Month: October 2015

US Job creation misses big in September

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Rocktober? Risk appetite is fighting back

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

DoubleLine’s Gundlach: Expect ‘another wave down’

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

DoubleLine Capital co-founder Jeffrey Gundlach, widely followed for his investment calls, warned after the weak jobs number on Friday that the U.S. equity market as well as other risk markets including high-yield “junk” bonds face another round of selling pressure.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

10 Killed in shooting at Oregon’s Umpqua Community College

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

At least 10 people were killed and seven others were injured when a gunman who demanded to know his victims’ religions opened fire Thursday morning on the campus of Umpqua Community College in southwest Oregon, witnesses and authorities said.

The gunman was killed in a firefight with Douglas County sheriff’s deputies, Sheriff John Hanlin said. Multiple law enforcement sources identified him to NBC News as Chris Harper Mercer, 26, but the sheriff wouldn’t confirm that identity, saying he didn’t want to “glorify” the man’s actions.

“You will never hear us mention his name,” Hanlin said Thursday night, because “he in no way deserves it.”

A Southern California man who said his name was Ian Mercer and claimed to be the suspect’s father told NBC Los Angeles that he had spoken with police and the FBI. “Obviously it’s been a devastating day, devastating day for me and my family,” Mercer said. “Shocked, is all I can say.”

State Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum and other officials earlier had said 13 people were dead after the events near Roseburg, where the shootings were called in at 10:38 a.m. (1:38 p.m. ET). But investigators in Roseburg said they couldn’t confirm that number, and law enforcement officials told NBC News it was likely that some victims were counted multiple times amid the confusion of the scene.

“At this time, we are reporting and can confirm 10 fatalities in the shooting,” Hanlin said. “This number is the best, most accurate information that we have at this time.”

No officers were injured, said Hanlin, who said: “It’s been a terrible day.”

Investigators wouldn’t say whether Mercer was included in the 10, and they said none of the victims would be identified for at least 24 hours. Law enforcement sources said that Mercer’s connection to the college, where he wasn’t a student, remained unclear.

Multiple law enforcement sources told NBC News that four weapons were recovered from the scene in Roseburg, in the southwest corner of the state about 60 miles south of Eugene — three handguns and a long gun similar to an AR-style rifle. Investigators also found several magazines for 5.56mm ammunition and a ballistics vest, one of the sources said.

“This has been a long, sad, tragic day at UCC,” Rita Cavin, the college’s interim president, said Thursday night. “And the thing we should take away from it is the power that love can bring to a community.”

A visibly frustrated President Barack Obama — who has denounced the proliferation of guns in society after more than a half-dozen previous mass shootings — said “thoughts and prayers are not enough.”

“It’s not enough,” he repeated. “It does not capture the heartache and grief and anger that we should feel, and it does nothing to prevent this carnage from being inflicted some place else in America next week or a couple months from now.”

The FBI, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the U.S. Marshals Service all joined numerous state and local agencies at the scene.

A parent of a student who was in the classroom where the shootings occurred told NBC News that the gunman asked at least “a few” people what religion they were. The parent asked that they not be identified.

Kortney Moore, an 18-year-old student, told the News-Review newspaper of Roseburg that she was in a writing class in Snyder Hall when her teacher was shot in the head. She also said the shooter told people to state their religions.

Courtney Rennie, 23, second-year human services student, told NBC News: “I was walking into class, and I heard what sounded like a car backfiring. … You don’t even think that’s somebody shooting a gun. I kept envisioning someone is going to come around the corner and and shoot the windows out.”

Kenny Ungerman, a Navy veteran in his first year in the school’s medic program, said he had just come out of a writing class at Snyder Hall and was talking to the National Guard recruiter when “we heard a gunshot.”

“I it sounded like a handgun. It wasn’t loud enough to be an assault rifle,” Ungerman told NBC News. “Then I saw a guy with a handgun right outside — he was wearing jeans and a T-shirt. He was going toward the building, and he just disappeared into the building.”

Ungerman said he heard people running and screaming, “He has a gun!” and “He’s shooting!”

“I only saw him for a split second,” Ungerman said.

Umpqua is a two-year school with about 3,300 full-time students and 16,000 part-time students. It started offering classes in 1961.

In a joint statement, the American Association of Community Colleges and the Association of Community College Trustees said called the shootings a “tragedy” and said they were committed to on-campus safety and security.

But “while campus safety is of the utmost priority, due to their open nature, college and university campuses are susceptible to these types of events,” the organizations said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Is this the mother of all warnings on EMs?

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

The last time emerging markets had it nearly this bad, Ronald Reagan was the U.S. President, KKR purchased RJR Nabisco, and a future popstar named Rihanna was born.

Net capital flows for global emerging markets will be negative in 2015, the first time that has happened since 1988, the Institute of International Finance (IIF) said in its latest report. Net outflows for the year are projected at USD 541 billion, driven by a sustained slowdown in EM growth and uncertainty about China, it added.

In other words, investors will pull out more money out of emerging markets than they will pump in.

