite Ivory Coast Hindered by Outside Help to Finish War
Alassane Ouattara is on the verge of winning the military battle to control Ivory Coast. The challenge of healing ethnic and regional divisions in the world’s top cocoa producer may prove to be a more daunting task. The incumbent leader, Laurent Gbagbo, began negotiating an exit after French and United Nations forces d...
2024-08-14
Bloomberg
Indian Stocks Climb as Metals Rally Overshadows Inflation Data
Indian (SENSEX) stocks advanced for a fourth day, led by metal producers, as Tata Steel Ltd.’s (TATA) profit surge overshadowed worse-than-estimated inflation data. Tata Steel, India’s biggest producer, climbed 3.6 percent after the company reported its biggest quarterly profit in two years. Tata Motors Ltd. (TTMT) , t...
2024-07-19
Bloomberg
Texas, 20 Other States Support Missouri Challenge to Obama Health-Care Law
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and officials from 20 other states filed court papers supporting a Missouri challenge to the Obama administration’s health-care reform law, his office said in a statement today. Missouri Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder and six state residents sued U.S. officials last July claiming th...
2024-08-23
Bloomberg
Purchases of New Homes in U.S. Probably Rebounded in July
Purchases of new homes in the U.S. probably rose in July for the third time in four months, a sign the industry that helped trigger the recession is recovering, economists said before a report today. Sales, tabulated when contracts are signed, climbed 4.3 percent to a 365,000 annual pace, according to the median estima...
2024-04-23
Bloomberg
Al-Ahlia, Al-Babtain, Saudi Fisheries, Sabb Takaful: Saudi Equity Preview
The following stocks may rise or fall in Saudi Arabia’s market tomorrow. Stock symbols are in parentheses and prices are from the last close. The Tadawul All Share Index advanced 0.2 percent, the most since April 11, to 6,730.12. Al-Ahlia Cooperative Insurance (ALAHLIA AB): The Saudi insurance company said it had a f...
2024-04-14
Bloomberg
EC to Study Insurers’ Concerns on New Solvency II Rules, FT Says
The European Commission has agreed to set up working parties to examine areas within new capital rules, the so-called Solvency II rules, that are causing concern to the insurance industry and that are due to come into force in 2013, the FT reported, without saying where it got the information. The move comes in respons...
2024-04-16
Bloomberg
Gold Miners Approaching $1,300 Pain Threshold
Gold miners led by Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX) , the world’s largest, will likely accelerate spending cuts and trim high-cost output as the metal’s biggest plunge since 1980 threatens to make about 30 percent of production unprofitable. Gold futures fell 9.3 percent to settle at $1,361.10 in New York yesterday, taking los...
2024-12-02
Bloomberg
Hot off the Griddle: December 2
Good morning, and welcome back to the Griddle, a morning menu of fortified items for the busy person's media diet. December means holidays and vacations, family and friends. This Friday and every Friday on The Grid we'll bring you the Best of Bloomberg Sustainability from the week that was. Bookmark them for the plane,...
2024-08-17
Bloomberg
Highfields Doubles Stake in Genworth, Opts for Passive Role
Highfields Capital Management LP, whose co-founder Jonathon Jacobson said last month he was “fatigued” with management at Genworth Financial Inc. (GNW) , doubled its stake in the insurer and isn’t pushing for changes. Highfields has accumulated 27.5 million shares of the life insurer, a 5.6 percent stake, it said today...
2024-07-24
Bloomberg
Greenberg Says Thirsty Wall Street Drains Reinsurer Pond
Ace Ltd. (ACE) Chief Executive Officer Evan Greenberg said the influx of Wall Street capital into the reinsurance industry is pressuring rates and that he is prepared to cut sales of backstop coverage. Prices for catastrophe reinsurance have declined about 5 percent internationally and as much as 15 percent in the U.S....
2024-10-01
Bloomberg
Spain’s Socialists, PP Clash Over Taxes Before Election
Spain’s opposition leader Mariano Rajoy said his People’s Party will reduce taxes for companies if it wins the election on Nov. 20, while the ruling Socialists’ Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba pledged more tax to fund healthcare. “One-person enterprises hiring an employee will be granted a 3,000-euro ($4,000) tax rebate,” Rajo...
