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☆ Kuroda departs BOJ after inflation fails to fly like 'Peter Pan'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Leika Kihara | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The 78-year-old gives his press conference at 0630GMT, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) said. Kuroda was not the first BOJ chief to attempt to influence public perceptions with monetary easing. In 2015, he alluded to the Peter Pan fairy tale in explaining that to fire up inflation, the BOJ needed to have the public believe in its monetary magic with massive stimulus. When allusions to Peter Pan and spacecraft failed, the BOJ shifted to a defensive, long-term approach in 2016 with the introduction of yield curve control (YCC). "The BOJ's failure to change public expectations raises a lot of questions about the effectiveness of unconventional monetary policy."

☆ Premarket stocks: The US economy is unwell. April could be a cruel month
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

New York CNN —After months of a remarkably strong US labor market and economy, everything seems to be slowing down. The question is whether Friday’s monthly jobs report, easily the most anticipated piece of data out this week, will confirm the trend. The unflinching resilience of the US labor market is one of the greatest sources of tension in today’s economy. Over the past year, the Fed has raised interest rates from nearly zero to a range of 4.75% to 5% to cool the economy. A slowdown in the official US jobs report Friday could signal an economic sea change.

☆ Phil Harrison, head of Google's failed Stadia gaming service, has quietly left the company
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Phil Harrison, formerly the head of Google Stadia, has departed the company. Google announced in September it would close down its cloud streaming service. Phil Harrison, who ran Google's now-defunct cloud gaming service Stadia, has left the company. In September, Google announced it would wind down Stadia, which it launched in 2019. Back then, Google pitched Stadia as the future of gaming, giving users access to high-quality games without the need to purchase expensive hardware.

☆ LVMH boss Bernard Arnault's wealth soared over $200 billion, making him the third person ever after Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos to reach the milestone
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

LVMH boss Bernard Arnault's net worth surpassed $200 billion on Tuesday. Arnault is also the first person outside the US to surpass a net worth of $200 billion. His net worth gained $2.4 billion on Tuesday, bringing the Frenchman's fortune to $201 billion, per Bloomberg's index. Shoppers in China are expected to boost the luxury goods sector this year after the country lifted COVID-zero restrictions. The 73-year-old tycoon has not announced who will succeed him as LVMH CEO.

☆ 'Shotgun wedding': What the UBS rescue of Credit Suisse means for global markets
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Axel Lehmann, chairman of Credit Suisse Group AG, left, and Colm Kelleher, chairman of UBS Group AG, during a news conference in Bern, Switzerland, on Sunday, March 19, 2023. "The accelerating loss of confidence and the escalation over the last few days have made it clear that Credit Suisse can no longer exist in its current form," Lehmann said. In equal parts "shotgun wedding" and arranged marriage, UBS agreed to buy stricken domestic rival Credit Suisse for 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.25 billion) on Sunday. The government will offer a loss guarantee of up to 9 billion Swiss francs, with UBS assuming the first 5 billion of potential losses. Shares of both UBS and Credit Suisse plunged on Monday morning, however.

☆ Credit Suisse puts new dent in Swiss bank armour
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Lisa Jucca | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The Swiss National Bank’s intervention this week to prop up Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) was anything but uneventful. To rescue the country’s biggest lender, the government in Bern injected 6 billion Swiss francs in capital while the central bank carved off some 40 billion Swiss francs of toxic assets into a special purpose vehicle. The SNB made more than 5 billion Swiss francs from winding down UBS’s bad bank and the state booked over 1 billion Swiss francs of gains on its equity stake. Nervous clients pulled more than 100 billion Swiss francs from the Zurich-based bank in the fourth quarter of last year and may be hesitant to return. Switzerland’s two biggest banks, UBS and Credit Suisse, each had total asset exposure of between 120% and 140% of the country’s GDP.

For more than a decade after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, Washington’s regulatory watchdogs sought to ensure that they would never again face fraught weekend deliberations about propping up the financial system from a bank failure. Last weekend, they did.

☆ How China is helping to prop up the Russian economy through the war in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

China has been buying more energy from Russia since the Ukraine war started. Total trade between China and Russia hit a new record high in 2022, up 30% to $190 billion, according to Chinese customs figures. In particular, the energy trade has risen markedly since the onset of the war. Russian companies have been using more yuan to facilitate the increased trade with China. UnionPay, the Chinese payments system, has reportedly stopped accepting cards issued by Russian banks over fears of international sanctions, according to Russian paper Kommersant.