The data come on the heels of a separate IIF report this week that showed portfolio capital outflows in EMs amounted to $40 billion during the third quarter, the worst performance since 2008.

Indeed, relief from the Federal Reserve’s decision to delay its first interest rate hike in a decade has proved to be short-lived for EMs amid fresh evidence of a slowing Chinese economy, precipitous currency declines, a sustained slide in commodity prices, and political uncertainty in countries such as Brazil and Turkey.

Covering a group of 30 economies, the IIF report estimates net non-resident inflows at $548 billion for 2015 from $1,074 billion last year—levels not seen since the global financial crisis.

“As a share of gross domestic product (GDP), non-resident inflows have fallen to about 2 percent from a record high of almost 8 percent in 2007.”

The situation is exacerbated by the fact that investors residing in emerging market countries are buying more foreign assets. Known as resident outward investment flows, 2015’s reading is expected to hit a historical high of $1,089 billion, which is likely to further pressurize reserves, exchange rates and asset prices of EMs, the IIF said.

“On a net basis, lower inflows and rising outflows imply that private capital is leaving EMs for the first time since the early 1980s.”

So, which region is the weakest? No surprises here.

“It is noteworthy that a large part of the decline in overall flows this year is attributable to flows out of China, which intensified after the People’s Bank of China announced a mini-devaluation of the renminbi and a shift to a more market-oriented exchange rate fixing regime in August.”

No recovery anytime soon

The high level of non-financial corporate debt as a share of GDP is a major, underlying reason for sustained pressure on EM asset prices, pointed out Hung Tran, executive managing director at the IIF.

“As monetary policy continues to diverge and the Fed begins liftoff, countries with large amounts of corporate debt, especially in USD, will face difficulties, with rising prospects for corporate distress, weakening capital investment and growth.”

The IMF also signaled out corporate debt as an area of caution in its Global Financial Stability report this week. Emerging market firms now boast a record $18 trillion of debt, with the largest increases in leverage in highly vulnerable sectors, such as construction, mining and oil, the IMF said.

It’s still not 2008

The fact that aggregate emerging market equity indices have lost almost a quarter of their value since reaching highs in late-April have led investors to ask whether this is the beginning of another EM crisis, Vontobel Asset Management said in a report this week.

The IIF staunchly disagrees, however. While data may be reminiscent of the 2008 crisis, the factors are fundamentally different, with the IIF likening this year’s episode to “a lengthening drought” rather than a crisis event.

“Unlike the 2008 crisis, the reasons are largely internal rather than external – related to rising concerns about economic prospects and policies in China, coupled with broader uncertainties about EM growth prospects,” noted Charles Collyns, managing director and chief economist at the IIF.

In contrast, the 2008 collapse in capital flows was due to a deep recession in mature economies that spilled over rapidly to emerging markets.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Russia strikes in Syria: Why you should be worried

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Syria has been threatening to become a proxy battleground for what some are calling the New Cold War for months, and Russian airstrikes Wednesday and Thursday may have tipped the balance.

Just hours after the Russian parliament waved through military intervention in Syria, its first air strikes in the civil war-torn Middle Eastern country were confirmed Wednesday night.

On Thursday, there were further striked on rebel positions in the north-west, Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen TV reported. This came after tense discussions between President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin over the best course of action in Syria at the United Nations earlier this week.

“Putin has played a weak hand with considerable aplomb. His risks are very well calculated and have some kind of underlying caution,” Christopher Granville, managing director of Trusted Sources, told CNBC.

Here, CNBC outlines why the latest salvo should be worrying for the West

Russia’s not just targeting IS

Russia’s argument is that it is just leading the charge in an international coalition against terrorist group Islamic State — much like Stalin allied with the Western powers to fight Hitler.

However, this became a little more difficult to accept when western diplomats revealed Wednesday that its first targets were in parts of Syria far from Isis strongholds, including a US-backed rebel group called Tajammu al-Izza.

The kind of weapons Russia is using is also cause for Western concern. Deploying SA-15 and SA-22 air defense systems as well as Sukhoi SU30-SM fighters has no obvious use against Isis, who have yet to make a single airstrike, but could be used against Nato forces, Philip Breedlove, the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, said in Washington Wednesday.

‘Gasoline on the fire’

Ashton Carter, US defence secretary, Wednesday night claimed that the Kremlin had poured “gasoline on the fire” of the volatile situation in Syria.

However, as Granville points out, Western policy to date in the collapsed state has not exactly been a success. Selective airstrikes by a US-led coalition, and the training of Syrian rebels by the US, have so far had little impact on IS.

“They (Russia) have forced a change in the overall policy in Syria – normally no-one else in the world changes the foreign policy of the U.S.,” Granville said.

“This (the process of negotiating a new Syrian government) is going to have to be restarted on a much longer-term and open-ended basis.”

The West, led by President Obama, now has to make up its mind whether to take more active involvement in alliance with Russia, an alliance which will be difficult for many given continued anger over Russian actions in Ukraine.

Who’ll blink first?

Putin may have to compromise on his support for discredited Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to get international agreement. IS represents as much of a threat to Russia’s sphere of influence as it does to the West, so the two may end up having to grudgingly work together, ultimately a victory for Putin.