2024-10-07
Bloomberg
Paulson’s Recovery Fund Said to Return 4.2% in September
Billionaire hedge-fund manager John Paulson posted a 4.2 percent gain last month in a fund that seeks to profit from a U.S. economic recovery, according to a person with knowledge of the returns. Paulson’s Recovery Fund has risen 39 percent this year, said the person, who asked not to be named because the information i...
2024-06-03
Bloomberg
Volcker Named to Panel That Will Advise on Too-Big-to-Fail
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker and former Citigroup Inc. (C) co-chairman John Reed have been named to a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. panel that will help the agency map strategy for unwinding too-big-to-fail financial firms when they collapse. Volcker, who advised President Barack Obama during negotiat...
2024-09-14
Bloomberg
BofA Cuts May Aid PNC as Rivals Challenge Too-Big-to-Fail Firms
PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (PNC) , U.S. Bancorp and Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) are among firms that may benefit as Bank of America Corp. (BAC) sells assets to raise capital. PNC this year pushed deeper into the southeast, a Bank of America stronghold, with the purchase of Royal Bank of Canada’s U.S. retail unit....
2024-06-25
Bloomberg
Obama Must ‘Show Leadership’ on Debt-Limit Negotiations, McCarthy Says
President Barack Obama will have to show some leadership if there is going to be any compromise to raise the nation’s debt limit and stave off a default, said Representative Kevin McCarthy , the third-ranking House Republican. “He’s got to get off the golf course, and he’s got to get engaged,” McCarthy said in an inter...
2024-06-15
Bloomberg
Stocks Jump on Strong Factory Reports
Stocks surged, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index erasing its 2010 loss, and oil rose as growth in New York manufacturing added to signs the global economy is weathering Europe’s debt crisis. Greek bonds sank after Moody’s Investors Service cut the nation’s rating to junk. The S&P 500 climbed 2.4 percent to 1,115.23...
2024-06-30
Bloomberg
Rhodia’s Juery Says Target Intact After ‘Strong’ Price Gain
Rhodia SA (RHA) , the French specialty chemicals maker being bought by Solvay SA (SOLB) , is successfully passing on higher raw-material costs through price increases, allowing it to stick to an annual profit target, according to Executive Vice President Pascal Juery. “The strong increase in our selling prices is allow...
2024-09-08
Bloomberg
Mexico Tax Proposal Said to Exclude Food, Medicine From VAT
Mexico’s government will present a bill today to boost tax collection without applying a sales levy on food or medicine, according to two people with direct knowledge of the proposal who asked not to be identified before the plan is announced. The measure will also seek a levy on sugary drinks and on capital gains from...
2024-11-14
Bloomberg
Local $1.6 Trillion Debt Pile Impedes Rate Freedom: China Credit
Chinese local governments’ $1.6 trillion in bank borrowings are a major obstacle to the freeing up of interest rates in the world’s second-largest economy, according to BNP Paribas SA and Capital Economics Ltd. The financing arms of municipal authorities owed lenders 9.7 trillion yuan ($1.6 trillion), or 14 percent of ...
2024-03-11
Bloomberg
Walker Signs Into Law Bill Curbing Unions, Rescinds His Warning of Firing
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed into law a measure curbing most collective-bargaining rights for public employees. Walker, 43, a first-term Republican, acted today less than 24 hours after the state Assembly gave final approval, capping three weeks of protests at the Capitol. He also rescinded a warning to union...
2024-08-07
Bloomberg
U.K. Stocks Decline on BOE Unemployment Prediction
U.K. stocks fell the most in more than six weeks as Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said the U.K.’s unemployment rate will probably remain above 7 percent for the next three years. Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) slid 1.4 percent after second-quarter profit slumped 61 percent. BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) and Rio Tinto G...