The London-headquartered bank (HSBA.L) said on Tuesday it would pay a special dividend of $0.21 per share, from the proceeds of the $10 billion sale of its Canada business. HSBC's conservative outlook echoed that of British rival NatWest (NWG.L), which warned last week that profit earned from rising interest rates may have peaked. HSBC said annual expected credit losses rose to $3.6 billion, more than the $3.2 billion analysts had estimated, due to rising inflation pressuring borrowers and lingering problems in China's property market. That matched the $17.5 billion average estimate of 22 analysts compiled by the bank. Meanwhile, HSBC said it still expects to complete the sale of its Russia business in first-half 2023, taking a $300 million loss.

☆ A year after Russia’s invasion: How Ukraine endured
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +21 min

REUTERS/Valentyn OgirenkoIn the early hours of Feb. 24, 2022, tens of thousands of Russian soldiers entered Ukraine. By seizing the city of three million people, and capturing or killing Zelenskiy, Russia’s hope appeared to be that Ukraine would quickly surrender. By March 23, Russia’s advance had captured regions of Ukraine along the Belarus border but Ukraine’s forces had begun reclaiming territory near Kyiv. Satellite imagery of Russia’s military convoy near Invankiv, Ukraine, Feb. 28, 2022. The two sit on a bed, with a radio and teddy bears nearby., image Ukrainian civilians have endured The will of the people of Ukraine continues to be that they remain free.

☆ CNBC Daily Open: U.S. stocks don't seem bothered by inflation, ignore jump in retail sales
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Yeo Boon Ping | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. It's as if investors aren't concerned about inflation and higher interest rates anymore. It appears that the prospect of sustained economic growth is injecting optimism into stocks too. Recent economic activity and market movement are forcing economists and investors to reconsider the effect of interest rates. The higher cost of borrowing typically slows economic growth by curtailing spending and increasing unemployment which, in turn, depress stocks.

☆ CNBC Daily Open: U.S. stocks don't seem concerned about inflation, disregard jumping retail sales
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Yeo Boon Ping | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The price caps, together with a European Union ban on Russian oil product imports that also comes into force on Sunday, seek to limit Moscow's ability to fund its war in Ukraine, which began nearly a year ago. "The caps we have just set will now serve a critical role in our global coalition’s work to degrade Russia’s ability to prosecute its illegal war," Yellen said in a statement after the agreement was released. Yellen said the sanctions and price caps are forcing Russian President Vladimir Putin to "choose between funding his brutal war or propping up his struggling economy." Yellen said global energy markets had remained well-supplied and public reports indicated that oil importers such as China and India were using the price cap to "drive steep bargains" on Russian oil. A senior Treasury official told reporters that while Washington was mindful of the IMF's view, it remained convinced that the price caps were "changing the trajectory" of Russia's budget because petroleum was the main source of revenues.

☆ Disney and other Hollywood giants spent billions chasing Netflix. But their strategy appears to have a major flaw.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Media companies are trying to get to streaming profitability but their underlying businesses are in worse shape than previously thought. The remedy is to cut content spending, which throws the whole business model out the window. After cheering on Hollywood players for massively spending on streaming content, Wall Street is looking less impressed. Bottom line is, the media business isn't as good as it used to be." But another warning sign for these companies is that in streaming, content may not be as valuable as once thought.

The Fed is widely seen as raising its target interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point in its first policy meeting of the year, after rapid increases in 2022 to tame decades-high inflation. That's the Fed's issue as they finish up their two-day policy meeting today," Turnquist added. All of the 11 major sectors on the S&P 500 were down, with technology shares (.SPLRCT) falling the least. Seventy percent of the 200 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported fourth-quarter earnings have topped Wall Street expectations. Analysts now see earnings of S&P 500 firms declining 2.4% for the quarter, per Refinitiv estimates.

Investors will also parse Chair Jerome Powell's news conference for clues on the trajectory of future rate hikes. All of the 11 major sectors on the S&P 500 were down, with the technology shares (.SPLRCT) falling the least. Dow component Amgen Inc (AMGN.O) slipped 3.7% as the drugmaker said its fourth-quarter revenue fell slightly. With nearly 200 companies in the S&P 500 having reported fourth-quarter earnings, about 70% have topped Wall Street expectations. Analysts now see earnings of S&P 500 firms declining 2.4% for the quarter, per Refinitiv estimates.

