When Citigroup Inc. started hawking $300 million of loans for the maker of the Humvee, investors were willing to buy almost any deal for sale. Almost.
Day: January 11, 2017
China’s $3.8 Trillion Wealth Products Reel Amid Bond Rout
China’s bond market is facing more turbulence as banks scramble to avoid losses on wealth management products that raised $3.8 trillion from the nation’s savers. The investment plans typically use leverage to boost returns on the 56 percent of their holdings parked in fixed-income securities.
China’s Clean Air Bid Scares Rivals in Duel Over Dirty Fuel
The Asian country’s road to cleaner air has been gradual, with lead-free gasoline only becoming a requirement in 2000, almost three decades behind the U.S. This month, China imposed new curbs on the amount of sulfur in vehicle fuels to about a fifth of the previous standard, putting it on par with Europe, which has the world’s strictest emissions controls. While the change helps China battle the smog that’s choking residents from Beijing to Xian, many of its refiners still produce the dirtier fuel.
Gov. Brown plays small ball with budget
California Governor Jerry Brown is proposing an austere state budget for 2017-18, trying to rein in spending in the face of economic – or political – headwinds. That’s the deficit projected for the coming fiscal year, the first red ink in California since 2012-13.
Fed on Edge as Trump Growth Bump Boosts Risks of Rate-Hike Error
To err is human. To err when you’re the Federal Reserve means national wealth gets destroyed and millions of people lose their jobs.
Schumer Urges FCC To Protect Broadband Funds
Many telecommunications companies gained access to the Connect America Fund, a federal investment that helped them enhance broadband access.
JPMorgan Found in Probe to Have Retaliated Against Adviser
JPMorgan Chase & Co. wrongfully fired a financial adviser in retaliation for publicly complaining that managers pressured him to sell the bank’s own investment products, a federal investigator found.
What Obamaa s address has in common with memorable farewells from past presidents
President Obama delivers his farewell address at McCormick Place in Chicago, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017. With President Obama’s final speech to the nation Tuesday night in Chicago, he faced a unique challenge unlike any modern president that came before him: How to give the milestone farewell address, one that typically touts a president’s key achievements and attempts to define his legacy before he leaves office, just as his signature legislative achievement, the Affordable Care Act, is threatened to be undone.
Startup funding drops in 2016
U.S. one dollar bills are arranged for a photograph in New York, U.S., on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009. Less money flowed to Silicon Valley startups in 2016, after a period of frenzied spending the year before.
Berger outlines 2017 regulatory advocacy focus
NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger told members Tuesday that the association will continue to “directly take on federal regulatory burden and forcefully represent credit union interests at every available opportunity” in an email that also highlighted some of the association’s efforts over the past year. Regarding the NCUA, Berger said the ultimate goal is to minimize the regulatory burden and push the agency to be more efficient in how it spends credit unions’ dollars.
VW emissions-cheating deal could put employees in hot seat
The imminent criminal plea deal between Volkswagen and U.S. prosecutors in an emissions-cheating scandal could be bad news for one group of people: VW employees who had a role in the deceit or subsequent cover-up. VW on Tuesday disclosed that it is in advanced talks to settle the criminal case by pleading guilty to unspecified charges and paying $4.3 billion in criminal and civil fines, a sum far larger than any recent case involving the auto industry.
Obama Farewell to Nation Draws Not-So Subtle Contrast With Trump
President Barack Obama blasted “zero-sum” politics as he drew a sharp contrast with his successor in his farewell address Tuesday night, acknowledging that despite his historic election eight years ago his vision for the country will exit the White House with him. Obama’s prime-time address was a call for political engagement after a grueling election won by Republican Donald Trump, who made undoing Obama’s achievements the centerpiece of his campaign.
Analyst Who Foresaw Yen Fall Sees More Pain as 125 in Sight
The yen is set to slump to 125 against the dollar in 2017, with little chance of a sustained gain past 115, as the Federal Reserve’s policy tightening widens the interest-rate differential between U.S. and Japan, said Mansoor Mohi-uddin, a strategist at NatWest Markets, a unit of Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc. The forecast shows Mohi-uddin, who previously estimated a trading range of 110 to 120 for the yen versus the greenback, has turned more bearish.
VW Closes in on $4.3 Billion U.S. Accord in Diesel Scandal
Volkswagen AG is closing in on a deal to pay $4.3 billion in criminal and civil penalties to settle a U.S. probe into the rigging of diesel-powered cars to cheat emissions tests. The agreement, which VW said Tuesday will include a guilty plea, raises the cost of the scandal to more than $23 billion in the U.S. and Canada, blowing by the 18.2 billion euros the carmaker had set aside to resolve the disputes.