2024-12-15
Bloomberg
Asian Stocks Decline From 2 1/2-Year High on Outlook for Economic Growth
Asian stocks fell, dragging down the MSCI Asia Pacific Index from a 2 1/2-year high, as U.S. and Japanese central-bank reports cast doubt on the strength of the global economic recovery. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s biggest mining company and Australia’s No. 1 oil producer, fell 0.7 percent in Sydney after oil and co...
2024-10-04
Bloomberg
BJ’s Board Should Face Suits Over ’11 Buyout, Lawyer Says
BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc.’s directors shortchanged investors in a $2.8 billion sale of the third- largest U.S. warehouse-club chain to two private-equity firms by dismissing higher offers, a lawyer argued. Officials of Westborough, Massachusetts-based BJ’s turned down higher offers from two unidentified bidders to accep...
2024-11-16
Bloomberg
Ireland Weighs Aid as EU Spars Over Debt-Crisis Remedy
Ireland was in talks over a financial rescue as European Union leaders battled to shield Portugal from the resurgent debt crisis and doubts surfaced over Greece’s economic health. “We are in a survival crisis,” EU President Herman Van Rompuy said at the European Policy Centre in Brussels today. “If we don’t survive wit...
2024-07-21
Bloomberg
Cohen’s SAC Capital Seeks to Disqualify Law Firm Kasowitz in Fairfax Suit
Steven A. Cohen ’s SAC Capital Advisors LP asked a judge to disqualify the law firm that sued it and other hedge funds on grounds the firm’s investigators talked with a defendant who was represented by counsel. SAC Capital joined a motion brought by Morgan Keegan & Co. to kick Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman LLP off ...
2024-12-23
Bloomberg
SouFun to Buy Former AIG Building in Manhattan for $46 Million
SouFun Holdings Ltd., a Beijing- based operator of home-furnishings websites, agreed to buy a Lower Manhattan building once owned by American International Group Inc. for $46 million. SouFun plans to purchase 72 Wall St., which once served as AIG’s training center, according to a statement issued yesterday by the compa...
2024-05-21
Bloomberg
Aflac Signs Multiyear Partnership With College Football’s Heisman Trophy
Aflac Inc. (AFL) , the world’s largest supplier of supplemental health insurance, has agreed to sponsor the Heisman Trophy, given to college football’s best player. Aflac, which didn’t give details of the multiyear partnership, said its sponsorship will begin this season in the 77th year of the award. “We know our acco...
2024-11-08
Bloomberg
World Bank Arm Insures Ghana Seawater Desalination Plant Project
A Ghana seawater desalination project meant to benefit about 500,000 people is receiving $179 million in backing from the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, the political risk insurance arm of the World Bank. The Washington, D.C.-based agency said the investment would help provide 60,000 cubic meters of potable ...
2024-10-18
Bloomberg
Rajat Gupta’s Friends in High Places
Here’s some fresh fodder for armchair ethicists to chew on: Should you help a friend who has been convicted of a crime, when that friendship and business interests overlap? Earlier this week I spent a few hours at the federal courthouse in downtown Manhattan reading through the hundreds of letters sent on Rajat Gupta’s...
2024-10-05
Bloomberg
Romney Vow to Lower Middle-Class Taxes at Odds With Cap
On taxes, Mitt Romney is long on promises and short on details. The Republican presidential nominee pledges to “lower taxes on middle-income families,” without giving high earners another tax cut or adding to the U.S. budget deficit. He can do that, he says, by capping the value of tax breaks available to any individua...
2024-10-09
Bloomberg
Workday Boosts IPO Price Range Seeking Up to $591.5 Million
Workday Inc. (WDAY) , a provider of cloud- computing software that helps companies manage office operations online, boosted the price range for its initial public offering, seeking to raise as much as $591.5 million. Workday is offering 22.75 million shares at $24 to $26 apiece, up from a prior range of $21 to $24, acc...
2024-09-29
Bloomberg
Prudential, MetLife Extend Rivalry Into Japan as AIG Retreats
Prudential Financial Inc. and MetLife Inc. , insurers that have competed for U.S. sales for more than a century, are extending their rivalry in Japan as American International Group Inc. sells units. Prudential, which entered Japan in 1987, is set to buy AIG’s Star Life Insurance and Edison Life Insurance units for $4....