☆ U.S. lawmakers seek repeal of Biden solar tariff waiver
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Nichola Groom | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The move is aimed at propping up domestic solar manufacturers, which have struggled to compete with cheap panels made overseas - often by Chinese companies. A Commerce Department probe last year found that some solar panel makers were dodging U.S. tariffs on Chinese-made goods by moving their products through Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. New proposed duties on imports from those countries will not kick in until June of 2024 because of a two-year waiver from Biden. Months later, the Commerce Department issued a preliminary decision to extend existing tariffs on Chinese solar products to goods from those nations. The White House has said the tariff exemption will serve as a bridge while the U.S. sector ramps up.

☆ NBCUniversal expects Peacock losses to peak this year as streamer slowly adds subscribers
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Lillian Rizzo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The NBCUniversal Inc. Peacock streaming service is displayed on a laptop computer in an arranged photograph taken in the Brooklyn Borough of New York, U.S., on Monday, April 20, 2020. Streaming service Peacock has slowly been taking flight with consumers. Like its peers, Comcast has been investing in its streaming platform by putting more of its content on Peacock. Company executives said Thursday Peacock losses will peak in 2023 at around $3 billion, but expect it to steadily improve after that. And besides that, propping up Peacock with NBCUniversal content from its linear networks also only helps to accelerate its bleeding of Comcast's cable-TV customers.

☆ JPMorgan reports a Q4 earnings beat – but CEO Jamie Dimon warns of economic uncertainty ahead
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( George Glover | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

JPMorgan published fourth-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street's forecasts Friday. But CEO Jamie Dimon warned that the war in Ukraine and the Federal Reserve's rate-hiking campaign are likely to cause significant economic uncertainty this year. JPMorgan shares fell 2.9% in premarket trading after the earnings were released. Higher interest rates helped JPMorgan to beat Wall Street's earnings expectations. Shares fell 2.9% in premarket trading after the earnings release, which covered the three months up until December 31.

☆ Thought last year was bad for crypto? From FTX to Silvergate, the red flags are flying for the year ahead.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Those realizations came to head repeatedly in 2022 as crypto hacks and a wintry bear market crescendoed with the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX. On a macro level, persistent recession fears make speculative assets such as tokens or tech stocks less enticing. More notable is crypto bank Silvergate's nearly 50% plunge Thursday, and the company's announcement it would cut 40% of its staff. Job cuts at Amazon and Salesforce signal the first necessary step in staging a turnaround for tech stocks. All told, analysts predict layoffs could catalyze a 20% rally for tech stocks in 2023.

But the headline number masked a more malignant trend, with all key components of core inflation accelerating. "Rising core inflation means that not much will sway the European Central Bank from the hawkish path it set out late last year," ING economist Bert Colijn said. The recession was expected to push up unemployment, naturally dampening price pressures. But employment, already at a record high, is actually going up, not down. "The delayed passthrough of high production costs and a still-strong labour market will sustain core inflation," Riccardo Marcelli Fabiani at Oxford Economics said.

☆ Toyota's CEO isn't fully sold on electric cars — and he says a 'silent majority' is on his side
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Tim Levin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Toyota boss Akio Toyoda has long said that electric cars aren't the only way forward for the auto industry. He said a "silent majority" in the auto business agrees with him. But Toyota, the world's biggest carmaker, isn't quite sold on electric vehicles. "That silent majority is wondering whether EVs are really OK to have as a single option. Not everyone is ready for an electric car, the automaker has said, due to high prices and underdeveloped charging infrastructure.

☆ Stocks drop as central banks meet after 'higher for longer' Fed view
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Amanda Cooper | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

In Europe, the Swiss National Bank delivered an expected half-point hike that brought rates to a 14-year high of 1%. ,Hot on the heels of the Swiss, the Norges Bank raised rates by a quarter-point to 2.75% and indicated it has not finished tightening monetary policy. And next up is the Bank of England, which is expected to raise rates by half a point to 3.5% at 1200 GMT. Just over an hour later, the European Central Bank will also announce its rate decision. This inversion reflects concern among investors that higher interest rates could tilt the economy into recession.

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