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2024-07-26
Bloomberg
Treasuries Advance on Speculation Fed Will Maintain Bond-Buying
Treasuries rose for a second day on speculation the Federal Reserve led by Chairman Ben S. Bernanke won’t signal a change next week in its program of $85 billion a month in bond purchases. Benchmark 10-year securities fluctuated earlier as a gauge of July consumer confidence exceeded forecasts. U.S. debt is poised to e...
2024-07-30
Bloomberg
Central Banks’ Unorthodox Actions Are Cutting Lending
The unintended consequences of financial policy intervention are providing fresh evidence for chaos theory’s idea that the flap of a butterfly’s wings can spark a tornado on the other side of the world. Five years into the age of deleveraging, financial markets have become addicted to central bank intervention, from th...
2024-02-06
Bloomberg
European Stocks Drop on Concern Over Italian Austerity
European stocks declined, reversing earlier gains, as an opinion poll in Italy showed the anti- austerity campaign of Silvio Berlusconi has boosted the former premier’s popularity before this month’s elections. UniCredit SpA and Intesa Sanpaolo SpA led a drop in Italian shares. Vinci SA, Europe’s biggest builder, slid ...
2024-03-02
Bloomberg
Coface Says It Dropped Plan to Start European Ratings Company
Coface SA, the credit-insurance unit of Natixis SA, dropped a plan to open a European ratings company and said it will focus on its main business. Coface had net income of 61 million euros ($84 million) in 2010, compared with a 163 million-euro net loss a year earlier, the Paris-based company said in an e-mailed statem...
2024-05-27
Bloomberg
India May Raise Diesel Rates to Cut $44 Billion Loss
(Corrects fuel in first paragraph of story originally published on May 26.) India may increase diesel, kerosene and cooking gas prices to support state-run refiners facing revenue losses of 2 trillion rupees ($44 billion) this fiscal year, an oil ministry official said today. Energy shares surged. A panel of ministers ...
2024-05-22
Bloomberg
Oklahoma’s Senators Opposed 2011 FEMA Funds, Sandy Aid
Oklahoma’s two Republican senators, Tom Coburn and James Inhofe , may be in an awkward position: their tornado-devastated state needs help from the U.S. disaster relief agency whose plea for funds they rejected in 2011. Coburn and Inhofe voted in September 2011 against a bill to provide $7 billion to help finance the F...
2024-11-18
Bloomberg
Telephone Surveillance Challenge Rejected by High Court
The U.S. Supreme Court turned away a challenge to the Obama administration’s spying practices, leaving intact an order that required Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) to turn over records of its customers’ domestic phone calls. The justices today said they won’t hear arguments from the Electronic Privacy Information Cen...
2024-04-30
Bloomberg
Canada Feb. Gross Domestic Product Report (Text)
The following is the text of the February GDP report released by Statistics Canada. Real gross domestic product grew 0.3% in February, the same pace as in January. Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction was the main source of growth in February. Goods production expanded 0.9% in February, owing mainly to increas...
2024-06-11
Bloomberg
Are Americans Saving Too Much or Too Little?
Almost no one in the U.S has enough retirement savings, the New York Times warned us on Sunday, "not even people who have put away $1 million." There are a couple of reasons for this. First, people aren't putting aside enough during their working years, a problem since at least the early 1980s. And the recent decline i...
2024-02-15
Bloomberg
Egypt Credit-Insurance Outlook ‘Not Alarming,’ Euler CEO Says
The outlook for credit insurance in Egypt and Tunisia is not “alarming or catastrophic,” said Wilfried Verstraete, chief executive officer of Euler Hermes SA , the world’s largest trade-credit insurer. “As of today we have not seen any increase of claim notifications in Egypt and Tunisia,” Verstraete said in an intervi...
2024-04-05
Bloomberg
Tip to Wall Street on Medicare Rates Draws Scrutiny
Senator Charles E. Grassley said he will investigate how an investor services firm specializing in so-called political intelligence got early word of a Medicare-rate decision that led to a surge in health insurer stocks. At issue is a private e-mail from the Washington research firm Height Analytics LLC to its Wall Str...
2024-08-10
Bloomberg
Knight Holders Face Funding Options in Hotspot, Direct Edge
The investors who bailed out Knight Capital Group Inc. (KCG) may wring more value from the firm by selling its currency platform and stake in Direct Edge Holdings LLC. Hotspot FX, the foreign-exchange trading system acquired in 2006, would get as much as $300 million in a sale, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. Its 19....
2024-11-17
Bloomberg
Insurers Gave U.S. Chamber $86 Million Used to Oppose Obama's Health Law
Health insurers last year gave the U.S. Chamber of Commerce $86.2 million that was used to oppose the health-care overhaul law, according to tax records and people familiar with the donation. The insurance lobby, whose members include Minnetonka, Minnesota-based UnitedHealth Group Inc. and Cigna Corp. of Philadelphia, ...
