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☆ An Island Utopia Where Nobody Dies and the Living Is Easy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Chelsea Leu | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

THE FERRYMAN, by Justin CroninFor a science-fictional utopia created by a reclusive “Designer,” the world of “The Ferryman” bears a startling resemblance to the well-heeled strata of, say, San Francisco or New York. The art is bad, and no one seems to realize it. There’s something mildly intoxicating, in fact, about entering this utopia, called Prospera, because Cronin’s shrewd world-building allows us to have it both ways: We sink into aspirational fantasy even as we relish the author’s sly commentary on a certain species of coastal elite. (Prospera is an island, after all.) Rather than undergo the indignities of birth and death, old or infirm Prosperans are sent by ferry to a mysterious island called the Nursery, where their memories are wiped and their bodies rejuvenated, so they can return as hale 16-year-olds with new identities.

☆ Avolon agrees $4 bln deal with Boeing for 40 737 MAX jets
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

DUBLIN, April 27 (Reuters) - Global leasing giant Avolon said on Thursday it had agreed terms for a commitment to order 40 Boeing (BA.N) 737 MAX aircraft in a deal worth over $4 billion at current list prices. Avolon, the world's third largest aircraft leasing firm, said the new jets are scheduled for delivery from 2027 to 2030 and will increase the overall size of its owned, managed and committed fleet to 870 aircraft. "Our commitment with Boeing reflects our confidence in the long-term outlook for the aviation sector. It will also support our airline customers who are looking to plan beyond the robust post-COVID traffic recovery and prepare for future growth, while also reducing their carbon emissions," CEO Andy Cronin said. Reporting by Padraic Halpin Editing by Tomasz JanowskiOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Stolen or Original? Hear Songs From 7 Landmark Copyright Cases.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Ben Sisario | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Here is a guide to some of the most consequential music copyright cases in recent decades, along with excerpts from their recordings. In cases like these, the only material in question are the songs’ underlying compositions: the melodies, chords and lyrics that can be notated on paper. Juries must decide not only if one song copies another, but whether the earlier song was original and distinctive enough to be protected by copyright. “The problem with cases like this is that people ask the wrong question,” said Joe Bennett, a professor at the Berklee College of Music who works as a forensic musicologist in legal cases. “They ask the question, ‘How similar is song B to song A,’ whereas what they should be asking is how original is song A.”Got that?

☆ Judge privately said Fox News spokesperson should 'be nicer' after she 'ratted on other people' about courtroom conduct in Dominion case
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The judge in the Dominion v. Fox lawsuit criticized a Fox News spokesperson in a private conversation. He said she should "be nicer to people" after saying she "ratted on" others for tweeting in court, which is forbidden. She had taken photos of the courtroom on her phone, before the judge or any prospective jurors arrived. After leaving the main courtroom, Cronin went into the overflow room. After hours of waiting and what the transcript refers to as a brief "sidebar discussion held off the record," the judge announced Fox and Dominion had reached a settlement.

LOS ANGELES, April 19 (Reuters) - "Evil Dead," the popular zombie film franchise, is back for a fifth installment with a mother possessed by a parasitic demon that talks, taunts and devours souls. This twist in "Evil Dead Rise," from traditional mute zombies, is something that director Lee Cronin enjoys. The film follows Ellie, played by Alyssa Sutherland, and her three young children in their Los Angeles apartment. In a dark comedic turn, an evil spirit possesses Ellie and turns her against her family. Reporting by Rollo Ross and Danielle Broadway; Editing by Mary Milliken and Richard ChangOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Virgin Money (VMUK.L), Britain's sixth largest bank, said in a statement it had also seen "net business deposit inflows in recent days". That means SVB UK's customer deposits are safe and their loans supported, HSBC's top bosses have said. Franklin told Reuters a number of CEOs and startup execs had started researching other banks with which to park cash in addition to SVB UK this week, citing Barclays as a favourite among some. But the collapse of SVB has intensified scrutiny of the business models of all lenders, including specialists with smaller balance sheets to fall back on. "The UK banking system remains safe and continues to operate as normal."

The S&P 500 banks index (.SPXBK) dropped 6.6% on Thursday and was set to open lower again on Friday. The crisis at SVG was feeding growing investor concerns that banks will be vulnerable to the rising cost of money. In an unusual step, Commerzbank, one of Germany's largest banks, issued a statement, playing down any threat from SVB, saying it did not see "a corresponding risk for us". "The market is treating this as a potential contagion risk," said Antoine Bouvet, senior rates strategist at ING in London. A spike in interest rates has led to a sell-off in bonds, leaving banks exposed to potential losses on the securities they hold.

