Bloomberg “Japan’s Economy Is Still Outrunning Its Potential Growth Rate.” Japan’s economy is on track to close out the year expanding faster than its potential growth rate, even after recent soft readings for consumption and inflation. Global demand remains strong, driving double-digit gains in Japanese exports in recent months and helping to fuel business investment.....
Bloomberg “BlackRock and Vanguard Are Less Than a Decade Away From Managing $20 Trillion.” Imagine a world in which two asset managers call the shots, in which their wealth exceeds current U.S. GDP and where almost every hedge fund, government and retiree is a customer. It’s closer than you think. BlackRock Inc. and Vanguard Group....
Bloomberg “Wall Street Has No Idea What’s Going to Happen to Credit Markets in 2018.” It’s the season for investment banks to try to predict the future in credit markets. The ritual is trickier than usual this time. Rarely have they been so divided by a rally that seems to defy economic gravity — and....
Bloomberg “U.S. Stocks Are Having One of the Best Years in Half a Century.” Rarely in the last half century have the stars been so aligned for U.S. stocks. The collapse in volatility and mid-year slump in bond yields has helped investors earn the third biggest risk-adjusted return from U.S. equities in 50 years, according....
Bloomberg “Fed 2018 Dots in Focus for Yellen Finale: Decision Day Guide.” As investors await 2018 direction from Federal Reserve chairman nominee Jerome Powell, they will get one last chance to hear Janet Yellen’s take on the U.S. economy. If all goes as expected, she will use her final scheduled press conference before stepping down....
Bloomberg “Fed’s Kashkari Says Flatter Yield Curve Helped Motivate Dissent.” Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari said low inflation, continued weakness in wages and a flattening yield curve motivated his dissent last week against the U.S. central bank’s decision to raise interest rates for a third time in 2017. “Continuing to raise rates....
Bloomberg “Santa Rally Eludes Europe Stocks Lagging U.S. by Most Since 1991.” Anyone pinning their hopes on a so-called Santa rally to revive Europe’s lagging equity market is running out of time. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index has barely budged from early November levels, leaving its fourth-quarter advance at just 0.6 percent. With the S&P....
Bloomberg “Bitcoin Tumbles More than 25% as Sharks ‘Beginning to Circle’.” Bitcoin’s plunge extended to almost 30 percent Friday as the frenzy surrounding digital currencies faced one of its biggest tests yet. The world’s largest cryptocurrency approached $10,000 as this week’s selloff entered a fourth day with increasing momentum. It touched a record high $19,511....
Bloomberg “Trump, Congress Spoil for Fight With Shutdown Again at Stake.” President Donald Trump and many Democrats and Republicans in Congress all enter the new year spoiling for a fight. Unresolved issues set aside in 2017 to make way for a tax overhaul are poised to surface early in 2018, giving Trump the opportunity for....
Bloomberg “Global Debt Hits Record $233 Trillion.” Global debt rose to a record $233 trillion in the third quarter of 2017, more than $16 trillion higher from end-2016, according to an analysis by the Institute of International Finance. Private non-financial sector debt hit all-time highs in Canada, France, Hong Kong, South Korea, Switzerland and Turkey.....
Bloomberg “Equity Euphoria Grips the Entire World.” The most hated rally this is not. Equity euphoria has gripped most of the world to kick off 2018, with the 14-day relative strength index for major stock markets surging to overbought levels. The S&P 500 Index, MSCI Asia Pacific Index, MSCI World Index, Nikkei 225 Index, and....
Bloomberg “Mark Zuckerberg Just Blew Up Facebook From the Inside.” For much of the past few months, Mark Zuckerberg has been thinking aloud about Facebook Inc.’s mission. He kept saying he wanted Facebook to become a place for meaningful social interaction. His resolution for 2018 was to «fix» Facebook. Zuckerberg disclosed late Thursday the billionth,....
Bloomberg “China Escalates Crackdown on Cryptocurrency Trading.” China is escalating its clampdown on cryptocurrency trading, targeting online platforms and mobile apps that offer exchange-like services, according to people familiar with the matter. While authorities banned cryptocurrency exchanges last year, they’ve recently noted an uptick in activity on alternative venues. The government plans to block domestic....
Bloomberg “Beware the $500 Billion Bond Exodus.” For years, the likes of Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. have stashed billions of dollars offshore to slash their U.S. tax bills. Now, the tax-code rewrite could throw that into reverse. The implications for the financial markets are huge. The great on-shoring could prompt multinationals — which have....
Bloomberg “Jon Corzine’s New Hedge Fund Eyes Event Wagers Triggered by Trump.” Jon Corzine, who held the reins of MF Global Holdings when it collapsed, is making his comeback with a new hedge fund that’s betting the Trump administration will stir up markets. The JDC-JSC Opportunity Fund, which bears the initials of Corzine’s late son....