Debt crisis in america

- A + A FRANKFURT (June 27): European Central Bank (ECB) policymakers gather on a Portuguese hillside on Monday with the sinking feeling that their rush to tackle the inflation shock they failed to forecast risks both a recession and echoes of the euro area's sovereign debt crisis. As president Christine Lagarde and colleagues meet in the resort of Sintra for their version of the Federal Reserve's (Fed) Jackson Hole conference, they face competing tasks: cool the fastest consumer-price growth in the euro's history without delivering an economic downturn or sparking a 2012-style spike in borrowing costs in Italy, the region's third-largest economy, and other vulnerable states. Markets are already sounding an alert on what may lie ahead. Italian government bond yields jumped past 4% this month for the first time since 2014 as investors took fright at the ECB's plan to raise interest rates in July for the first time in a decade. With that hike locked in, and another … [Read more...] about ECB’s pivot towards rate hikes feeds fears of new bond crisis

- A + A MUMBAI/MANILA (June 27): Signs of distress flashing in bond markets suggest the world's poorest nations are set to see a wave of debt restructurings. But a growing cohort of investors say that is a buying opportunity. Panic selling in the aftermath of Sri Lanka's economic collapse has sent the average yield in junk-rated emerging economies to almost 900 basis points above US Treasuries, the highest risk premium in 13 years except for the Covid-19-related rout in 2020, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co data. Yet, initial fears about a widespread default Armageddon across emerging markets is easing, and money managers are looking beyond the handful of countries that may reschedule their debt. This shift in perception means at least some smaller developing nations, called frontier markets, have been unduly punished in the recent sell-off and now offer highly attractive yields. Even in the event of debt restructuring, their bonds will offer greater recovery … [Read more...] about Frontier-debt buyers look past default risk in hunger for yield

- A + A HONG KONG (June 27): China's fourth-biggest developer may miss a local bond payment for its first time ever, pressuring an onshore credit market that has remained resilient amid a property debt crisis and record offshore defaults. Sunac Real Estate Group Co said in an exchange filing on Friday it likely would not be able to raise enough funds to make a 400 million yuan (US$60 million) payment due June 30 for a portion of the note principal along with related interest. The deadline is part of an instalment plan Sunac got approval for several months ago that extended full repayment of the four billion yuan security by 18 months. A separate note maturing next year fell 15% on Monday while some due in 2025 closed at record lows, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. China's US$12.3 trillion local bond market has so far held up relatively well despite a cash crunch in the property sector sparked by a government crackdown on excessive leverage and housing … [Read more...] about Chinese builder Sunac may miss local bond payment in a first

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Youth mental illness has reached crisis levels in America. The percentage of adolescents who have experienced at least one major depressive episode increased by 60 percent from 2007 to 2019. Rates of anxiety, self-harm, and attempted suicide were skyrocketing even before the Covid-19 pandemic, and since then matters have only gotten worse . Filmmaker Ken Burns has executive produced a powerful new two-part documentary film on this subject. Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness will air on June 27 and 28 at 9:00 pm ET on PBS and will be available for streaming on the PBS App. The film was directed and edited by Burns’ long-time colleagues Erik Ewers and Christopher Ewers. It shares the voices of 21 diverse youth across America who are living with mental health challenges, addressing issues of stigma, discrimination, awareness, and silence. Hiding in Plain Sight is part of a larger public media mental … [Read more...] about Ken Burns And Ewers Brothers Spotlight Youth Mental Illness In New Documentary

This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on June 20, 2022 - June 26, 2022. - A + A LAST week, CTOS Digital Bhd made a bold move to raise its stake in RAM Holdings Bhd (RAM), in which it already owns a 19.225% stake. This is the third acquisition that CTOS has undertaken within a year. CTOS, which bought into RAM shortly after it was listed in July last year, launched a general offer last week to buy out the remaining shares that it does not own in the credit rating agency (CRA) soon after it got the green light from the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) to own more than 51%. CTOS has so far spent the bulk of the RM173.8 million raised from a private placement in March on mergers and acquisitions (M&A). RAM will be the first local CRA to have a controlling shareholder upon the completion of the takeover offer. Dollars and cents aside, the takeover bid has prompted some quarters to question whether the independence of RAM’s rating … [Read more...] about Making sense of CTOS’ venture into RAM

Jeong Jae-hong The author is an international affairs and security editor of the JoongAng Ilbo. Gustavo Petro was elected president of Colombia on June 19. According to an analysis in the Washington Post, Columbia, ruled by right-wing politicians over 200 years, elected a left-wing president because the middle-class collapsed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and voters wanted the government to ease economic inequality. Brazil is scheduled to have a presidential election on October 2, and leftist former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, commonly known as Lula, is getting over 50 percent of support. In addition to Mexico, Argentine, Chile, Peru and Columbia, another left-wing administration is about to launch in Brazil, too The left-wing wave in Latin America largely resulted from right-wing administrations’ failure to cope with the pandemic and the collapse of the middle class in the region. The middle class is the bastion of democracy. A country with a strong middle class … [Read more...] about A class above all others

This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on June 20, 2022 - June 26, 2022. - A + A IF Bank Negara Malaysia’s eight-member monetary policy committee (MPC) raises the overnight policy rate (OPR) by 25 basis points (bps) at its next scheduled meeting on July 6, it will mark its first back-to-back increase since mid-2010, when interest rates were normalised following the recovery from the 2008 global financial crisis. It will not be the first central bank to do so. Compared with just a month ago, more economists now (at the time of writing) reckon that a 25bps hike will happen in July, but many still think a pause is possible in July ahead of the Hari Raya Aidiladha celebrations. In any case, at least one more rate increase (if not two) is expected to take place by the conclusion of the Sept 8 meeting to bring the OPR to at least 2.25% (if not 2.5%), consensus data show. “Our house has also shifted expectations for Bank Negara to frontload … [Read more...] about The State Of The Nation: What the Fed’s 75bps hike and near 4% terminal rate mean for the OPR

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Topline Leaders of Group of Seven nations on Monday announced a support package for Ukraine, further sanctions against Russia and are reportedly nearing an agreement to set a price cap on Russian oil, a contentious issue as they debate ways to stave Putin’s war chest while mitigating spiraling inflation, soaring energy prices and an impending global food crisis. Key Facts Leaders of the G-7 —a group of the world’s seven largest economies which includes the U.S., the U.K., Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan— announced a suite of new measures against Moscow, including imposing higher tariffs on Russian goods, restricting Russian gold exports and imposing new sanctions on officials and organizations supporting the war effort. The group also unveiled a new support package for Ukraine, including the provision of military hardware, using the higher tariffs on Russian goods to help Ukraine and “financial, … [Read more...] about G-7 Leaders Nearing Price Cap On Russian Oil Funding Putin’s War Chest