LONDON, March 10 (Reuters) - Zodia Custody, a crypto custodian owned by Standard Chartered (STAN.L), said on Friday it has registered its Irish unit with Luxembourg's financial regulator. The registration will allow Zodia to provide digital asset custody services for financial institutions in Luxembourg, the company said. According to the regulator's website, Zodia will be subject to supervision from the watchdog for compliance with rules around anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism. "There is a massive opportunity for financial institutions to offer a range of products and services related to cryptoassets," John Cronin, chief executive of Zodia Custody Ireland, said in a statement on Friday. Reporting by Elizabeth Howcroft; Editing by Shounak DasguptaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Grieving women warn of TikTok scam involving sending loved ones' ashes to a fake artist who uses the remains for extortion
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( Jordan Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Three women allege they were victims of an online scam after sending ashes to a TikTok artist for memorial paintings, USA Today reported. In conversations about the project, the artist told Ide that he'd gotten a contract to work in Cambodia. "Cashapp me $1000 and get your ashes sent back to you," a message from the alleged scammer read. Portalupi, the real artist of the advertised paintings, told USA Today he was unaware of the impersonator until after the women had already been scammed. "I am mind blown by this," he said, per USA Today.

☆ Analysis: Goldman Sachs CEO, after missteps, to take center stage at investor day
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Saeed Azhar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

"It's a pretty important investor day," said Mike Cronin, investor director at fund manager abrdn, which owns a stake in the bank. In 2020, Solomon kicked off Goldman's inaugural investor day by telling participants they should feel free to "break into open applause." A deal could broaden Goldman's revenue beyond trading and investment banking, which can be buffeted by economic cycles. The investor day is also an opportunity for the company to address questions around Solomon's leadership after bad press, Mayo said. But several presenters from the 2020 investor day have since left.

Instead, despite reporting robust profits, banks' shares have broadly stumbled as they forecast margin pressure, suggesting intensifying competition for customers' deposits and mortage business to come. "It may be that we've seen the peak of margin," said William Chalmers, finance chief of Britain's biggest domestic bank Lloyds (LLOY.L) on Wednesday. Lenders say they have started to pass on higher rates to savers, adding that profitability is rebounding after years of low margins. Pressure to immediately increase the rates banks pay savers has been intensified by the digital offerings from U.S. entrants into the market such as JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, executives at the top British lenders said. In contrast to floating rates, which broadly track the Bank of England benchmark, fixed mortgage rates have started to fall as competition intensifies.

For airlines, sale-and-leasebacks have been a popular way to generate liquidity and ease balance sheets. They then aim to sell them at a profit to lessors at the expense of agreeing to pay a rent. "It's a cheap and often tax-efficient way for the airline to raise finance," said an aircraft finance source. "Lessors are already queuing up to do business with Air India. Some lessors say it is not worth it after new money poured into aviation looking for returns when interest rates were low.

☆ David Crosby, Acclaimed Singer-Songwriter and Counterculture Hero, Dies
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Brenda Cronin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

David Crosby, the folk-rock singer-songwriter who channeled gifts for creativity and controversy into more than five decades on stage, has died at 81, according to people close to Mr. Crosby. The people close to Mr. Crosby said they were informed Thursday of his death. One of those people said the news of Mr. Crosby’s death came from the musician’s wife’s sister. She couldn’t be reached for comment. Mr. Crosby’s wife and representatives also couldn’t be reached.

"Our industry is still climbing out of - call it a 100-year event, call it a macro shock of epic proportions. "We are bullish and these are the reasons why I suspect there's a disconnect between the Davos in Switzerland and the Davos in Dublin," Cronin told Reuters. "It's a good time to be a lessor," said Tony Diaz, chairman of the smaller Zephyrus Aviation Capital. It's probably easy to take that second one too," Robert Korn, president and co-founder of fast growing Carlyle Aviation Partners, added. Additional reporting by Tim Hepher and Joanna Plucinska Editing by Mark PotterOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The lessors took a hit of almost $10 billion when Russia barred airlines from returning planes hit by Western sanctions to their owners in the West. This has turned the spotlight on other risky markets, most prominently China and Taiwan, where some fear future conflict could cause a similar seizure on a much larger scale. When discussing the Russia losses, most executives speaking at the conference, also touched on China risks. Several executives said the loss of aircraft to Russia would simply feed into risk management models and encourage lessors to be careful about spreading their exposure rather than withdrawing from markets altogether. "Lessors aren't going to be able to abandon higher risk areas because that is what they do," he added.

DUBLIN, Jan 18 (Reuters) - A battle for compensation is brewing over delays in the delivery of commercial jets, with a Dublin aviation summit descending into a blame game over the worst industrial disruption in years. Aircraft contracts contain dense descriptions of adverse factors which excuse manufacturers for multiple types of delay, meaning they can avoid paying penalties or "liquidated damages". Excusable delays include "acts of God", natural disasters, fire, flood, earthquakes and epidemics, among other examples, according to extracts of past contracts filed with regulators. Non-excusable delays include anything that falls outside this catalogue, but are rare, experts say. 'OVER-OPTIMISTIC'"They are not excusable at all," Aengus Kelly, chief executive of lease giant AerCap (AER.N) told the Airfinance Journal conference when asked about the delays.