2024-10-12
Bloomberg
Goldman May Drop Bank Status Over Volcker Rule, Hilder Says
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Morgan Stanley may consider dropping their status as bank holding companies to avoid expenses tied to the Volcker rule, said David Hilder , an analyst at Susquehanna Financial Group LLP. The rule in its current form would impose costs on lenders and drive capital to non-bank market mak...
2024-04-03
Bloomberg
U.S. Stocks Fall as Energy, Financials Tumble on Economy
U.S. stocks fell, dragging the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index down from a record, as financial and energy shares tumbled after oil plunged and worse-than-estimated data spurred concern over economic growth. Bank of America Corp. and Morgan Stanley dropped more than 2.7 percent as financial shares tumbled the most among 10...
2024-01-20
Bloomberg
Van Hollen Wants to End Hedge-Fund Tax Break (Transcript)
Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland , ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt ,” airing this weekend, that Congress should eliminate a tax break for private-equity and hedge- fund executives to pay for extending a payroll tax...
2024-07-26
Bloomberg
PVI Advances Most in a Week on Talanx Stake Sale: Hanoi Mover
PVI Holdings (PVI) , Vietnam ’s second- largest insurer by market value, climbed the most in a week after saying it completed the sale of a 6.8 percent stake to Talanx AG. The shares rose 1.2 percent to 16,600 dong as of the close on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the biggest advance since July 19. The benchmark VN Index ga...
2024-12-20
Bloomberg
Muni Supply Will Increase by 10%, Deutsche Bank’s Pollack Says
The municipal-bond market will continue to experience record-low interest rates in the first half of 2012, followed by higher yields if the Federal Reserve implements a third round of asset purchases known as quantitative easing, said Gary Pollack, head of fixed-income trading at Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) ’s Private Wealt...
2024-11-04
Bloomberg
Detroit Emergency Manager Spars With Bankruptcy Judge
Detroit ’s emergency manager ended 10 hours of testimony in a federal court by defending his decision to put the city into bankruptcy instead of trying to persuade unions to negotiate over cuts to pensions and other benefits. Kevyn Orr denied that he was trying to “mislead anyone” at a public meeting on June 10 when he...
2024-07-13
Bloomberg
Hartford Profit Falls to $24 Million on Natural Disasters, Asbestos Costs
Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. (HIG) , the seller of life insurance and property-casualty coverage, said second-quarter net income plunged on catastrophe claims and the cost of asbestos liabilities. The company declined in extended trading. Second-quarter net income was about $24 million, according to a stateme...
2024-01-25
Bloomberg
Morrison, Paul Hastings, Jones Day: Business of Law
Morrison & Foerster LLP opened an office in Singapore, which will be led by Eric Piesner, firmwide managing partner for Asia and head of the firm’s Asia real estate practice. ““We already have a substantial base of business with a Singapore nexus, including clients with M&A, real estate, project finance, dispute resolu...
2024-05-09
Bloomberg
Reichmann’s Canary Wharf Vision Is at Investors’ Cost
(Corrects seventh paragraph of story published March 25 to show that 47 percent loss is based on reinvested dividends; adds London Docklands Development Corp. as seller in 20th.) Canary Wharf took less than 25 years to fulfill Paul Reichmann’s vision of building a “mini Wall Street ” in the U.K. to rival the City of Lo...
2024-08-06
Bloomberg
Swiss Stocks Retreat; Swiss Re, Nestle SA Lead Declining Shares in Zurich
Swiss stocks fell after a report showing lower-than-expected private job creation in the U.S. stoked concern that the global economy is slowing. Swiss Reinsurance Co., the world’s second-largest reinsurer, dropped 4.6 percent. Nestle SA, the world’s largest food company, retreated 1.1 percent. The Swiss Market Index ...
2024-03-01
Bloomberg
Gross Says ISDA Yet to Make Final Call on Greek Default-Swaps
Pacific Investment Management Co.’s Bill Gross , whose firm is a member of the committee that decides whether default insurance on Greek debt will pay out, said the group will probably make one more decision on the issue. The International Swaps & Derivatives Association said today that credit-default swaps tied to Gre...
2024-02-16
Bloomberg
Morgan Stanley, UBS, Goldman May Be Cut in Moody’s Review
UBS AG, Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN) and Morgan Stanley’s credit ratings may be cut by as many as three levels by Moody’s Investors Service, which is reviewing 17 banks and securities firms with global capital markets operations. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) , Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) , JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and C...
