U.S. Markets closed

  • S&P 500

    4,185.47
    +15.05 (+0.36%)
     

  • Dow 30

    34,200.67
    +164.68 (+0.48%)
     

  • Nasdaq

    14,052.34
    +13.58 (+0.10%)
     

  • Russell 2000

    2,262.67
    +5.60 (+0.25%)
     

  • Crude Oil

    63.07
    -0.39 (-0.61%)
     

  • Gold

    1,777.30
    +10.50 (+0.59%)
     

  • Silver

    26.04
    +0.08 (+0.29%)
     

  • EUR/USD

    1.1980
    +0.0004 (+0.0359%)
     

  • 10-Yr Bond

    1.5730
    +0.0430 (+2.81%)
     

  • Vix

    16.25
    -0.32 (-1.93%)
     

  • GBP/USD

    1.3842
    +0.0058 (+0.4180%)
     

  • USD/JPY

    108.7900
    +0.0740 (+0.0681%)
     

  • BTC-USD

    62,092.64
    +290.68 (+0.47%)
     

  • CMC Crypto 200

    1,398.97
    +7.26 (+0.52%)
     

  • FTSE 100

    7,019.53
    +36.03 (+0.52%)
     

  • Nikkei 225

    29,683.37
    +40.68 (+0.14%)
     

The road not taken: South Korea's self-driving professor

Han Min-hong successfully tested his self-driving car in 1993 -- a decade before Elon Musk even founded Tesla

Video Transcript

- Students and I were very passionate about it because it was something others hadn't done yet, something that hadn't appeared in the world yet. [SPEAKING KOREAN]

[SPEAKING KOREAN]

- [SPEAKING KOREAN]

- Of course Tesla's invested a lot of money in testing, so it might be much better when it comes to sophistication, but there shouldn't be much difference when it comes down to basic functionality.

- [SPEAKING KOREAN]

Recommended Stories

  • Credit Suisse sued over risk exposure to Greensill Capital, Archegos

    A pension fund filed a lawsuit against Credit Suisse Group AG on Friday in a U.S. court, accusing the Swiss bank of misleading investors and mismanaging risk exposure to high-risk clients, including Greensill Capital and Archegos Capital Management. The pension fund, City of St. Clair Shores Police & Fire Retirement System, based in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, filed the class action lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan, alleging violations of federal securities laws.

  • U.S. stops short of branding Vietnam, Switzerland, Taiwan currency manipulators

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday said Vietnam, Switzerland and Taiwan tripped its thresholds for possible currency manipulation under a 2015 U.S. trade law, but refrained from formally branding them as manipulators. In the first semi-annual foreign exchange report issued by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the Treasury said it will commence "enhanced engagement" with Taiwan and continue such talks with Vietnam and Switzerland after the Trump administration labeled the latter two as currency manipulators in December.

  • Dollar at 4-week low on retreating Treasury yields

    NEW YORK (Reuters) -The dollar fell to a four-week low against a basket of currencies on Friday, still smarting from a sharp drop in U.S. Treasury yields the previous session, and as investors increasingly bought into the Federal Reserve's insistence it would keep an accommodative policy stance for a while longer. The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield dipped to a one-month low of 1.528% overnight, moving further away from March's 1.776%, its highest in more than a year, even in the face of Thursday's stronger-than-expected retail sales and employment data. "It's a little bit of a change of course," said Minh Trang, senior FX trader at Silicon Valley Bank.