2024-07-01
Bloomberg
FDIC Risk-Retention Proposal May Harm Securitization Market, Industry Says
U.S. securitization and mortgage- industry groups said a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. plan for overhauling part of the $4 trillion asset-backed securities market could restrict credit and undermine economic recovery. The FDIC proposal requiring sellers of securitized loans to keep 5 percent of credit risk in exchan...
2024-04-17
Bloomberg
Canadian Mortgage Growth to Slow as Much as Half in 2 Years: RBC
Mortgage loan growth will slow to about 2 percent to 4 percent in the next two years from 5.4 percent as home sales and prices cool, RBC Capital Markets said today in a note. Loan growth reached a recent peak of 13 percent in May 2008, according to Geoffrey Kwan and Sean Adamick, analysts at the Royal Bank of Canada un...
2024-07-15
Bloomberg
My $80,000 Says Deflation Will Only Get Worse: William Pesek
Naoto Kan may get the state dinners and the motorcades, but he no longer runs Japan. Economist Masaaki Shirakawa does. If anything is clear since the drubbing that Prime Minister Kan’s Democratic Party of Japan took earlier this week, it’s that politicians are passing the buck to the central bank. Expect Bank of Japan...
2024-08-01
Bloomberg
Apple Lawyer Tells Jury Samsung Chose to Copy Apple
Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) made initial pitches to a U.S. jury in their global battle over smartphone patents, with the iPhone maker alleging its designs were copied and the South Korean company countering that Apple can’t claim a “monopoly on a rectangle.” Apple’s lawyer alleged in opening ...
2024-10-04
Bloomberg
Assupol Life of South Africa Plans to Demutualize, Sell Shares to Public
Assupol Life, a South African life insurer, plans to issue shares to the public after distributing stock to qualifying policyholders and some staff through a demutualization that may help raise funds for expansion. “Our intention is to list in 18 to 24 months’ time, after the demutualization,” Rudi Schmidt, group chief...
2024-04-15
Bloomberg
Arkansas Medicaid-Private Insurance Measure Fails in House
An Arkansas proposal to use Medicaid money to buy private insurance for low-income residents failed in the state House. Sixty-nine lawmakers voted for the legislation today, while 28 were opposed, short of the 75 votes needed for approval, said Cecillea Pond-Mayo, a spokeswoman for the Arkansas House of Representatives...
2024-01-10
Bloomberg
BofA Said to Dismiss Asia Mergers Team Co-Head Michael Cho
Bank of America Corp. dismissed Michael Cho as co-head of Asia mergers and acquisitions to cut costs after investment-banking revenue dropped, said a person with direct knowledge of the matter. The departure of Cho, a 15-year Merrill Lynch & Co. veteran who had been promoted to Asia mergers head in May 2009, was among ...
2024-08-28
Bloomberg
Morgan Stanley Win on Brokerage Would Be Pyrrhic Victory
A win for Morgan Stanley (MS) in a fight with Citigroup Inc. (C) over the value of their brokerage joint venture could show the firm is playing a losing hand. Morgan Stanley, which has staked much of its pitch to investors on the stable earnings of its wealth-management business, is arguing that the brokerage is worth ...
2024-02-24
Bloomberg
Bullard Is `Bellwether' as Fed Weighs Duration of Asset Buying
James Bullard was the first Federal Reserve official to call for another round of asset purchases to boost the U.S. economy. He now may be the man to watch as policy makers consider how long to keep the stimulus. The St. Louis Fed Bank president “is a bellwether person, an indicator of where the full committee is heade...
2024-07-06
Bloomberg
Treasuries Little Changed Before U.S. Employment Report
Treasuries were little changed before a report forecast to show the U.S. economy is struggling to create enough jobs to bring down unemployment, underpinning demand for the safest assets. U.S. securities headed for their biggest weekly gain in a month after the European Central Bank and People’s Bank of China both cut ...