2024-11-12
Bloomberg
Esurance Shuns Auto Insurer Drag Race With Geico
Esurance, the online car-insurance seller owned by Allstate Corp. (ALL) , is betting that bundling auto and home policies will help it compete with Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A) ’s Geico unit and Progressive Corp. (PGR) Esurance started underwriting homeowners coverage in Wisconsin and plans to expand the offering t...
2024-11-11
Bloomberg
Flug Shekel Sales Sapped by Best Flows Since ’06: Israel Markets
Israeli companies are on course to attract more foreign inflows this year than at any time since 2006, undermining central bank efforts to curb the shekel’s gains and help the export-driven economy. Direct investment from abroad increased to more than $9 billion in the first nine months of 2013, matching the total for ...
2024-04-24
Bloomberg
Development Partners to Boost Africa Investments by $750 Million
Development Partners International, a London-based private equity fund that invests in sub-Saharan Africa , plans to spend as much as $750 million on projects in the region over seven years, said Chief Executive Officer Runa Alam. The fund is looking for investment opportunities in banking, insurance, oil and gas, tele...
2024-03-02
Bloomberg
EU Leaders Declare Crisis Turning Point as Focus Starts Shifting to Growth
European leaders declared a turning point in the Greece-fueled debt crisis, shifting their focus away from the budget-cutting spree that has dominated two years of rescue operations. With a second Greek aid package wrapped up and the euro region slipping into recession, the leaders committed to a pro- growth agenda tha...
2024-09-16
Bloomberg
SEC Watchdog to Refer Ex-Counsel’s Madoff Work to Justice
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s inspector general plans to ask the Justice Department to review whether the agency’s former top lawyer violated conflict-of-interest laws, according to three people with knowledge of the watchdog’s findings. H. David Kotz, the inspector, is completing his report on ex-gener...
2024-04-23
Bloomberg
Travelers Rallies as Profit Climbs, Exceeds Estimates
Travelers Cos. (TRV) , the second-largest U.S. commercial insurer, led the Dow Jones Industrial Average higher after reporting first-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates on wider margins. The insurer surged 3.9 percent to $87.86 at 9:43 a.m. in New York. Net income rose to $896 million, or $2.33 a share, from $...
2024-08-06
Bloomberg
Treasury 3- to 30-Year Yield Difference Widens Before Auctions
The difference between yields on Treasury three-year notes and 30-year bonds widened to the most in almost two years before the U.S. sells the securities as part of its auctions this week. The so-called spread increased to 3.14 percentage points, the highest level since September 2011, according to closing price data c...
2024-08-06
Bloomberg
Illinois Charges Ex-Premier Bank Officers With Loan Fraud
Four ex-Premier Bank executives were charged with fraud for soliciting bribes for loans, hiding poor financial conditions and using federal bailout money in a scheme that cost taxpayers $70 million when the bank failed. The defendants, former directors and officers of state-chartered Premier Bank of Wilmette, Illinois ...
2024-11-29
Bloomberg
HSBC Set to End Quest to Build Retail Banking in Korea
HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) may end a 14-year quest to build retail banking operations in South Korea by closing or selling branches in Asia’s fourth-largest economy. Europe’s biggest lender by market value is reviewing options for the local retail unit, Hyonjin Suh, a Seoul-based spokeswoman, said in an e-mail today. Lon...
2024-05-31
Bloomberg
Rain-Delayed Corn Farmers Prefer Sowing Late to Idle Land
Corn farmers from Iowa to North Dakota who delayed planting because of unusually heavy rain may stick with plans to sow crops well beyond the date for optimum yields, rather than switch to soybeans or leave fields fallow. “I’m going to try to plant corn until June 10 before deciding to switch to soybeans or file an ins...
2024-07-16
Bloomberg
Letta Says EU Members Underestimate ‘Huge Risk’ of U.K. Exit
Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta said the chances of the U.K. leaving the European Union are being underestimated by members, who should start planning now for the changes needed to keep the group intact. “In the European Union countries we are under-evaluating the risk in two, three years of having the U.K. out of ...
2024-11-01
Bloomberg
MGIC Rallies as Freddie Mac Insurance Clash Eases
MGIC Investment Corp. (MTG) led a rally of mortgage guarantors after the company reached a preliminary deal with Freddie Mac to resolve a coverage dispute that threatened to prevent the insurer from backing some loans. MGIC jumped 16 percent to $1.99 at 10:05 a.m. in New York. Philadelphia-based Radian Group Inc. (RDN)...
2024-09-28
Bloomberg
Dubai Shares Fall a 2nd Day on Concern September Gains Overdone; Oil Drops
Dubai shares declined for a second day on speculation gains this month are overdone and as global markets fell on concern that economic growth may slow. Crude oil dropped, ending a four-day rally. Emaar Properties PJSC retreated 0.8 percent after the builder of the world’s tallest tower postponed a board meeting. Gulf ...