  • Indonesia’s Mitratel Chooses Banks for $1 Billion IPO

    (Bloomberg) -- PT Dayamitra Telekomunikasi, the infrastructure services unit of state-owned PT Telkom Indonesia, has picked banks to arrange its potential initial public offering in what could be the country’s biggest first-time share sale, according to people with knowledge of the matter.Mitratel, as the company is known, has chosen HSBC Holdings Plc, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley to work on the planned Jakarta IPO, the people said. BRI Danareksa Sekuritas and Mandiri Sekuritas were also selected to help arrange the listing, the people said, asking not to be identified as the process is private.The company aims to raise about $1 billion from the first-time share sale as soon as this year, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday. At $1 billion, the IPO would be the largest in the country to date since PT Indofood CBP Sukses Makmur’s $696 million offering in 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.Mitratel could add more banks to the lineup at a later date, one of the people said. Deliberations are ongoing and details of the offering including size and timeline could change, the people said.Preparations for the Mitratel IPO are underway and the company will give more details in due course, Ririek Adriansyah, president director of Telkom Indonesia, said in response to a Bloomberg News query.Representatives for HSBC, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley declined to comment.A representative for Mandiri Sekuritas couldn’t immediately comment. A representative for BRI Danareksa Sekuritas didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.Mitratel manages more than 16,000 telecommunication towers throughout Indonesia, according to its website. It signed a deal in October with PT Telekomunikasi Selular, another Telkom Indonesia unit, to buy 6,050 towers.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Bitcoin Is ‘Store of Value’ Though Not Yet ‘Medium of Exchange,’ Dallas Fed’s Kaplan Says

    The U.S. economy is "not out of the woods yet," said Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan.

  • ECB Seen Slowing Bond-Buying by July as Vaccinations Pick Up

    (Bloomberg) -- The European Central Bank will slow its emergency bond-buying by July and signal at the end of this year that the program will come to a halt in March 2022, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists.More than 60% of respondents predict the ECB will stick to its current timeline for net purchases, and almost as many expect it to give three months’ notice before stopping the program. Economists don’t expect any policy changes at next week’s meeting.The central bank accelerated its pandemic emergency purchase program last month to keep financing conditions for companies, households and governments across the euro area favorable. Borrowing costs are facing upward pressure as the speedier U.S. recovery and larger fiscal stimulus spill over into higher bond yields globally.ECB policy makers have signaled there’s little reason to change course until June, when the issue is up for review and new forecasts will provide a better idea of the road to recovery.While high infection rates and tight lockdowns across much of the region are still curbing business activity, a pickup in vaccinations suggests coronavirus restrictions can gradually be lifted in the coming months. Economists predict an economic recovery will start in the second quarter, becoming more entrenched in the rest of the year.“The lockdowns at the beginning of the quarter are a drag, but as the vaccination campaigns gather pace, a material improvement is in sight,” said Birgit Henseler, an economist at DZ Bank AG. “Growth should then accelerate strongly in the third quarter.”All but one of the respondents expect the next significant change in the pace of bond-buying will be a slowdown.What Bloomberg Economics Says“A full assessment of the pace of asset purchases won’t happen until June, but the tone of next week’s press conference may offer some hints on the debate to come. The hawks are likely to focus on the successful containment of bond yields and the economic recovery, while the doves will be more cautious.”-David Powell. To read the full report click herePolicy makers have started to publicly consider how and when it’ll be safe to unwind the unprecedented support they’ve offered over the past year. While officials including President Christine Lagarde have repeatedly stressed the dangers of withdrawing monetary or fiscal support too soon, some of her colleagues are also wary of pumping too much money into the financial system and undermining financial stability.Dutch central bank Governor Klaas Knot has suggested bond-buying could be tapered starting in the third quarter. His French colleague Francois Villeroy de Galhau has argued that pandemic purchases could end next March, with older tools being used to ensure monetary policy remains accommodative.“The near-term outlook for the euro zone remains weak given the tight grip of the third infection wave, and despite the recent pick-up in the vaccination pace,” said Oliver Rakau, an economist at Oxford Economics. He predicts the ECB will continue to buy bonds at an accelerated pace until September.Nearly two thirds of respondents expect the ECB to use the entire 1.85 trillion euros ($2.2 trillion) currently agreed under the pandemic program. Policy makers have said they could spend less than that if warranted by the recovery, or expand the amount again if needed.Just two economists predict a boost will be needed -- in September -- while almost a third reckon not all the money will be deployed.Four out of five respondents say the balance of risks to the outlook has remained largely unchanged since the ECB’s last policy meeting in March.“The ECB will probably simply confirm the decisions taken in March” at next week’s session, said Bas van Geffen, an economist at Rabobank. “June will be the more interesting meeting, when the ECB may decide to reverse the higher pace.”For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Bank Fines, Suspensions Weighed by Zimbabwe for Currency Gouging

