Lagarde puts green policy top of agenda in ecb bond buying

- A + A (Aug 11): Investors looking to call the bottom in emerging Asian bonds may have to wait a little longer as inflation in the region shows few signs of peaking. The latest consumer-price gains data from the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand surprised on the upside, signaling that cost pressures continue to outrun market forecasts. Shorter-dated yields, which are more sensitive to hawkish rate expectations, remain elevated as investors appear unconvinced that inflation has topped out for now. The stronger-than-expected inflation prints run counter to a prediction by Morgan Stanley’s analysts that cost pressures will peak this quarter as supply imbalances reverse. Last week’s robust American jobs report and continued hawkish signals from policy makers are likely to underpin bets for more US policy tightening, which would weigh on emerging Asian debt. “With the geopolitical situation remaining fluid, it is difficult to call for peak inflation with high … [Read more...] about Surging inflation puts Asia’s deal-hunting bond buyers on hold

On this week's show, it's not Build Back Better, but the newly-introduced Inflation Reduction Act bill of 2022 has some surprisingly positive developments for clean energy, climate technology, and green banking. We break down what's in the proposed bill and what the future of green banking may look like—if passed—with Reed Hundt, the co-founder, chairman and CEO of the Coalition for Green Capital. The climate and tech spending deal announced last week by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Joe Manchin, now known as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, includes up to $370 billion in spending to help fight climate change. It would also impose tens of billions of dollars in fees on the fossil fuel industry in order to pay for some of that spending. The legislation, which may be voted on by the U.S. Senate as soon as this week, would reinstate and increase a long-lapsed tax on crude oil and imported petroleum products to 16.4 cents per barrel. That fee would be paid by … [Read more...] about Green Banks Get the Green Light Under the Inflation Reduction Act

- A + A HONG KONG (Aug 8): A top arranger for Chinese junk dollar bonds says that a type of filing under the US bankruptcy code will play an important role for China’s distressed developers to restructure debt, buying them time to pay back creditors until markets recover. About 10 Chinese real estate companies could use so-called schemes of arrangement to restructure debt in a holistic fashion this year, Chen Yi, head of global capital markets at Haitong International Securities Group Ltd, said in an interview. As part of the process they could use Chapter 15 filings to bind the terms in the US, preventing creditors from suing them there. Chen sees more companies turning to the procedure as distressed debt piles up amid a broader crisis in China’s property sector. At least US$736 billion owed to creditors may be at risk of restructuring or a haircut, Bloomberg Intelligence calculates. For banks and brokerages in Hong Kong, debt restructuring revenue has become … [Read more...] about China junk bonds hitting record lows as failures show everywhere

Since the onset of the Covid pandemic, the economy has entered a VUCA phase. VUCA describes an environment that is Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. World GDP growth went from 2.8 percent in 2019 to -3.1 percent in 2020 and the IMF’s projected growth for 2021 is 5.9 percent. The Indian economy has followed a similar trajectory. We can borrow three terms from the lexicon of risk management to understand what lies ahead for the economy in 2022.  These are the known knowns (facts), the known unknowns (possibilities) and the unknown unknowns (black swans). Known knowns The US Fed has doubled the pace of tapering. It will now reduce its monthly purchase of bonds by $30 billion. The Fed’s bond buying will end by March 2022 and interest rates will be raised from June. While a short-term negative reaction is expected from emerging stock markets, due to fears of flight of capital, the taper should be read as a sign that the US economy does not need a monetary stimulus … [Read more...] about Reforms can immunise Indian economy against shocks in 2022

The IMF logo as seen outside the headquarters building in Washington Ukraine aims to strike a deal for a $15-$20 billion programme with the International Monetary Fund before year-end to help shore up its war-torn economy, the country's central bank governor Kyrylo Shevchenko told Reuters. Battered by Russia's invasion launched on Feb. 24, Ukraine faces a 35%-45% economic contraction in 2022 and a monthly fiscal shortfall of $5 billion and is heavily reliant on foreign financing from its Western partners. Shevchenko, 49, speaking during his visit to London, also said he hoped to agree on a swap line with the Bank of England "within weeks", though he did not specify the amount. Kyiv had already submitted its request to the IMF, the governor said, and was now in consultation with the fund over the new financing that he hoped would provide as much as $20 billion over two or three years in form of a Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) or an Extended Fund Facility (EFF). It was the … [Read more...] about Ukraine aims for $15-20 billion IMF loan by year-end: Central bank governor

