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☆ Euro zone companies are slowing price hikes - ECB poll
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

FRANKFURT, May 5 (Reuters) - Euro zone companies are raising prices at a more moderate pace as their costs stabilise, demand cools and competition mounts, although growing wages remain a concern, according to a European Central Bank survey published on Friday. read moreThe central bank's latest poll of 61 large euro zone companies from outside the financial sector may give it some comfort, with companies reporting slower price growth, albeit with differences among sectors. Labour costs were rising, with wages expected to rise by 5% this year -- unchanged from the previous survey round in February. This meant that service providers, which are particularly sensitive to labour costs, continued to anticipate strong price hikes. By contrast, companies that sell consumer goods, particularly non-essential ones, saw price hikes "becoming more difficult".

☆ Global gas markets rebalancing, to remain tight in 2023 - IEA
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Marwa Rashad | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, May 4 (Reuters) - Global gas markets are gradually rebalancing but are expected to remain tight in 2023 amid lower Russian pipeline gas deliveries to Europe, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday. The European and global gas markets suffered a major supply shock in 2022 when Russia reduced its pipeline gas deliveries to the European Union by 80%, triggering a global energy crisis. Mild weather, an increase in liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports and a strong decline in gas demand helped to cushion the shock leaving Europe's storage 60% full. "The improved outlook for gas markets in 2023 is no guarantee against future volatility...global gas supply is set to remain tight in 2023, and the global balance is subject to an unusually wide range of uncertainties," the report said. In Europe, gas consumption fell by a record 16%, or 55 billion cubic meters (bcm), during the 2022/23 heating season.

☆ IMF sees uncertainty over Japan's monetary policy, spillover globally
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Leika Kihara | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

While most Asian central banks must keep tightening monetary policy, Japan remains an exception with inflation still moderate - though this could change. "There is uncertainty around the direction of monetary policy in Japan, amid a rise in inflation," Srinivasan said. "Changes in Japan's monetary policy that lead to further increases in government bond yields could have global spillovers through Japanese investors, who have large investment positions in debt instruments abroad," Srinivasan said. With inflation exceeding its 2% target, markets are rife with speculation the Bank of Japan (BOJ) could modify its bond yield control policy in coming months. The BOJ kept ultra-low interest rates on Friday but announced a plan to review its past monetary policy moves, laying the groundwork for new governor Kazuo Ueda to phase out his predecessor's massive stimulus programme.

☆ A CFA says you could cost yourself six figures by investing in the wrong type of retirement fund — and explains how to maximize your returns
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Laila Maidan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

While most investors focus on finding the right asset allocation for their retirement fund, Baker believes that asset location, or the type of fund you're using, is just as important. Fund fees can eat into your retirement savingsAnother key detail many investors miss is the fees associated with certain retirement funds. "Unless you want to read a 60-page prospectus, it's very difficult to find out what all of these mutual funds cost," Baker said. While you're still too young to adjust how you're allocating to your retirement fund, you may need to consider where you're allocating. If you needed to withdraw your income from your retirement fund last year, you took a loss on those withdrawals, Baker noted.

☆ Brazilian miner Vale's profit slumps well below forecasts
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The company posted a net profit of $1.8 billion for the first three months of 2023, in a filing to Brazil's main stock exchange on Wednesday, while analysts polled by Refinitiv had forecast a profit of $2.4 billion. Last week, the miner had already reported a slip in iron ore sales volume, blaming it on port loading restrictions and supply chain rebalancing after strong sales in the previous quarters. Revenues, meanwhile, fell 22% to $8.4 billion, also lagging analysts' $9.2 billion forecast. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization came in at $3.6, below analysts' $4.3 billion estimate. Over the quarter, Vale said that prices for its iron ore had averaged $108.6 per tonne, down from the $141.4 per tonne it reported for the same period last year.