    (Bloomberg) -- Zimbabwe is considering penalizing domestic banks, telecommunications operators and other businesses over what the government describes as profiteering off the hard currency it makes available at auctions.Lenders could face fines and suspensions, while companies that charge a premium for foreign exchange may be banned from participating in the auctions, central bank Governor John Mangudya said in a phone interview from the capital, Harare.“All the malpractices will be targeted,” he said. “There’s no need to chase foreign currency as if it will run out.”President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Monday threatened unspecified actions against “sharks in the financial sector,” according to the state-owned Herald newspaper, which said unidentified entities are profiteering at the public’s expense. The president’s comments were made during a wide-ranging interview he gave to state-owned television that will be aired on April 17 on the eve of Independence Day celebrations, the paper said.Exchange ClosedMnangagwa has previously issued warnings to private companies he blames for undermining his efforts to turn around an economy plagued by annual inflation of 241% and foreign-currency shortages.Last year, his government closed the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange for five weeks and singled out the largest mobile operator, Econet Wireless Zimbabwe Ltd., for undermining the nation’s currency through its mobile-money service. Econet denied the allegations.The impending action is an attempt to prevent manipulation of the foreign-currency auction system, according to the Herald. The system has provided over $800 million to companies since its introduction in June, though high demand for U.S. dollars by importers means that there is only a limited supply.Monetary authorities met with the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe on April 12 to discuss “due diligence and know-your-customer requirements” in order to ensure economic stability, Mangudya said.Ralph Watungwa, president of the Banker’s Association of Zimbabwe, didn’t immediately answer two calls to his mobile phone seeking comment.Zimbabwe reintroduced its own currency in 2019 after a 10-year hiatus and has been battling bouts of high inflation and shortages of everything from foreign currency to food. The local unit, which was pegged at parity to the U.S. dollar as recently as February 2019, has plunged to 84 per U.S. dollar.The gap between the official exchange rate and parallel market has widened by 36%, with a U.S. dollar selling for 115 Zimbabwean dollars on the streets of Harare.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Hedge Funds Nailed Treasuries Rout With $100 Billion in Sales

    (Bloomberg) -- Hedge funds have been a major player in this year’s Treasury selloff, offloading more than $100 billion of the securities since the start of January, according to holdings data.The world’s biggest net sales of U.S. government debt so far in 2021 has been in the financial center of the Cayman Islands, well known as a domicile for leveraged accounts. Investors there dumped $62 billion of US. sovereign bonds in February, after selling $49 billion the previous month, Treasury Department data show.The January and February selling flow also appears to offer some clues about recent price action. Treasuries rallied on Thursday despite stronger-than-expected U.S. economic data, with many participants pointing to short-covering demand as the reason.“Hedge funds overall were probably keenly involved in the rates move, but I don’t think they were alone,” said Richard Kelly, head of global strategy at Toronto-Dominion Bank. “The market broadly built up some decent short positions in a relatively short time.”U.S. 10-year yields have jumped more than 60 basis points since the end of December to trade at 1.58% on Friday. Among the catalysts for the bearish tilt were Democratic victories in the Georgia Senate run-off race that paved the way for another round of stimulus spending, and the rollout of coronavirus vaccines. Rising yields then prompted a return of convexity-type hedging flows.Hedge Fund Research Inc.’s Macro Total Index, which tracks discretionary macro managers among others, climbed 0.2% in January and clocked a 2.8% gain in February.(Updates with Toronto-Dominion Bank comment in fourth paragraph and hedge fund index data in final paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Policy hawks, courts will test ECB and euro debt markets

    Euro zone politicians, courts and policy hawks will pose a stiff challenge this year to the ECB's resolve to pin down the bloc's borrowing costs, precisely at a time when higher U.S. Treasury yields are tempting investors away from European markets. The European Central Bank has held sovereign debt yields low through bond purchases, and recently increased buying in its 1.85 trillion-euro ($2.22 trillion) emergency stimulus scheme, known as PEPP. And it is no longer battling alone to support the euro economy, as the pandemic induced governments to spend more and to create an 800 billion-euro Recovery Fund, seeded by joint European Union borrowing.