2024-04-04
Bloomberg
Eight Hurricanes May Form in Atlantic Basin in 2011, U.K. Forecaster Says
The Atlantic basin’s storm season may be more active than usual with eight hurricanes forming in 2011, insurer-backed U.K. forecaster Tropical Storm Risk said. Four of those will become “major” systems, blowing at a minimum of 111 miles (179 kilometers) an hour, the research group said today in an e-mailed statement. A...
2024-01-06
Bloomberg
Shell to Tow Grounded Alaska Drill Rig 30 Miles in Recovery Plan
Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) plans to tow the drilling rig that ran aground in Alaska about 30 miles to a safe harbor after naval architects determined the vessel is safe to move. The Kulluk, which ran aground after breaking from a tow boat during a storm on Dec. 31, will be moved to Kiliuda Bay, where more tests can b...
2024-08-08
Bloomberg
Greece’s Power Generator Tests Euro Fitness Amid Blackout Threat
In the mountains of northern Greece lies an $800 million power plant whose future may help determine whether the country can salvage its euro status. The facility near Florina, a town known as “Where Greece Begins,” is the most modern of four production units that state-controlled Public Power Corp. SA (PPC) is schedul...
2024-05-23
Bloomberg
Solar Insurers Turn Kingmakers Over Panel Survival Doubts
When True Green Capital Management LLC chose a solar panel maker for a rooftop installation in New Jersey , the firm’s biggest concern was whether the manufacturer would survive long enough to guarantee the equipment. The New York-based private equity fund made its Chinese manufacturer buy insurance to back the 25-year...
2024-10-21
Bloomberg
Cheap European CLOs Offer Investor ‘Carrots,’ Citigroup Says
European collateralized loan obligations are undervalued and investors should take advantage of the biggest discount to U.S. deals this year to boost holdings of the debt, Citigroup Inc. analysts said. An average AA rated CLO in Europe trades at 64 percent of face value, compared with about 76 percent in the U.S., anal...
2024-10-09
Bloomberg
Munich Re’s Asset Manager Targets Real Estate Lending, REITs
Munich Re’s asset-management unit plans to invest more in real estate lending and REITs as returns from direct property investments come under pressure and banks cut their loan portfolios. The company is turning to real estate investment trusts and is exploring “options for commercial real estate lending to offer our c...
2024-07-24
Bloomberg
Thunderstorms, High Winds May Strike Massachusetts Coast
Thunderstorms that delayed some air traffic in Chicago early today may move east, taking high winds, hail and heavy rain to Washington and the mid-Atlantic, according to the U.S. Storm Prediction Center. The East Coast from Delaware to South Carolina has a 30 percent chance of experiencing damaging winds as the front m...
2024-03-08
Bloomberg
Stocks Advance With Commodities as Greece Moves Closer to Swap; Euro Gains
Stocks (MXWD) rose, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to its biggest back-to-back rally of the year, while commodities gained and the euro strengthened as Greece moved closer to completing its debt restructuring. The S&P 500 advanced 1 percent to close at 1,365.91, with the two-day advance erasing its 1.5 percent...
2024-02-21
Bloomberg
ResCap Sues AIG, Allstate Over Repayment Priority
Residential Capital LLC sued AIG Asset Management LLC, Allstate Insurance Co. and other mortgage- bond buyers to prevent them from collecting money ahead of other creditors in the company’s bankruptcy. Mortgage investors who lost money on securities they bought from ResCap shouldn’t be given priority over unsecured cre...
2024-07-24
Bloomberg
China to Punish Hospital Staff as Kickback Crackdown Widens
China will punish 39 hospital employees for taking illegal kickbacks from drugmakers amid a widening investigation of corruption in the country’s $350 billion health-care market. The hospital staff received inducements totaling 2.82 million yuan ($460,000) from two pharmaceutical companies between January 2010 and Dece...
2024-02-08
Bloomberg
Barclays CEO’s Ethics Talk Drowns Out Silence on Profit
Barclays Plc Chief Executive Officer Antony Jenkins’s pledges to shred the legacy of his predecessor and fix the lender’s culture are distracting from the difficulty he has in reviving profit at Britain’s biggest investment bank. Jenkins, who took over after Robert Diamond departed in the wake of the bank’s fine for ri...
2024-05-03
Bloomberg
HSBC May Free $25 Billion of Capital on U.S. Sale, Analysts Say
HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) , Europe’s biggest bank, may improve its return on equity by selling assets in the U.S. and freeing $25 billion of capital, according to analysts at Barclays Capital. The bank may seek to sell branches and its credit-card business in the U.S., wrote analysts led by London-based Rohith Chandra-R...