The most recent week saw purchases of NYMEX and ICE WTI (+12 million), Brent (+8 million), U.S. gasoline (+2 million) and European gas oil (+1 million) but sales of U.S. diesel (-3 million). But in products, the long-short ratio has increased to only 2.69:1 (40th percentile) from 2.39:1 (38th percentile) on March 21. And in middle distillates, such as gas oil and ultra-low sulphur diesel, the ratio has actually fallen slightly to 1.70:1 (33rd percentile) from 1.78:1 (35th percentile). Even on the crude side, however, the end of the short-covering process has sapped oil prices of some of their upward short-term momentum. U.S. NATURAL GASInvestors are becoming cautiously more bullish on U.S. gas prices, anticipating prices have already dropped so low the balance of risks is tilted strongly towards the upside.

☆ Jobs are strong, inflation is cooling — yet recession worries remain
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Christine Romans | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

In the optimist camp is Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria last week a damaging recession can be averted. “I do think there is a path to bring down inflation while maintaining what I think all of us would regard as a strong labor market.”After months of inflation at close to 40-year highs, prices are cooling. By most measures, the job market is stronger today than it was in February 2020, before the Covid pandemic crashed the global economy. “I think the strong labor market and bringing down inflation are compatible goals,” Yellen said. Another read is that a recession, if there is one, will be mild and brief, without a big spike in the jobless rate.

Imbalance had long riled Nissan executives who complained Renault did not pay its fair share of costs for innovation and development. In a joint statement to Reuters, Nissan and Renault said they were working toward final partnership terms that would make them more competitive. Nissan will invest and provide technology for the venture but will limit its operational involvement, one of the people told Reuters. In rebalancing talks, Nissan has pushed for protection of its technology to limit any downside from continued partnership, people involved have said. Among technology Nissan wants to protect is its work on solid-state lithium-ion battery making and its e-Power electric hybrid powertrain, the people said.

☆ IMF to Latin America: tighten your belts
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"Fiscal policy can help monetary policy in reducing demand pressures," the IMF said in a blog post on its outlook for the region's economy. Employment is above pre-pandemic levels, output is at or above potential, and short-term inflation expectations exceed central banks’ targets, the fund said. However, with softer jobs the need for social spending will remain high, the IMF said. "Rebalancing policy will not be easy," the fund said, adding that there are "serious distributional and social equity issues to contend with. Spending better means spending with more efficiency and transparency, key points in a region often plagued by corruption.

The ECB's systemic risk indicator for the United States, for example, has returned to its lowest level in a year. The near $400 billion that dashed for money funds after the Lehman Brothers bust in late 2008 - despite credit fears in some of those funds - had completely retreated by early 2010. The relative interest rate attraction of bills and repos after the steepest Fed rate rises in 40 years should make this year's flows far stickier - unless or until the Fed were to embark on some dramatic rate easing. Either way, there's now no shortage of savings in cash if or when the lights go green. by Mike Dolan, Twitter: @reutersMikeD; Added chart from Andy Bruce; Editing by Sam HolmesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ BofA reports inflows into global stocks are on a record-setting pace — and ETFs may be a way to play the hot trade
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( Sean Conlon | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

There's a corner of the market gaining traction among ETF investors, according to The ETF Store's Nate Geraci. BofA Global Research's latest market data out late this week appears to support Geraci's thesis. Tierney of Schwab Asset Management contends retail investors don't own enough global stocks. "Rebalancing [to international stocks] to get some more exposure could make sense for a lot of investors," said the senior investment portfolio strategist. His firm's Schwab International Equity ETF , which tracks large- and mid-cap companies in over 20 developed global markets, is up 8.1% so far this year.

☆ China’s Consumers Extend Economic Rebound From Pandemic
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Jason Douglas | Stella Yifan Xie | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A rebalancing of the Chinese economy toward consumption will require policy makers to take steps to boost household incomes, economists say. SINGAPORE—A gauge of activity in China’s services sector reached its highest level in more than a decade in March, a sign that Chinese consumers are heading back to stores and restaurants, powering an economic recovery following the end of almost three years of strict Covid-19 controls. The reading represents a promising signal for the global economy, which depends on Chinese consumers to prop up growth this year as their counterparts in the U.S. and Europe battle rising interest rates, high inflation and the prospect of a squeeze on lending following turmoil in the banking sector.