  • Ferrari chairman says making 'good progress' on CEO shortlist

    Ferrari is making good progress on a shortlist of "very strong" candidates to be the Italian luxury carmaker's next chief executive, Chairman John Elkann told shareholders at a general meeting on Thursday. Former CEO Louis Camilleri stepped down in December, citing personal reasons, after being in the role for nearly two and a half years, just as the company was rolling out new hybrid models and getting ready for its first ever SUV, called 'Purosangue' (Thoroughbred). "The new CEO and the senior management team will share Ferrari’s exciting future with you during our (capital markets day) in 2022, which will also be a year of important new product launches and particularly the Purosangue which is turning out to be something truly special," Elkann said.

  • Coinbase CEO Says Listing Is a ‘Shift in Legitimacy’ for Crypto

    (Bloomberg) -- The direct listing of Coinbase Global Inc. on Nasdaq is a turning point for the whole cryptocurrency sector, according to the firm’s Chief Executive Officer Brian Armstrong.Banks used to hang up on Coinbase’s calls and many people thought the digital-currency platform was a bad idea, Armstrong said during a discussion on the Clubhouse app after the stock’s debut. Now top executives from the banks that helped Coinbase go public are calling to ask how they can get more into crypto themselves, he said.“It feels like a shift in legitimacy not just for Coinbase but the whole industry,” Armstrong said. “Crypto has a shot at being a major force in the financial world.”Coinbase, which fell 14% on its debut Wednesday to close at $328.28, now has a valuation of about $86 billion on a fully diluted basis. That compares with a 2018 funding round that valued it at around $8 billion. The listing was widely anticipated by the wider crypto community, with many coin prices and crypto-affiliated company shares rising in advance of it, before falling back once the trading started.The company’s growth hasn’t been without controversies, such as restrictions Armstrong placed on employee discussions of politics last year, or frequent outages during periods of heavy trading. Some people criticize the level of fees charged by the exchange.There was also a settlement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for $6.5 million regarding claims Coinbase had reported inaccurate data about transactions and that a former employee engaged in improper trades.More generally, skeptics maintain that crypto could be in a bubble, and may suffer due to regulatory changes around the globe. Coinbase and its backers see more strength ahead.“There was tremendous depth and richness to what these guys were doing,” said Marc Andreessen, co-founder of investment firm Andreessen Horowitz, one of Coinbase’s biggest shareholders, in a portion of the same Clubhouse discussion talking about what made the company an appealing investment.Andreessen said Coinbase provided a combination of “a company that’s conservative enough to be compliant from a regulatory perspective but also relentlessly innovative.”For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • USD/CAD Daily Forecast – Canadian Dollar Gains Ground Ahead Of The Weekend

    USD/CAD declined below the support at 1.2525 and is testing the next support level at 1.2500.