2024-08-24
Bloomberg
Admiral Tumbles as Insurer Sets Aside Money for Past Claims
Admiral Group Plc (ADM) , the U.K. car insurer that owns the confused.com website, posted first-half pretax profit that missed analyst estimates after it held back more cash to cover claims from previous years. The stock fell. Pretax profit climbed 27 percent to 160.6 million pounds ($265 million) in the first half, th...
2024-08-10
Bloomberg
CWA Union, Verizon Appeal to Congress Amid 4th Day of Strike
The Communications Workers of America , which represents 35,000 workers at Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) out on strike, appealed to Congress for support in the four-day-old labor dispute. “We ask you to write Verizon President Lowell McAdam and urge him to respect collective bargaining rights and not to destroy midd...
2024-01-11
Bloomberg
HSBC Has Nothing Further to Disclose on Ping An Disposal
HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) , faced with growing concern its plan to sell a $9.4 billion stake in Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. will fail, said it has no material information to disclose about the negotiations. “HSBC confirms that it is not aware of any information which must be announced to avoid a false market” in its o...
2024-08-28
Bloomberg
Asian Stocks Snap Losing Streak Before Bernanke Speech
(Corrects Malaysian Airline System item in story published Aug. 27) Asian stocks rose this week, snapping four weeks of losses, as exporters and commodity shares gained on speculation U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke would foreshadow measures to shore up the U.S. recovery. Asian stocks swung between gains ...
2024-08-13
Bloomberg
Brazil Soccer Body May Lose Half of Profit in Bank Failure
Brazil ’s soccer federation may lose half its 2012 profit following the collapse of a bank that had been at the center of a government graft scandal, according to a person familiar with the matter. Confederacao Brasileira de Futebol , or CBF, deposited about 30 million reais ($13.14 million) with Belo Horizonte-based B...
2024-10-03
Bloomberg
Serbia and IMF Working on Plan to Fix Finances, Cut Debt
Serbia is working on a plan with the International Monetary Fund to trim its fiscal gap by as much as 1.6 billion euros ($2.2 billion) by 2016 to assuage investors and stop its credit rating from sliding deeper into junk. Finance Minister Lazar Krstic said talks with an IMF mission in Belgrade this week “started in a p...
2024-11-26
Bloomberg
Panamericano Fraud Probe Prompts Brazilian Banks to Review Loan Purchases
Banco Panamericano SA’s fraud probe is prompting at least two of Brazil’s larger lenders to review internal rules on buying credit portfolios, said the president of the nation´s association of small and medium-sized banks. “Some banks are studying the rules for credit portfolio trades and accounting procedures to make ...
2024-10-20
Bloomberg
RBC Unit Fined by Finra in U.K. Over Sales of Reverse Convertible Notes
Royal Bank of Canada’s RBC Wealth Management unit will pay $690,000 to resolve a brokerage regulator’s claims that a U.S. unit sold unsuitable financial products to elderly clients and others with modest net worth. Ferris, Baker Watts Inc., which was acquired by RBC in 2008, failed to supervise brokers who sold so-call...
2024-11-19
Bloomberg
ING Wins More Time From EU to Sell Its Insurance Business
ING Groep NV (INGA) , the biggest Dutch financial-services company, won more time from European Union regulators to sell its insurance operations and pledged to repay state support by 2015. The shares rose. The European Commission said today that it extended the deadline for ING to divest the businesses , originally se...
2024-07-28
Bloomberg
Aetna Sees No Earnings Boost From CVS Caremark Pharmacy Deal Until 2012
Aetna Inc. , the third-largest U.S. health insurer, doesn’t expect its new pharmacy-benefit contract with CVS Caremark Corp. to increase earnings until 2012, said Chief Financial Officer Joseph Zubretsky. Under the agreement, announced yesterday, Woonsocket, Rhode Island-based CVS will administer $9.5 billion in annua...
2024-09-07
Bloomberg
RBC Backed Away From Canadian Acquisitions, CEO Nixon Says
Royal Bank of Canada (RY) , the country’s largest bank, has backed away from recent Canadian takeover opportunities because they didn’t meet the company’s goals, Chief Executive Officer Gordon Nixon said. “They were inconsistent with our domestic distribution strategies and our margin and risk objectives,” Nixon said t...
2024-09-16
Bloomberg
The Feel-Good Promise of Wellness Programs
It has been a tough couple of months for Pennsylvania State University ’s new wellness program, Take Care of Your Health. In July, the university introduced the plan as a modification of the health coverage it offers employees. For good reason, those employees aren’t pleased. Beginning this fall, in order to avoid a $1...
