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☆ China's factory, services activity skids on persistent COVID curbs
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The official manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) fell to 49.2 from 50.1 in September, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Monday. The poll showed China's growth could pick up to 5.0% in 2023. DEMAND WEAKENSThe manufacturing PMI survey pointed to weakening demand with the new orders subindex showing contraction for the fourth straight month. The official manufacturing PMI largely focuses on big and state-owned firms. The private sector Caixin manufacturing PMI, which centres more on small firms and coastal regions, will be published on Tuesday.

☆ China's Oct factory activity unexpectedly skids amid slowing demand
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Thomas PeterSummary Official manufacturing PMI unexpected fall in OctOfficial services PMI contracts in OctBEIJING, Oct 31 (Reuters) - China's factory activity unexpectedly fell in October, an official survey showed on Monday, weighed by softening global demand and strict COVID-19 restrictions, which hit production. The official manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) stood at 49.2 from a 50.1 reading in September, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said. The poll showed China's growth could pick up to 5.0% in 2023. The official manufacturing PMI largely focused on big and state-owned firms. The private sector Caixin manufacturing PMI, which centres more on small firms and coastal regions, will be published on Tuesday.

☆ Covid cases, controls spread in China
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Covid cases and controls have increased in China this month. Future Publishing | Future Publishing | Getty ImagesBEIJING — Covid controls in China have tightened in the last two weeks after more cities reported virus outbreaks. watch nowFor Thursday, mainland China reported 214 Covid cases with symptoms and 1,123 without. watch nowHowever, many of the recent case clusters and ensuing Covid controls have occurred in less economically prominent parts of the country, such as areas within Qinghai and Xinjiang in the northwest. The Nomura analysts said they expect China's stringent Covid controls will remain at least until March, "when the political reshuffle will be fully completed and the new leaders fully take over the cabinet."

☆ Japan's economy could do better than other advanced economies next year, says Nomura
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailJapan's economy could do better than other advanced economies next year, says NomuraYujiro Goto of the financial services firm says that's because inflation in the country is "relatively limited."

☆ BOJ keeps ultra-low interest rates, defies global tightening trend
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Leika Kihara | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

But the central bank revised up its price forecasts through 2024 and warned that risks were skewed to the upside, nodding to recent signs that inflationary pressure was broadening. "Accelerating underlying inflation is expected to heighten medium- and long-term inflation expectations ... and lead to sustained price rises accompanied by wage gains," it said. As widely expected, the BOJ left unchanged its -0.1% target for short-term interest rates and a pledge to guide the 10-year bond yield around 0%. The central bank also maintained its dovish guidance projecting that short- and long-term rates will remain at "present or lower levels." In a sign of its concern over global recession fears, however, the BOJ cut its economic growth forecasts for fiscal 2022 and 2023.

☆ BOJ ramps up bond buying ahead of policy meet, yields fall sharply
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Junko Fujita | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The 20-year JGB yield slipped 8.5 bps points to 1.110%, its lowest since Oct. 18. "The market sentiment was good today as U.S. Treasury yields fell overnight so JGB yields would have fallen anyway," said Naka Matsuzawa, a strategist at Nomura Securities. Yields on shorter end notes also fell on Wednesday, with the two-year JGB yield retreating 1 bps to -0.025%. The BOJ offered to buy 350 billion yen ($2.36 billion) of bonds with 10- and 25-year maturities, up from 250 billion yen it had planned. The BOJ said it would also buy 575 billion yen of bonds with 3- to 5-year maturities, up from a planned 475 billion yen, and 150 billion yen of bonds with maturities more than 25 years, up from 100 billion yen.

☆ Bill Hwang, Archegos demand end to SEC lawsuit over $36 bln firm's collapse
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Jonathan Stempel | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

In court filings, Hwang and Archegos said the SEC failed to show how the New York-based firm traded deceptively or how its swaps trades, which they called "lawful," affected prices. "The SEC declares unlawful a number of practices that have long been accepted as entirely legitimate and commonplace in the market," Hwang said. Archegos imploded when it failed to meet margin calls after being caught short on trades through so-called total return swaps. Hwang and former Archegos Chief Financial Officer Patrick Halligan have pleaded not guilty to Department of Justice fraud and racketeering conspiracy charges over the collapse. The case is SEC v Hwang et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No.