☆ Global air traffic may return to pre-Covid levels in June, with China leading the way
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Michelle Toh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Hong Kong CNN —Global air traffic will boom this year, returning to pre-pandemic levels in June, according to a new report. On Monday, international aircraft leasing company Avolon said it expected a full recovery in passenger traffic over the coming months, led by the reopening of markets in Asia, especially China. The news has further brightened the outlook for the aviation sector, which already experienced “a 70% recovery in passenger traffic last year led by recovery in Europe and North America,” Avolon noted. Currently, global air traffic has resumed to approximately 75% of November 2019 levels, IATA said last week. “Demand for travel is no longer the constraint to recovery, but airlines’ capacity to put planes in the air,” Avolon said in its statement.

Bloomberg had earlier reported that FAB had been exploring an offer for Standard Chartered as part of a plan aimed at building an emerging markets bank, driving StanChart shares up as much as 20%. The Abu Dhabi lender said it had been in "the very early stages of evaluating a possible offer" for the emerging markets-focused bank. Furthermore, the mooted combination of FAB and StanChart would have been subjected to more onerous capital requirements that would burden the resulting lender, a banking source said. FAB was created via a merger between National Bank of Abu Dhabi and First Gulf Bank in 2016. The lender sources around half its deposits from the Abu Dhabi government and reported total assets of 1.15 trillion AED ($313.1 billion) as of end-September 2022.

☆ ‘Confessions’ Review: More Than the Dust
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Brenda Cronin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The brash young writers who transformed British literature some 40 years ago nourished a tabloid bonanza of parties, passions and swagger. Led by Martin Amis, their ranks included Julian Barnes, Salman Rushdie—and a sedulous outlier named A.N. Andrew Norman Wilson, however, was more likely to be in church or at home writing than on a profile-burnishing bender. That industriousness might portend a dreary memoir, but in “Confessions: A Life of Failed Promises,” Mr. Wilson makes up in wit what he lacks in celebrity antics.

A logo of HSBC is seen on its headquarters at the financial Central district in Hong Kong, China August 4, 2020. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterSince his return to HSBC in September, Elhedery has been working on projects for Quinn. He is one of several Lebanese bankers to rise to the top ranks at HSBC, including his predecessor heading the investment bank, Samir Assaf. Shares of Hong Kong-listed HSBC, which makes the bulk of its sales and profit in Asia, fell 2.5% in a firm broader market (.HSI). "This is about how the group executive committee is positioned with potential succession options for the future," Quinn told Reuters.

Banks are finding the home loan market stacked in their favour after years of low mortgage rates, but are also aware that bigger mortgage bills could spell trouble for cash-strapped customers. But the higher rates will hit borrowers hard. Mortgage payments as a proportion of gross household income were on average around 20% in June, according to BuiltPlace, a property market consultancy. They could rise to around 27% - the highest since the early 1990s - if mortgage rates were to rise to 6%, the consultancy said. The rise in mortgage rates will be a blow for millions of households' finances, Sue Anderson, head of media at debt charity StepChange said.

"The mortgage crisis is going to be bigger than energy now," said Richard Murphy, professor of accounting practice at Sheffield University, warning of a drop in house prices that could leave many with debt greater than the value of their home. This comes on top of a cost of living crisis driven by rising food and energy prices which is already biting many hard. CALL FOR CALMBeyond the immediate squeeze this will have on consumers' ability to spend, rising borrowing costs also have the potential to send the years-long house market rally into reverse: HSBC analysts predict house price falls of 7.5% into next year. Some top mortgage lenders are calling for calm, stressing they are still signing mortgage deals and that the pullback in lending among smaller rivals is in no way indicative of a broader, exodus of lenders from the mortgage market. Chris Huddleston, chief executive of international brokerage company FXD Capital, said he expected the mortgage market to remain in limbo in coming weeks as investors watch currency markets and how the Bank of England reacts.

☆ Florida, You’re No New York
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-11 | by ( Brenda Cronin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/florida-new-york-palm-beach-manhattan-laguardia-cost-of-living-covid-boosters-sunshine-state-airport-11667751846

☆ Sky-high rents hit the aircraft market as Boeing jets top $300,000 a month
▼ + stars: | 2022-08-25 | by ( Leslie Josephs | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The world's largest aircraft leasing firms, like Air Lease , Avolon and AerCap , which acquired GE 's airplane leasing business last year, are reaping the benefits. A tight supply of aircraft is driving up the price airlines pay to rent planes, just as travel demand returns. This year's surge in oil prices make newer, fuel-efficient planes more attractive than older ones, and higher interest rates could also drive up lease rates. "That will push lease rates higher through the rest of the year." Cronin said lease rates for Boeing Maxes and Airbus A320neos have risen by 10%-15% so far this year.

Tech stocks generally carry more risk than other stocks, but they also promise significantly more growth. Throughout much of the 21st century's historic bull market, tech stocks have been at the forefront of the rise, with the biggest tech stocks all outperforming the S&P 500 over the past five and 10 years. There's a fundamental reason why tech stocks tend to attract more investor demand than other kinds of equities. This has added to optimism that tech stocks, in particular stocks which have already seen big gains, will still be a safer longer-term bet," Streeter says. If an investor wants the highest possible appreciation, they would do well to devote a segment of their holdings to tech stocks.

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