2024-01-30
Bloomberg
FDIC Sues Ex-Officers of Merced’s County Bank Over $42 Million in Loans
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. sued former officials of County Bank in Merced, California, part of Capital Corp. of the West , claiming their mismanagement caused $42 million in losses through bad loans. Named in the suit, filed Jan. 27 in federal court in Fresno, were former County Bank Chief Executive Officer Th...
2024-08-30
Bloomberg
Basketball Seeks Support in Soccer-Mad Britain Before 2012 Summer Olympics
Basketball is an afterthought in soccer-mad Britain, where professional teams sometimes have to share gym practice space with badminton games as the sport’s two national squads prepare for their first Olympic appearance since 1948. As host of the 2012 London Summer Games, the British men’s basketball team led by Chicag...
2024-03-31
Bloomberg
Japan Cheap for Herro After Biggest Topix Swings in Two Years
The biggest price swings in Japanese equities in two years have left valuations in the Topix index close to the lowest levels since the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Historical volatility for the Topix jumped to 48.36 last month, the highest level since December 2008, according to 30- day data compiled by B...
2024-07-30
Bloomberg
Cuomo Said to Subpoena Genworth, Unum as Insurer Probe Widens
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo subpoenaed Genworth Financial Inc. , Unum Group and an insurer acquired by France’s Axa SA as the state widens a life- insurance fraud probe, said a person briefed on the demands. New York Life Insurance Co., Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. and Guardian Life Insurance Co. ...
2024-03-21
Bloomberg
Mauritius Foreign Investment Rose 59% Last Year, Bank Says
Foreign direct investment in Mauritius surged 59 percent last year, the Bank of Mauritius said. Investment reached 13.95 billion rupees ($487 million), compared with 8.8 billion rupees a year earlier, the Port Louis- based central bank said in a statement on its website today. It was the biggest inflow since 2005, acco...
2024-10-06
Bloomberg
Exchanges Will Raise U.S. Health-Care Costs
Ignore the inevitable startup glitches. The new health-insurance exchanges will work just fine -- in the sense that all government health-care programs work: Many people will ultimately become dependent on them for coverage. That won’t mean the exchanges have fulfilled their promise, however. Forget the superficial com...
2024-04-22
Bloomberg
European Insurers May See ‘Golden Year’ as Disasters Push Prices
Europe ’s biggest insurers and reinsurers, including Allianz SE (ALV) and Zurich Insurance Group AG (ZURN) , are using last year’s losses from natural catastrophes and auto underwriting to increase policy prices. Allianz, Europe’s biggest insurer, expects higher profit this year, helped by the “high single-digit price ...
2024-02-19
Bloomberg
Seinfeld on Rubio; ZZ Top on Pythons: Palm Beach Scene
“I’ve seen ’em,” said Paul Tudor Jones of the pythons that eat mammals from rabbits to deer in Everglades National Park. “I’m not afraid,” ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons added of the reptile, which isn’t venomous. The hedge-fund manager and the rocker talked snake at the eighth annual Everglades Foundation benefit, held a few ...
2024-10-04
Bloomberg
India Slowdown Thwarts Carmakers’ Sales Search Beyond U.S
With sales crashing in Europe and slowing in China, carmakers are looking for signs of growth beyond the U.S. market. In India , it’s not looking good. The holiday season, just under way there, typically accounts for about a quarter of new auto purchases. This year, the market is uncharacteristically moribund as the ec...
2024-02-21
Bloomberg
PBOC Switch to Drain Cash Turns Citigroup Bearish
The People’s Bank of China ’s first draining of cash since June, seeking to damp a property-market revival, is prompting Citigroup Inc. (C) to predict one-year yields will rise faster than longer-term rates. The central bank sold repurchase agreements for the first time in eight months on Feb. 19, withdrawing capital f...
2024-05-29
Bloomberg
China Insurance Premiums Rise 24% in First 4 Months
China's insurance market expanded 24 percent to 253.2 billion yuan ($33 billion) in premiums in the first four months of 2007 from a year earlier, the regulator said. Premiums from life policies rose 19 percent to 164.1 billion yuan, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission said in a statement posted on its Web site ...
2024-10-20
Bloomberg
Bank of America Bosses Find Friend in the Fed: Jonathan Weil
One of the reasons so many Americans are ticked off at the Federal Reserve is a lingering sense that it puts big banks’ interests above those of ordinary taxpayers. The news that the Fed is taking Bank of America Corp. (BAC) ’s side in a dispute over where to park some of the company’s holdings only reinforces that imp...
2024-10-09
Bloomberg
UN Advisers Say Global Social Fund Would Protect World’s Poor
Basic social protection could be provided to all the world’s poor at the cost of 2 percent of global gross domestic product, according to the United Nations’ advisers on extreme poverty and the right to food. Almost 80 percent of the world’s poor have no social safety net to protect them against the effects of unemploy...
2024-02-24
Bloomberg
Obama, Holder Cease Defending `Unconstitutional' Defense of Marriage Act
The Obama administration said it will no longer oppose court challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages for purposes of taxes, social security and other programs. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder wrote yesterday to House Speaker John A. Boehner...
2024-07-22
Bloomberg
ING’s Cuyegkeng Says Philippines May Raise Banks’ Reserve Ratio
Joey Cuyegkeng, a Manila-based economist at ING Bank NV, comments on the Philippine economy and monetary policy. He spoke at a press briefing today. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas may keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 4.5 percent at its July 28 meeting after two increases earlier this year, Cuyegkeng predicts....
2024-12-12
Bloomberg
Nippon Life Plans to Boost Private-Equity Holdings, Maintain Hedge Funds
Nippon Life Insurance Co. , Japan’s biggest life insurer with about 50 trillion yen ($640 billion) of assets, plans to invest more in private-equity funds and maintain its hedge-fund allocations. Less than 1 percent of the insurer’s assets are invested in private-equity and hedge funds, said Hiroo Sakuma, deputy genera...
2024-09-26
Bloomberg
Boomers Face Caregiver Shortage as U.S. Offers New Rules: Jobs
Carolyn Gay, a certified nursing assistant of 20 years, says she wants to inspire teens to become caregivers to the elderly. “I’m getting older, and in another 10 years, I’m going to need one of these girls to look after me,” said Gay, 72, a Polk County, Florida , resident who speaks at area high-school career days. It...
2024-10-29
Bloomberg
China's Stocks Fall on Inflation Concern After Posting Best Rally in World
China’s stocks , the best performer among global markets in October, fell today on the prospect the government will intensify measures to curb inflation and property speculation. The losses narrowed the biggest monthly gain since July 2009 for the Shanghai Composite Index. China Vanke Co. , the nation’s biggest develop...
2024-06-18
Bloomberg
Fed Seen Twisting to Risk Management to Spur U.S. Growth
Federal Reserve officials must choose this week between their best estimates and their worst fears of what will happen to the U.S. economy. Policy makers will bring new forecasts to their June 19-20 meeting and probably will mark down their April central-tendency estimate for growth of 2.4 percent to 2.9 percent this y...
2024-02-03
Bloomberg
Genworth Says Vancouver, Toronto Homes May See Correction
High-end housing markets in Toronto and Vancouver may see corrections, said Stuart Levings, chief risk officer at Genworth MI Canada Inc. (MIC) , a mortgage insurer. “We do believe the market is somewhat overvalued in certain regions, particularly at the high-end segments of Vancouver and Toronto,” Levings said today o...
2024-11-18
Bloomberg
A Conservative Cure for Obamacare
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is floundering. Conservatives who take satisfaction in that should be careful not to get ahead of themselves. The rollout problems -- however serious and continuing -- shouldn’t be confused with the law’s outright collapse. Even the administration’s recent capitulation (ho...
2024-02-10
Bloomberg
Buffett Inflation Warning Borne Out by History: Chart of the Day
Investors who stuck with Treasury bills during billionaire Warren Buffett ’s tenure at Berkshire Hathaway Inc. would have seen most of their returns eroded by the effects of inflation. The CHART OF THE DAY shows how the value of $100 invested in three-month bills has changed since 1965, when Buffett took control of Ber...
2024-11-26
Bloomberg
Generali to Boost Real Estate, Asset Management in Asia and Central Europe
Assicurazioni Generali SpA , Europe’s third-biggest insurer, plans to increase its real-estate holdings and boost asset-management in central and eastern Europe and Asia to raise profitability. The insurer seeks to expand its real-estate portfolio to 30 billion euros ($40 billion) “in the medium term” from 24.2 billion...
2024-08-08
Bloomberg
Treasury 30-Year Bonds Rise on Demand Speculation Before Auction
Treasury 30-year bonds rose as the U.S. prepared to sell $16 billion of the debt at yields close to the highest level at an auction of the maturity in two years. The yield on the benchmark 10-year note touched the lowest level this month after U.S. sold $24 billion of the securities yesterday and $32 billion in three-y...
2024-07-27
Bloomberg
World’s Richest Gain $15.2 Billion as Global Markets Rise
The richest people on the planet added $15.2 billion to their collective net worth this week as global markets rose on speculation that Europe will move to ease borrowing costs in Italy and Spain. The week’s biggest gainer was Spanish retail tycoon Amancio Ortega , who added $3 billion to his fortune after Inditex, the...
2024-07-20
Bloomberg
Minster Insurance Co. Files for Chapter 15 Bankruptcy Protection in U.S.
Minster Insurance Co. Ltd. sought bankruptcy protection from creditors in the U.S. The company, based in London, listed both debt and assets of more than $100 million in Chapter 15 documents filed yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. Chapter 15 protects foreign companies from U.S. lawsuits and creditor cla...