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Topline The European Central Bank on Thursday authorized its first interest rate hike in 11 years in a bid to help cool rising inflation, becoming the latest central bank to more aggressively unwind policy that fueled economic growth during the pandemic even as global recession fears continue to rise. Key Facts In a statement on Thursday, the ECB said it would raise rates by 50 basis points as a “key step to make sure inflation returns to its 2% target over the medium term”—coming in at the higher end of expectations calling for an increase of at least 25 basis points. Officials also signaled additional hikes to come, saying “further normalization” of interest rates will be appropriate, though they suggested the larger hike on Thursday will allow them to move more slowly with future increases, adding: “The frontloading today . . . allows the Governing Council to make a transition to a meeting-by-meeting approach … [Read more...] about European Central Bank Raises Interest Rates For The First Time In 11 Years As Global Inflation Surges

BIDEN INVOKES EMERGENCY WAR POWERS TO BUILD SOLAR PANELS… NY POST: Biden draws heat for invoking Defense Production Act to boost solar panels President Biden drew criticism Monday after invoking the Defense Production Act to potentially expedite the production of solar panels — with journalists and Republicans questioning the rationale for using special wartime powers. Renewable energy advocates, meanwhile, cheered the White House announcement that Biden would invoke the act “to accelerate domestic production of clean energy technologies, including solar panel parts.” […] The Biden administration did not specify a national-defense reason for using the act to boost solar panels. When Biden was vice president, the Obama administration aggressively pushed for solar energy production — sparking the Solyndra scandal when a politically-connected firm went bankrupt after getting $535 million in federal loan guarantees. KOREAN WAR-ERA LAW WIELDS POWER OVER AMERICAN … [Read more...] about Editor Daily Rundown: Biden Invokes Emergency War Powers To Build Solar Panels

U.S. stocks continued to claw their way back last week, especially growth stocks . For the week, the Nasdaq posted a gain of 2.2% and the S&P 500 rose 0.4%. The Dow? Not so much, sliding just 0.1%. A blowout jobs report for July offered up another dose of good news for the economy and not-so-good news for the stock market, but equity investors hung in there. U.S. employers added 528,000 jobs to their payrolls last month , which was more than twice what was expected, and that added credence to the Federal Reserve 's stance that the U.S. economy is not in a recession given the continued strength of the labor market. So, the thinking goes, the Fed will continue to be aggressive in raising interest rates to cool down inflation, because it's not impacting companies' willingness to hire. That led to a steep selloff in U.S. Treasurys, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note ending the week at 2.83%. Oil prices continue to tumble, hitting their lowest level since early … [Read more...] about Live from InvestFest with Downtown Josh Brown, BitBoy Crypto, and Lamar Wilson

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Making the [New York] City & State 2022 Construction Power 100 is no easy feat. Deborah Bradley, president of Deborah Bradley Construction & Management Services (DBC), did it by building solid relationships, participating in mentorship programs, leveraging minority- and women-owned (M/WBE) certification programs, and her ability to learn on the job fast and well. Bradley's path into the construction industry was accidental and rocky. She worked for Deloitte Touche as a CPA before moving to New York to go to Columbia Business School for her MBA. She worked her way through school. But, when she needed surgery to get tumors removed from her ovaries, the small finance firm she worked for fired her. Having $150,000 of school debt, she didn't have the money nor the inclination to sue. However, her firing was a clarion call. It was the early 1990s and corporations didn't have parental-leave policies or the … [Read more...] about Relationships, Mentorship, And Certification Help A Woman-Owned Construction Firm Grow

This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on July 25, 2022 - July 31, 2022. - A + A A rising interest rate environment is always perceived as bad news for everyone (except for interest-earning banks, of course) amid concerns about higher borrowing costs. Case in point: the overnight policy rate (OPR) increase of just 50 basis points (bps) this year has reportedly kept over-leveraged Malaysian households awake at night, as everything from monthly mortgages to personal loan payments are creeping up. This, coupled with accelerating inflation and a weak ringgit at a time when some business and economic activities are still below pre-pandemic levels, has weighed on sentiment. The corporate sector is highly leveraged, too. Where the latest (end-2021) household debt-to-GDP figure moderated at 89%, corporate debt-to-GDP went from 99.1%, or RM1.5 trillion, in June 2019 to 108.1% in June 2020 and further to 109.8% in December 2020. How will the … [Read more...] about Cover Story: Debt crunch unlikely