The Federal Reserve's reluctance to cut interest rates this year is a mistake, according to Wharton School professor Jeremy Siegel. Fed Chair Jerome Powell announced during his press conference Wednesday that despite tightening lending conditions from the banking sector crisis, "rate cuts are not in our base case." He added that Fed policy has been "overkill" on inflation. "I'm just wondering — oh my God, [Powell's] not even thinking about lowering interest rates given what I think the economy is facing under the Fed policy? However, Siegel believes that inflation is "absolutely under control," with the economy currently facing a supply-side issue, not an excess of demand.

☆ IMF says risks to financial stability have increased, calls for vigilance
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

'Think of the unthinkable': IMF chief warns world is a very different place after crises like Covid. International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva said on Sunday that risks to financial stability have increased and called for continued vigilance although actions by advanced economies have calmed market stress. The IMF, which has predicted global growth of 2.9% this year, is slated to release new forecasts next month. Georgieva said policymakers in advanced economies had responded decisively to financial stability risks in the wake of bank collapses but even so vigilance was needed. Doing so, she said, could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 15% over the next 30 years, resulting in a fall in global emissions of 4.5% over the same period.

☆ Leaked email shows Google engineering head Urs Hölzle's plan for increased efficiency, starting with rebalancing the different types of engineers
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Rosalie Chan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Google will be focusing on efficiency this year "given the economic environment," engineering senior vice president Urs Hölzle told technical infrastructure teams. Additionally, the team will aim to use automation to reduce the ratio of site reliability engineers to software engineers to less than 5%. Site reliability engineers manage the operations of Google's systems and keep them running, while software engineers work on developing Google's infrastructure and products. Besides efficiency, Google's technical infrastructure teams plan to focus on reliability, infrastructure innovation, security of infrastructure and data, climate and sustainability, and effectiveness. Below are more details on what Google's technical infrastructure teams plan to focus on:Theme #1: EfficiencyHölzle said that the team should focus on technical efficiency.

Last month he applied the brakes, slowing BP's planned cuts in oil and gas and scaling back planned renewables spending in the wake of the war in Ukraine. The oil major isn't backing away from renewables though, its green chief Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath stresses, it's simply changing the terms of the relationship. "I'm (now) just reviewing the onshore renewables part - so the onshore wind and solar part." BP's head of renewables and gas didn't elaborate on the nature of the latest review. The green stakes are high, though, given solar alone comprises more than half of BP's 43-gigawatt renewables project pipeline.

☆ More pain for the crypto industry means a chance for startups to pivot
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

After an awful 2022 that saw one of the industry's high-profile figures implode, the crypto market is looking for a bounceback. McDermott laid out to Insider's Bianca Chan and Dakin Campbell how tough times for crypto startups mean more realistic valuations and, in some cases, a reevaluation of the business model. Once of the most common critiques I hear about crypto is "It's a solution looking for a problem." The most recent crypto winter could force startups to be a bit more pragmatic about the specific problem they are looking to address. "If you can solve fraud in crypto, you can solve fraud in basically any part of finance," Meier told Insider.

☆ Atlassian cuts 5% of head count as the software maker focuses on high-priority areas
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Business-software maker Atlassian said Monday that it will lay off 500 employees, or around 5% of its workforce. Cuts are not evenly distributed across the company, they wrote in a blog post. Australia's unemployment rate in January was 3.7%, according to government statistics. Australia's unemployment rate in January was 3.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to government statistics. The cost cuts will result in $70 million to $75 million in charges, according to a filing.