2024-03-23
Bloomberg
John Thomas’s Belesis Aided Hedge-Fund Fraud, SEC Claims
Anastasios “Tommy” Belesis, founder of John Thomas Financial Inc., and Houston radio host George Jarkesy defrauded investors in two hedge funds, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said. The two men, both 38, told investors the funds were independent from the brokerage then steered excessive fees to Belesis’s N...
2024-07-21
Bloomberg
Fidelity National Profit Rises on Gain From Stake Sale, Mortgage-Rate Drop
Fidelity National Financial Inc., the largest U.S. title insurer by market share, had a fifth straight quarterly profit as it posted a gain on an asset sale and mortgage rates improved. Net income climbed to $139.6 million, or 61 cents a share, in the three months ended June 30, from $91.9 million, or 40 cents, a year...
2024-04-10
Bloomberg
HSBC in Talks to Sell Operations in Pakistan, South Korea
HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) , Europe’s largest bank, said it’s in talks to sell operations in Pakistan and South Korea , part of the lender’s plans to exit businesses that aren’t large or profitable enough. The company is in talks with “a number of interested parties” about a sale of HSBC Bank Middle East Ltd.’s operation...
2024-11-14
Bloomberg
Failed Facebook Stock Deal Brokered From Jail Spurs Probe
Troy Stratos, a failed music producer and screenwriter, wasn’t going to let confinement in a California jail stop him from getting in on the Facebook Inc. (FB) craze. While awaiting trial on charges that he stole at least $7 million from the ex-wife of actor Eddie Murphy, Stratos tried to broker a private sale of 40 mi...
2024-09-27
Bloomberg
Penn State Football Revenue Up as Team’s Start Worst Since 2006
Penn State’s football team, stung by sanctions that will last five years after the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse convictions, is off to its worst start since 2006. Its revenue-generating ability hasn’t slipped at all. Fans have bought 68,000 season tickets, about the same as last year; the 60 luxury suites at Beaver S...
2024-10-25
Bloomberg
Bovespa Stocks Advance on Federal Reserve Loosening Prospects; Real Gains
Brazil’s Bovespa stock-index futures advanced, indicating the gauge may pare its first weekly decline since August, as investors speculated the Federal Reserve may announce further measures to bolster the economic recovery. Electric utilities Light SA and Eletropaulo Metropolitana SA may be active after Banco Santander...
2024-07-04
Bloomberg
Asian Stocks Rise on U.S. Factory Data, Stimulus Optimism
Asian stocks rose for a sixth day, with the regional benchmark index recording its longest winning streak this year, as U.S. factory orders topped estimates and commodities climbed to a two-month high amid speculation central banks will act to boost economic growth. BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) jumped 2.1 percent to lead ga...
2024-04-18
Bloomberg
Canada February Employment Insurance Report (Text)
The following is the text of Canada 's employment insurance report for Feb. released by Statistics Canada. In February, 628,900 people received regular Employment Insurance (EI) benefits, down 8,300 (-1.3%) from January and a fifth consecutive monthly decrease. The number of beneficiaries declined in all provinces exce...
2024-07-13
Bloomberg
Petrobras Second-Worst Oil Shares After BP as Sale Delay Worries Investors
Petroleo Brasileiro SA is the world’s second-worst performing oil company this year, behind only BP Plc, on concern Brazil’s government will force the producer to pay more than investors originally expected for crude reserves. The value of the 5 billion barrels of reserves, which the government plans to swap for new s...
2024-04-03
Bloomberg
Arabica Premium Seen Higher on Robusta Supply Surge: Commodities
The premium paid for arabica beans favored by Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) over the robusta used by Nestle SA (NESN) may rally from a 20-month low because of a surge in supply from Vietnam , the biggest grower of the less costly coffee. Arabica fell 18 percent in New York this year on prospects for a record Brazilian crop as...
2024-09-13
Bloomberg
Buildmax, Datatec, Exxaro, MMI, RMBH: South African Equity Market Preview
The following stocks may rise or fall in South Africa. Symbols are in parentheses and prices are from the last close. The FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index rose for the first day in three, gaining 176.96, or 0.6 percent, to 30,032.71 by the 5 p.m. close in Johannesburg. Buildmax Ltd. (BDM) : The construction equipment...
2024-06-03
Bloomberg
MRI for $7,332 Shows Wide Variety in U.S. Medical Costs
The costs of outpatient hospital care vary widely for typical services such as an MRI, according to data released by the U.S. government. In New York , for example, hospitals charge $474 to $7,332 for a magnetic resonance imaging test of blood vessels, according to the data released today covering charges and Medicare ...