His objectives would be met if Syria was brought back into to the Russian sphere of influence, and if he could say with confidence that the IS threat had been lessened.

“He wants a Syrian state which is a client state of Russia…there are many more Russians fighting for IS than Britons,” Granville added.

…Trump wades in

Of course, Donald Trump has a view, and the view, in an interview with Fox News, is that Putin is doing “a wonderful thing” backing al-Assad in Syria.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Tale of two China PMIs: Manufacturing still contracting

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Jack Ma to US: Quit worrying so much about China

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

E-commerce billionaire Jack Ma thinks Americans should stop worrying so much about China, and worry more about their own country.

The founder and executive chairman of Alibaba said Tuesday that his country’s savings rate and impending transition to a consumer-led economy mean China can weather a global slowdown. He suggested that China watchers usually get their prognostications wrong.

“You American people worry too much about the China economy,” Ma said at the annual Clinton Global Initiative meeting. “Every time you think China is a problem, we get better, but when you have a high expectation for China, China is always a problem.”

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Apple rakes in $513 on every iPhone 6s Plus sale

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Asian equities extend gains after US rally

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Asian equities followed Wall Street higher early Thursday, but caution remained the overall sentiment ahead of the release of key data from around the region.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite led gains with a jump of 2.3 percent overnight, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 closed up 15 and 1.9 percent respectively, following a rally in global markets.

Ahead of the market open, the Bank of Japan’s quarterly tankan survey showed the country’s large manufacturers less optimistic than expected.

The large manufacturers’ index for the September quarter stood at positive 12, compared with expectations in a Reuters poll for a positive 13. In the previous three months, the key large manufacturers’ index came in at 15 – its highest level since March 2014.

For the December figures, the index was forecast at positive 10, in line with a Reuters poll.

“The BOJ [should be] pretty happy with these results. The deterioration in business sentiment was fully expected and it seems that the BOJ seems to have written off investor production and exports, at least in the near term so that’s not the real surprise,” HSBC’s Japan economist Izumi Devalier told CNBC. “I think they will focus more on the relatively strong non-manufacturing number which they think is more important for Japan’s labor market developments, and the capex numbers [which] are very positive as well.”

Attention will also fall on the readings of China’s mammoth manufacturing sector, after a preliminary figure published last Wednesday painted a worrying picture of the economy. The preliminary Caixin China manufacturing purchasing managers’ index touched a six-and-half-year low of 47.0 in September.

The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) came in at 49.8, beating expectations of 49.6 and compared with 49.7 in August. The final Caixin/Markit PMI, due 45 minutes later, stood at 47.2 in September — a fresh low in six and a half years.

China’s final Caixin/Markit manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for September fell to a fresh six-and-a-half year low of 47.2, worsening from an earlier flash estimate of 47.

The private survey came on the heels of a separate gauge of manufacturing activity. The government’s official PMI rose to 49.8 in September, up from August’s three-year low of 49.7.

Nikkei gains 0.3 percent

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index continued on its up-climb, after rising 2.7 percent on Wednesday.

Among gainers, heavyweight components SoftBank and Fanuc gained more than 2 percent each. Banking shares also gained ground, with Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group climbing nearly 2 percent each.

Nikon led gains among exporters, up 3 percent in early trade, while Panasonic and Sony rose 2.2 and 2.7 percent respectively.

ASX rises 0.8 percent

Australia’s S&P ASX 200 index headed north amid a broad-based rise.

Shares of Australia and New Zealand Banking (ANZ) elevated 0.8 percent, after the lender announced that Shayne Elliott will replace Mike Smith as chief executive officer from January 2016. Elliott currently serves as ANZ’s chief financial officer. Other major lenders rose between 0.6 and 0.7 percent.

Market bellwether BHP Billiton notched up 0.5 percent, mirroring the rise in its U.S. ADRs. In the energy sector, Santos and Woodside Petroleum advanced 1.8 and 1 percent respectively.

Shares in copper miner Oz Minerals jumped as much as 14 percent on Thursday after an unsourced media report said U.S. private equity giant KKR & Co was attempting to buy a 10 percent stake.

Bucking the strength, Newcrest Mining declined 0.6 percent after prices of the precious metal hit its lowest level in two weeks on Wednesday.

Kospi adds 0.2 percent

South Korea’s Kospi index inched up after export data shrunk smaller than expected in September.

Exports fell 8.3 percent to USD 43.5 billion won from a year earlier, data from the Ministry of Trade, Industries and Energy showed early Thursday, above economists’ forecasts in a Reuters poll for a 10 percent fall and compared with a shocking 14.9 percent slump in August. Imports declined 21.8 percent.

The bourse’s top weighted stock Samsung Electronics sagged 0.8 percent, while other tech names such as LG Electronics and LG Display eased nearly 1 percent each.

Other blue chips such as Hyundai Motor and Posco helped to offset losses by nudging up 0.3 and 0.9 percent respectively.

Meanwhile, China begins its week-long National Day holiday today.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow