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☆ NBA roundup: Anthony Davis, Lakers sprint past Grizzlies
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/5] Apr 22, 2023; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Dennis Schroder (17) shoots the ball against Memphis Grizzlies forward David Roddy (27) in the fourth quarter during game three of the 2023 NBA playoffs at Crypto.com Arena. LeBron James added 25 points and nine rebounds as the Lakers took a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference matchup. D'Angelo Russell had 17 points and Rui Hachimura scored 16 for Los Angeles, which led by as many as 29 points in the wire-to-wire victory. Desmond Bane (18 points) ended the Morant run with a 3-pointer that cut the Los Angeles lead to 108-99 with 1:24 remaining. James Harden collected 17 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds.

☆ The Wildest Seat in the NBA Is the One Next to Steve Ballmer
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Robert O Connell | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

There are hazards to sitting courtside at an NBA game. A player lunging after a loose ball might topple toward you, forcing a split-second decision about whether to cushion the landing or dive for safety. A spilled drink—a minor inconvenience in the 300 level—brings a delay and an arena full of impatient eyes. Sitting next to Steve Ballmer , the former Microsoft CEO and current owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, involves potentially mortal danger. Chaz Fitzhugh, his longtime friend and a regular guest at the seats Ballmer keeps along the baseline, has a heart condition, which necessitates certain arrangements.

"Fox has admitted to telling lies about Dominion that caused enormous damage to my company, our employees and our customers," Poulos said in a statement. Fox anchor Neil Cavuto broke into his news show "Your World" about 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time to report the settlement. In February court filings, Dominion cited a trove of internal communications in which Murdoch and other Fox figures privately acknowledged that the vote-rigging claims made about Dominion on-air were false. Dominion said Fox amplified the untrue claims to boost its ratings and prevent its viewers from migrating to other media competitors on the right. ANOTHER LAWSUIT PENDINGAdding to the legal risks for Fox, another U.S. voting technology company, Smartmatic, is pursuing its own defamation lawsuit seeking $2.7 billion in damages in a New York state court.

"Fox has admitted to telling lies about Dominion that caused enormous damage to my company, our employees and our customers," Poulos said in a statement. Shares of Fox Corp closed up slightly at $34 per share, but were down 1% in after-hours trading after the settlement amount was disclosed. Fox Corp CEO Lachlan Murdoch told Wall Street analysts in February that the company had about $4 billion cash on hand. [1/5] Dominion CEO John Poulos and lawyers speak to the media after Dominion Voting Systems and Fox settled a defamation lawsuit for $787.5 million, avoiding trial, over Fox's coverage of debunked election-rigging claims, in Delaware Superior Court, in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S. April 18, 2023. Fox Corp reported nearly $14 billion in annual revenue last year.

LONDON, April 14 (Reuters) - A year on from the nickel crisis the London Metal Exchange (LME) is still struggling to regain trading momentum. Volumes dropped sharply after the controversial decision to suspend nickel trading and cancel trades. In this subdued metals trading landscape there are currently two unlikely star performers: London lead and Shanghai tin. The Shanghai nickel contract took a big collateral hit from the LME's crisis and volumes remain depressed, down by half year-on-year in the first quarter. ShFE volumes year-on-year change in Q1 2023LEAD GETS INDEX BOOSTERThe two metallic stand-outs in terms of first-quarter trading activity were LME lead and ShFE tin.

☆ Exclusive: ECB policymakers converging on 25-bps rate hike in May - sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Balazs Koranyi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The ECB has raised rates by at least 50 basis points each at six successive meetings -- the fastest pace on record -- to fight stubbornly high inflation. The sources said that some are advocating no change in May - mostly the same Southern European policymakers who did not support last month's 50 basis point increase, while others - also a small group - argue for another 50 basis point hike. Klaas Knot of the Netherlands said it was unclear whether 50 basis points would be needed or if 25 was enough. Slovakia's Peter Kazimir said the ECB could perhaps slow down the pace of its increases while Austria's Robert Holzmann meanwhile backed another 50 basis point move. Markets currently price 25 basis point hikes each in May and June, while a third such increase is fully priced in by September.

☆ Exclusive: ECB policymakers converging on 25-bps rate hike in May , sources say
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Balazs Koranyi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

☆ Banking turmoil questions begin at board level, says Basel's de Cos
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

These events marked the first real stress test of banks since the global financial crisis of 2007-09, de Cos told an Institute of International Finance roundtable in Washington. While it was unlikely a single culprit was to blame, he said the "whodunnit" task should start with bank boards. "A bank’s board, senior management and risk management function should be asking themselves questions in a timely fashion and taking credible measures to shore up resilience," de Cos said. De Cos also said supervisors should also ask tough questions and take "decisive action" to ensure safety and soundness of banks. Mark Carney, former governor of the Bank of England and former chair of the Financial Stability Board (FSB), the G20 watchdog that drove through post-global financial crisis reforms of banking rules, has called for a rethink of bank liquidity rules.

☆ BoE's Bailey says bank reforms worked but questions about liquidity buffers
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"Today I do not believe we face a systemic banking crisis. Bailey, however, echoed calls from his predecessor Mark Carney by saying there might be questions over the size of liquidity buffers required of banks in order to tide them over short-term shocks. This must beg the question of what are appropriate and desired liquidity buffers that create the time needed to take action to solve the problem." Data from the European Central Bank on Wednesday showed a slight weakening in liquidity buffers at banks it regulates, though they are still well above minimum requirements. Banks' holdings of liquidity have more than doubled since the global financial crisis, helping to contain fallout from the recent banking turmoil, de Cos said.

☆ How to avoid the next crisis? Banks may have to hold more cash
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

London CNN —Regulators must learn “important lessons” from this year’s banking turmoil, the world’s top financial watchdog has said. Requiring banks to hold more cash to pay out depositors may be one of them. External shocks that have roiled global markets in recent years include the coronavirus pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In other words, banks could be told to hold more assets that can be easily converted into cash to pay back creditors in times of crisis. In the United States, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said it would guarantee all deposits held within Silicon Valley Bank, including those above $250,000 per person.

☆ Yellen says vigilant to downside economic risks, but don't 'overdo the negativism'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Andrea Shalal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

REUTERS/Elizabeth FrantzWASHINGTON, April 11 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday said she remained vigilant to downside risks facing the global economy, given Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine and banking pressures, but the overall outlook was "reasonably bright." Yellen, speaking at a news conference, pushed back against warnings by the International Monetary Fund of bigger risks associated with severe financial tensions. "I wouldn't overdo the negativism about the global economy," Yellen said, when asked about a slightly trimmed IMF global growth forecast for 2023 which warned that a flare-up of financial system turmoil could slash output to near recessionary levels. She said the U.S. banking system remained sound, with strong capital and liquidity positions, and the global financial system is resilient due to the significant reforms enacted after the 2008 financial crisis. Yellen told reporters the global economy was in a better place than projected last fall, with energy and food prices having stabilized and supply chain pressures continuing to ease.

☆ Yellen says vigilant to downside risks given war in Ukraine, banking pressures
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Andrea Shalal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, April 11 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she remained vigilant to downside risks facing the global economy, given the negative economic consequences of Russia's war against Ukraine and recent pressures on banking systems in the United States and elsewhere. A price cap on Russian oil was helping to stabilize global energy markets while reducing Russia’s primary source of revenue, she added. The U.S. banking system remains sound, with strong capital and liquidity positions, and the global financial system is resilient due to the significant reforms enacted after the 2008 financial crisis, she said. DEBT OVERHANGYellen said high debt burdens posed a "significant economic headwind for too many countries," with more than half of all low-income countries near or in debt distress, and called for steps to improve the international debt restructuring process. Yellen also called for completion of a debt treatment for Zambia and the rapid establishment of a creditor committee for Ghana.

☆ ECB may need to hike rates again in May - Lane
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

FRANKFURT, April 6 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank will need to raise interest rates again in May if inflation develops along the path seen in the bank's March economic projections, ECB chief economist Philip Lane told the Cyprus News Agency. The ECB has raised rates by a combined 350 basis points since July but did not provide specific guidance for its May 4 meeting, arguing that turbulence in the financial sector required extra caution. "However, we need to be data-dependent about the assessment of whether that baseline still holds true at the time of our May meeting." Largely repeating his stance, Lane argued that the May decision will depend on the inflation outlook, the bank's assessment of underlying price dynamics and on how quickly past rate hikes are impacting the economy. Although bank shares are down by about a tenth over the past month, volatility has receded and underlying inflation, a key worry for policymakers, continues to accelerate, strengthening the case for rate hikes.