FILE PHOTO: A health worker wears a protective suit near a testing booth as outbreaks of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continue in Beijing, China, Oct. 23, 2022. An index measuring road freight transport turnover tumbled 26.2% on Oct. 21 from a year prior versus a 23.7% drop a week earlier, according to Nomura. New local infections fell 24% to 6,096 during Oct. 18-24 from a week earlier. Zhengzhou’s metro traffic slumped 79% from Oct. 11 to Oct. 15, according to the latest available data. Metro traffic in Guangzhou dropped 8.8% during Oct. 18-24 from the previous week, Reuters calculations based on data released by local metro operators showed.

☆ Investor fears about Xi's new leadership team 'may be misguided'
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Li Qiang, likely to become the next premier, is pictured here speaking at a major annual financial conference in Shanghai in 2020. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesBEIJING — Chinese stocks' plunge on Monday over fears about China's new leadership team "may be misguided," consulting firm Teneo said. Xi's leadership teamThe Politburo standing committee is the highest circle of power in China. Li Xi has led the export-heavy province of Guangdong as party secretary, while Cai Qi held the role for the capital city of Beijing. Mr Li [Qiang] has been widely regarded as a capable pro-market and pro-growth politician.

On a quarterly basis, GDP rose 3.9% versus a revised drop of 2.7% in April-June and an expected 3.5% rise. 1/9 Workers work at a construction site, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Shanghai, China, October 14, 2022. A Reuters poll forecast China's growth to slow to 3.2% in 2022, far below the official target of around 5.5%, marking one of the worst performances in almost half a century. Retail sales grew 2.5%, missing forecasts for a 3.3% increase and easing from August's 5.4% pace, underlining still fragile domestic demand. "On the policy front, the overall policy will remain supportive," said Hao Zhou, chief economist at Guotai Junan International.

☆ China new home prices fall for second month in September
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Tingshu WangSummary Sept new home prices fall 0.2% m/m, down for second monthNew home prices down 1.5% y/y, fastest pace since Aug 201554 cities out of 70 report price declinesBEIJING, Oct 24 (Reuters) - China's new home prices fell for the second straight month in September, as its property sector grappled with a mortgage boycott, a heightened debt crisis and COVID-19 restrictions that dimmed the economic outlook. China's property sector has been beset by multiple headwinds after regulators clamped down on excessive borrowing since mid-2020. Property investment fell 12.1% from a year earlier, slightly narrowing from a 13.8% fall in August. China reiterated its "housing is for living, but not for speculation" in the full work report of the Communist Party Congress. Analysts from Nomura said in a note that a comprehensive solution to the property sector might not be introduced until after March 2023, when Beijing's political reshuffle is fully completed.

☆ Norfund, BII, Finnfund invest $200m in African forestry fund
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Rachel Savage | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

JOHANNESBURG, Oct 19 (Reuters) - The Norwegian, British and Finnish development finance arms have put $200 million into an African forestry fund, the organisations said on Wednesday, as part of a plan to invest in sustainable tree businesses in the region. Norfund has put $76 million, British International Investment (BII) $75 million and Finnfund $48 million into the African Forestry Impact Platform (AFIP), a fund run by Sydney-based forest investor New Forests. Getting companies in these sectors to curb emissions is seen as crucial to limiting climate change. New Forests, which said in May it was being acquired jointly by the Japanese companies Mitsui and Nomura, said it plans to raise a further $300 million for the African forestry fund in the next two to three years to invest in other plantation owners and related companies. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Rachel Savage; Editing by Nick MacfieOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Xi Jinping's Party Congress speech: yes to zero-Covid, no to market reforms?
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Priorities presented at the political gathering of more than 2,000 party members will also set China’s trajectory for the next five years or even longer. In his speech Sunday, Xi struck a confident tone, highlighting China’s growing strength and rising influence under his first decade in power. China's President Xi Jinping speaks during the opening session of the 20th Chinese Communist Party's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on October 16, 2022. And China’s economy is in bad shape. Meantime, a comparison between this year’s speech and the last one delivered by Xi in 2017 at the 19th party congress revealed a potentially worrying trend.

☆ China's Sept consumer prices rise at fastest pace since April 2020
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The consumer price index (CPI) rose 2.8% from a year earlier, quickening from a 2.5% increase in August, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data showed on Friday, in line with forecast in a Reuters poll of analysts. Consumer inflation accelerated as food prices rose 8.8% on year from a 6.1% gain in August. Pork prices leapt 36.0% from 22.4% growth a month prior and vegetable prices jumped 12.1% from a 6.0% rise previously. On a month-on-month basis, the CPI grew 0.3% after a 0.1% fall in August, also supported by a rise in monthly pork price inflation. The producer price index (PPI) grew at the slowest pace since January 2021, rising 0.9% year-on-year from 2.3% growth a month earlier, and compared with a forecast of 1.0%.

☆ Xi set to open party congress at challenging time for China
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Tony Munroe | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

China's President Xi Jinping attends a wreath laying ceremony on Tiananmen Square to mark Martyrs' Day on the eve of the National Day in Beijing, China September 30, 2022. Still, diplomats, economists and analysts spoken to by Reuters say Xi is set to consolidate his grip on power. In securing a third term Xi breaks with the two-term precedent of recent decades. Also breaking with norms: no successor to Xi, 69, is expected to be identified, analysts say, which would indicate he plans to remain in power even longer. Still, analysts say, the views of any individual matter less nowadays as Xi has sidelined those seen as "reformers" in favour of his more state-driven and nationalistic economic policies.

As Truss spoke on Friday gains made in anticipation of the corporation tax U-turn faded. Ten-year gilt yields were 40 bps above session lows hit earlier on Friday, also pushed up by moves in bond yields globally. UNDERWHELMEDBritain's mini-budget three weeks ago triggered some of the biggest ever jumps in British bond yields, exposed vulnerabilities in the pensions sector -- undermining the country's financial stability. "How it impacts liquidity on the gilt market going forward is something we are monitoring closely." Rabobank's McGuire said pressure on UK assets could lead the BoE to re-intervene in the bond market or delay its quantitative tightening, bond-selling plans.

☆ Could the British pound hit parity with the dollar? Here's what the bulls and bears say
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Ganesh Rao | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

First, it fell to an all-time low against the U.S. dollar after the U.K. government announced its "mini-budget." And of course, a strong dollar hasn't helped either . Strategists at Nomura were the most bearish on the pound, expecting it to trade below parity — at $0.98 — by the fourth quarter. ING: £1 = $1-$1.05 Francesco Pesole, an FX strategist at ING, said the pound looked too strong at $1.10. "A policy mix of loose fiscal policy (with little detail on how to close the deficit) and milder monetary tightening gives investors few reasons to hold the pound," they said.

☆ S&P 500, Nasdaq fall on fears of profit hit from inflation, rate hikes
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Shreyashi Sanyal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

With recent jobs and inflation data suggesting more big interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, Wall Street's main indexes have been clocking losses in the past few sessions on fears of the economy slipping into a recession. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register"The market wants to see data, show me the numbers, show me we're getting inflation down. 1/4 A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., October 11, 2022. The CBOE Volatility index (.VIX), rose for a fourth straight session, inching closer to near two-weeks high. The S&P index recorded one new 52-week high and 95 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 15 new highs and 492 new lows.

☆ China rushes to control new Covid cases across the country
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Workers in Shanghai's Changning district put up fencing on Oct. 7, 2022, around a neighborhood lockdown after reports of new Covid cases. BEIJING — New Covid cases are spiking across mainland China, prompting many local authorities to tighten controls on movement. About 4.8% of China's gross domestic product was negatively affected by Covid controls as of Monday, according to a model from Nomura. On Tuesday, many schools in the central Chinese city of Xi'an cancelled in-person classes for most students, according to a local news outlet. A hashtag about the sudden closures was one of the top-trending items on Weibo, China's Twitter-like social media platform.

From Tuesday, Japan will reinstate visa-free travel to dozens of countries, ending some of world's strictest border controls to slow the spread of COVID-19. Just over half a million visitors have come to Japan so far in 2022, compared with a record 31.8 million in 2019. GHOST TOWNNarita Airport, Japan's biggest international airport some 70 kilometres from Tokyo, remains eerily quiet, with about half of its 260 shops and restaurants shuttered. Whether overseas visitors wear face masks and abide by other common infection controls in Japan is another concern. "From the start of the pandemic until now, we've had just a few foreign guests," said Tokyo innkeeper Sawa.

☆ Friday's jobs report could be a case where good news isn't really good
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-06 | by ( Jeff Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Al Drago | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesInvestors are closely watching the nonfarm payrolls report due out Friday, but not for the usual reasons. In normal times, strong job gains and rising wages would be considered a good thing. When they get bad news on the economy, that means the Fed is going to tighten less." In real terms, Swiber said that likely means no change until the economy is actually losing jobs. Next week's CPI reading is likely to be more consequential when it comes to any shift in Fed attitudes, she added.

☆ Wall Street to Pay $1.8 Billion in Fines Over Traders’ Use of Banned Messaging Apps
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Dave Michaels | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The firms in the settlement include the brokerage unit of Bank of America. WASHINGTON—Eleven of the world’s largest banks and brokerages will collectively pay $1.8 billion in fines to resolve regulatory investigations over their employees’ use of messaging applications that broke record-keeping rules, regulators said Tuesday. The firms include brokerage units of Bank of America Barclays Citigroup Inc., Credit Suisse Group Deutsche Bank Goldman Sachs Group Morgan Stanley , UBS Group and Nomura Holdings Inc. Brokerage firms Jefferies LLC and Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. also settled the claims with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

☆ Wall Street sends regulators a poop emoji
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( John Foley | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

For Wall Street brokerages, one answer is simply to flout it. At many of the firms, even managers whose job it was to enforce those rules were copiously breaking them. The regulators at least didn’t say they’d uncovered anything illegal, though disappearing-message apps and encryption make evidence easy to hide. But it’s still troubling to find widespread, frequent examples of bank employees, many with “global firm-wide leadership” roles, routinely doing something their companies forbid. The SEC fined the firms $1.1 billion, while the CFTC fined the same companies around $710 million.

☆ U.S. fines 16 Wall Street firms $1.8 bln for talking deals, trades on personal apps
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Michelle Price | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Sept 27 (Reuters) - U.S. regulators on Tuesday fined 16 financial firms, including Barclays (BARC.L), Bank of America , Citigroup , Credit Suisse (CSGN.S), Goldman Sachs , Morgan Stanley and UBS (UBSG.S), a combined $1.8 billion after staff discussed deals and trades on their personal devices and apps. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterThe institutions did not preserve the majority of those personal chats, violating federal rules which require broker-dealers and other financial institutions to preserve business communications. The failings occurred across all 16 firms and involved employees at multiple levels, including senior and junior investment bankers and traders, the SEC said. In one example cited by her office, Bank of America staff used WhatsApp, with one trader writing: "We use WhatsApp all the time but we delete convos regularly." The head of a trading desk routinely directed traders to delete messages on personal devices and to use Signal, including during the CFTC's probe.

An employee is seen walking over a mosaic of pound sterling symbols set in the floor of the front hall of the Bank of England in London, in this March 25, 2008 file photograph. Yet the rapid rise in yields investors now receive for owning UK bonds hasn't helped sterling much. Pound slumps and UK borrowing costs surgePredicting the short-term direction of currencies is notoriously hard. Against the euro the pound is only at two-year lows, although it is down 3% since Friday. "People will look at the UK and think that that's not a market that is stable," said Payne at Janus Henderson.

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