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☆ Growth stock vs. value stock? It's all in the eye of the beholder
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Bob Pisani | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Most investors would say it's a growth stock, because it has the traditional characteristics of a growth stock: earnings are growing. But Microsoft is now being classified as partly a growth stock by Standard & Poors, and partly a value stock. S&P growth and value criteria: It's not that simpleThe S&P rebalances its growth and value indexes every year at the end of December. Growth ETFs in 2023 (year to date)Vanguard Growth (VUG) up 11.30%iShares S&P Growth ETF (IVW) up 5.6%iShares Russell 1000 Growth (IVW) up 9.2%However, these are unusually large discrepancies, Ullal said. But 30 years ago, issues like what is a value stock and what is a growth stock were largely determined by specialized stock pickers who set up mutual funds and hedge funds to attract investors.

☆ Unisys, Bed Bath & Beyond slide after removal from small-cap index
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

NEW YORK, March 6 (Reuters) - Shares of IT services firm Unisys Corp tumbled 16.7% on Monday and shares of embattled home goods retailer Bed Bath & Beyond Inc fell about 4% after it was announced they will be removed from the small-cap S&P 600 index (.SPCY) in two weeks. Shares of Unysis (UIS.N) have fallen 80% over the past 12 months. As of Friday, the company's market capitalization was $330.9 million, according to Refinitiv data, or less than the $850 million market cap required for inclusion in the small-cap index. Fair Isaac shares rose 0.25% to $707.01, on track to mark a record closing high, while Lumen shares bounced off near-record lows, up 4.57% at $3.315 a share. Reporting by Herbert Lash; additional reporting by Lance Tupper; Editing by Leslie AdlerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ The unraveling of fintech darling Vise
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +28 min

It was April, and more than two dozen salespeople who worked for the fintech startup Vise had been ordered to a multiday off-site at the W Hoboken hotel in New Jersey to share exhaustive reports on their performance. Even salespeople at bigger, established, top-tier investment-management firms typically wouldn't close $250 million in a year, multiple sales employees said. (K-means clustering is an unsupervised machine-learning algorithm often referred to as a form of AI, Vise's founders said). (Vise's founders disputed this, saying the company received updated financial data only once a day for its portfolio-construction engine.) And to address its "leaky funnel" of overestimating prospective sales, Vise was to stop outreach to new clients while it onboards and upsells to existing clients, the document said.

☆ Australia retail sales rebound in Jan, but pulse slows
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Wayne Cole | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Australian retail sales rebounded in January after a surprise plunge in December that owed much to changing spending habits, though the underlining pulse was facing headwinds from high inflation and rising interest rates. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Tuesday showed retail sales rose 1.9% in January from December, when they dived 4.0%. Government spending also added 0.1 percentage points to GDP growth, while drags are seen coming from inventories, housing and consumer spending on goods. "It's clear that high inflation and rising interest rates are weighing on consumer spending," said Sean Langcake, head of macroeconomic forecasting for BIS Oxford Economics. "With spending still rebalancing toward services and weaker fundamentals for consumption growth, we expect retail sales growth will be quite patchy over 2023."

☆ As markets turn rocky, bond ETFs are giving stocks a run for their money
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Bob Pisani | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

She inquired about buying Treasury bonds directly, which she has never once inquired about in the past. Asking about putting all your money into bonds and chucking the stock market is like the shoeshine boy talking about stock market tips at the top of the stock market. Individuals can of course buy Treasury bonds directly from the U.S. government through TreasuryDirect. Similar products, such as the Schwab Short-Term U.S. Treasury ETF and the SPDR Portfolio Short Term Treasury ETF, also have seen significant inflows in recent months. "ETFs for Treasurys are preferred by many, basically all because they trade like a stock," Morris told me.

Europe’s distillate stocks were -41 million barrels (-10% or -1.43 standard deviations) below the ten-year average at the end of January. Singapore’s distillate inventories were -3 million barrels (-30% or -1.53 standard deviations) below the ten-year average on February 19. At the end of the last three recessions, U.S. distillate fuel oil inventories stood at 151 million barrels (April 2020), 163 million barrels (June 2009) and 139 million barrels (November 2001). By contrast, inventories currently stand at just 122 million barrels, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). So far, there has been only modest progress in rebuilding distillate stocks and defanging the inflation threat.

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