☆ Real estate warning: beware the backward cap
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Lauren Silva Laughlin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

The commercial real estate industry has a different kind of backward cap – one that’s also a sign of a losing streak. The cap rate comes from dividing a property’s net operating income in any given year – money from rent minus associated costs – by the asset’s value. For more than 10 years, that gap remained positive even though cap rates were falling in virtually all real estate subsectors, from shopping malls to apartments. Reuters GraphicsAsk a large-scale real estate owner – or several – about this and they are characteristically optimistic. Reuters GraphicsWhen Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, the narrowed spread between cap rates and interest costs didn’t last for long.

☆ A fugitive Chinese billionaire and Steve Bannon ally wants to auction sperm and eggs from unvaccinated donors on Gettr, say reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Fugitive Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui wants to auction sperm and eggs from unvaccinated donors. Guo, an ally of Steve Bannon and other pro-Trump Republicans, was arrested in New York for fraud in March. "Sperm and eggs from our fellow fighters will be auctioned on our Gettr platform between June 1 and June 6," Guo said, per AFP. The billionaire claimed to have gathered nearly 6,000 eggs and "millions" of sperm from unvaccinated donors – and said the sale would include his sperm too. Gettr, where conspiracy theories and misinformation run rampantThe mysterious Chinese billionaire wanted in China over fraud charges.

☆ 'Avoided Emissions' are key to helping society reach net zero CO2 emissions by 2050
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Sponsor Post | Created Panasonic With Insider Studios | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Its CO2 emissions, including its value chain, are estimated to be as much as 110 megatons. To address this, Panasonic unveiled its "Panasonic GREEN IMPACT" initiative in January 2022. This aims for a reduction impact of "around 1% (approximately 300 million tons)" of current total global CO2 emissions by 2050. Panasonic has clearly defined them in Panasonic GREEN IMPACT," said Shimono. ***Avoided Emissions refers to CO2 emissions cut using a company's products or technologies.

WASHINGTON, March 31 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund said on Friday its executive board approved a four-year $15.6 billion loan program for Ukraine, part of a global $115 billion package to support the country's economy as it battles Russia's 13-month-old invasion. The Extended Fund Facility (EFF) loan is the first major conventional financing program approved by the IMF for a country involved in a large-scale war. Ukraine's previous, $5 billion long-term IMF program was canceled in March 2022 when the fund provided $1.4 billion in emergency financing with few conditions. The latest loan is expected to unlock about $100 billion worth of additional international support for Ukraine. An IMF official said the $115 billion package includes the IMF loan, $80 billion in pledges for grants and concessional loans from multilateral institutions and other countries, and $20 billion worth of debt relief commitments.

☆ How post-2008 bank rules led to a 2023 problem
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Liam Proud | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Here’s how that story applies to the collapse of Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) and Silicon Valley Bank. Silicon Valley Bank’s technology-heavy customers attempted to withdraw $42 billion in a day. Reuters Graphics Reuters GraphicsFollow @liamwardproud on TwitterCONTEXT NEWSUBS will rescue Credit Suisse in a deal worth about 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.3 billion), Swiss authorities and the two banks said on March 19. The smaller bank lost 138 billion Swiss francs of customer deposits between Sept. 30 and Dec. 31, a 37% decline. The lender had $173 billion of total deposits on Dec. 31, of which $81 billion were non-interest-bearing demand deposits.

☆ ECB rates will need to rise but possibly at a slower pace - policymakers
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

FRANKFURT, March 29 (Reuters) - European Central Bank interest rates will likely have to rise further to contain inflation, policymakers said on Wednesday, but at least one outspoken conservative floated the idea of a slowdown in the pace of increases. ECB chief economist Philip Lane, who makes the formal policy proposals to his 25 colleagues, said that his baseline is for the turmoil to dissipate and then rates would need to rise several times. "If the financial stress we see is non-zero, but turns out to be still fairly limited, interest rates will still need to go up." Slovak central bank chief Peter Kazimir, a proponent of rapid rate increases, meanwhile made the case for slower rises following three straight 50-basis point hikes. Reporting by Balazs Koranyi, Jan Lopatka, Jason Hovet and Robert Muller; Editing by Toby ChopraOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Bank of Spain sees turmoil rising funding costs, requiring liquidity sourcing review
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Jesús Aguado | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Non-performing loans stood at nearly record lows of 3.56% in January, far below the all time-high of 13.6% in December 2013. Deputy Governor Margarita Delgado also said that amid a tighter financing conditions following a period of abundant, cheap liquidity, banks should assess liquidity risks and have diverse, credible and plan-based funding sources to allow them to "adapt flexibly to the changing environment." In its report, the Bank of Spain said it expected Spanish lenders to maintain comfortable excess liquidity positions. As of February, Spanish banks' liquidity coverage ratio stood on average at 175% among the significant lenders, well above the global average of 140%, according to the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. Olano said that Spanish banks' exposure to Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) stood at between 300 million euros ($325.23 million)and 400 million euros.

☆ This is not another banking crisis, analysts say — it's 'sentiment contagion' instead
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

"It was more of a 'sentiment contagion' rather than the true systemic contagion we saw during the global financial crisis. Vanguard economists believe that the damage has been largely contained, thanks to the quick action of federal agencies and other banks," Devereux said. The bank launched a huge restructuring effort in 2019 and has since posted 10 straight quarters of profit. "We've seen a lot of stuff breaking and haven't really been paying attention because it's been outside of regulated capital. For the core, the big cap banks in Europe, I think we're looking at a completely different picture and I wouldn't be concerned."

NatWest, supported by climate activist groups, is happy with 100% of facilitated emissions being attributed to the banks behind capital markets deals. Tonia Plakhotniuk, NatWest Markets' Vice President, Climate & ESG Capital Markets, said that 17% risked "a mismatch" because investors would not account for the remainder themselves. This includes Barclays, which apportions 33% of the capital markets financing to the bank and the rest to investors. Reuters GraphicsUntil banks agree on a compromise, experts say lenders could look to book more business as capital markets rather than loans. The Basel Committee's methodology for assessing Global Systemically Important Banks considers direct lending to be six times more important in its impact on the financial system than capital markets underwriting.

☆ Euro pushes higher as ECB chief Lagarde says inflation is still too high
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Silvia Amaro | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The euro traded higher against the U.S. dollar Wednesday, following comments from the European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde that inflation is "still high." However, inflation is still high, and uncertainty around its path ahead has increased. "With high uncertainty, it is even more important that the rate path is data-dependent," she said. This implies additional uncertainty around the baseline for both growth and inflation," Lagarde said. Her comments follow remarks by Joachim Nagel, German central bank chief and ECB member, who noted that the fight against high inflation "is not over".

☆ Rybakina beats Sabalenka to claim Indian Wells title
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 19 (Reuters) - Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina beat a misfiring Aryna Sabalenka 7-6(11) 6-4 on Sunday to claim the Indian Wells title and avenge her loss to the Belarusian in the Australian Open final. Rybakina, playing in her first WTA 1000 final, came back from a break down to grab a tightly-contested first set during which second seed Sabalenka committed 10 double faults and the Kazakh 10th seed never trailed the rest of the way. Despite her struggles, Sabalenka had her chances in the opener but squandered three set points while also turning aside five set points before finally sending a forehand long to give Rybakina control. Rybakina opened the second set with a break before Sabalenka finally settled into her game but the Kazakh sensed her chance and quickly closed the deal on her first championship point when her opponent sent a service return into the net. Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto, editing by Pritha SarkarOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Corporate Climate Targets Get Lift Under Rosier U.S. Government Emissions Outlook
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Dieter Holger | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

A new government projection says the U.S. climate bill will speed up cuts to greenhouse-gas emissions this decade, helping ease the burden on corporate climate targets but still falling short of Paris Agreement ambitions. The EIA considers only energy-related emissions, not the entire economy, and uses 2005 as the baseline because the Paris Agreement also targets that year. The EIA attributed most of the improvement to the 2022 climate bill known as the Inflation Reduction Act. It also remains to be seen if the rosier outlook will spur companies to raise their climate ambitions. “I’m not sure it will lead to more ambitious corporate climate targets, many of which are already targeting net-zero emissions—a goal that will require policy and technology adoption well beyond that included in EIA’s new projections,” Mr. Newell said.

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