  • TSMC Lifts Targets After Warning Chip Crunch May Hit 2022

    (Bloomberg) -- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. warned that a global shortage of semiconductors across industries from automaking to consumer electronics may extend into 2022, prompting the linchpin chipmaker to lift targets on spending and growth for this year.The world’s largest contract chipmaker said Thursday that its auto industry clients can expect chip shortages to begin easing next quarter, alleviating some of the supply disruptions that have forced the likes of General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. to curtail production. But overall deficits of critical semiconductors will last throughout 2021 and potentially into next year, Chief Executive Officer C.C. Wei told analysts on a conference call.TSMC now expects investments of about $30 billion on capacity expansions and upgrades this year, up from a previous forecast for as much as $28 billion, Chief Financial Officer Wendell Huang said. It foresees sales in the June quarter at a better-than-projected $12.9 billion to $13.2 billion, driving full-year revenue growth of 20% in dollar terms -- ahead of the “mid-teens” growth predicted in January.But the increased spending means its target for gross margins this quarter came in below expectations at 49.5% to 51.5%, spurring concerns about the longer-term impact on profitability. TSMC’s shares slipped 1.8% in Taipei on Friday, their biggest intraday loss in about three weeks.“The capex boost is a mixed bag with better long-term growth but lower margins,” Morgan Stanley analysts wrote.What Bloomberg Intelligence SaysLarge depreciation costs from new 5-nm production equipment may lower gross margin by 2%, while slower-than-expected production efficiency improvement implies that gross margin will continue to contract, possibly to under 50% in 2Q.- Charles Shum and Simon Chan, analystsClick here for the research.TSMC joins a growing number of industry giants from Continental AG to Renesas Electronics Corp. and Foxconn Technology Group that warned of longer-than-anticipated deficits thanks to unprecedented demand for everything from cars to game consoles and mobile devices. While Taiwan’s largest chipmaker has kept its fabs running at “over 100% utilization,” the firm doesn’t have enough capacity to satisfy all its customers and it has pledged to invest $100 billion over the next three years to expand.“We see the demand continue to be high,” Wei said. “In 2023, I hope we can offer more capacity to support our customers. At that time, we’ll start to see the supply chain tightness release a little bit.”Read more: See How a Chip Shortage Snarled Everything From Phones to CarsSemiconductor shortages are cascading through the global economy. Automakers like Ford, Nissan Motor Co.and Volkswagen AG have already scaled back production, leading to estimates for more than $60 billion in lost revenue for the industry this year. The situation is likely get worse before it gets better: a rare winter storm in Texas knocked out swaths of U.S. production, while a fire at a key Japan factory will shut the facility for a month. Rival chipmaker Samsung Electronics Co. warned of a “serious imbalance” in the industry.With major American carmakers and other gadget suppliers facing a prolonged shortage of chips, U.S. President Joe Biden has proposed $50 billion to bolster semiconductor research and manufacturing at home. The initiative could aid TSMC’s plan to build a cutting-edge fab in Arizona this year that could cost $12 billion.TSMC is “happy” to support chip manufacturing in the U.S., though research and development and the majority of production will continue to remain in Taiwan, executives said on Thursday. They reiterated that construction of their plant in Arizona will begin this year.Read more: Why Shortages of a $1 Chip Sparked Crisis in Global EconomyNet income for the January-March period climbed 19% to NT$139.7 billion ($4.9 billion), beating the average analyst estimate, buoyed by demand for high-performance computing (HPC) equipment and a milder seasonal effect on smartphone demand. Gross margin for the quarter eased to 52.4% from 54% in the three months prior, due in part to relatively lower levels of utilization and exchange-rate fluctuations. First-quarter revenue rose 17% to NT$362.4 billion, according to a company statement last week.The company said Thursday it now expects to be able to achieve the higher end of its compound annual growth rate target of 10% to 15% for the five years to 2025, citing its investment spending plans.“TSMC’s statement that the chip crunch may spill into 2022 will smooth over concerns that chip demand may fall on overbooking later this year and further boost investors’ confidence in the overall semiconductor demand in the long run,” said Elsa Cheng, an analyst at GF Securities.Shares of TSMC have more than doubled over the past year.TSMC’s most-advanced technologies continued to account for nearly half of revenue in the March quarter, with 5-nanometer and 7-nanometer processes contributing 14% and 35% of sales, respectively. By business segment, its smartphone business amounted for about 45% of revenue, while HPC increased to more than a third, reflecting sustained demand for devices and internet servers even as economies start to emerge from the pandemic.“We are seeing stronger engagement with more customers on 5-nm and 3-nm, in fact the engagement is so strong that we have to really prepare the capacity for it,” Wei said. Smartphones and HPC will be the main drivers for demand of 5-nm, which will contribute around 20% of wafer revenue this year.TSMC Is On Fire. Just Beware of the Flames: Tim Culpan(Updates with share action from the fourth paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • GLOBAL MARKETS-World stocks rally as Treasury yields tumble

    World stock markets extended a five-day run of fresh highs on Thursday, fueled by upbeat earnings and strong U.S. economic data that herald a solid recovery ahead, while Russian markets tumbled at the prospect of the harshest U.S. sanctions in years. Major stock indexes posted record highs, including MSCI's global benchmark, Europe's broad STOXX 600 , the Dow Industrials and the U.S. benchmark S&P 500, as bonds yields tumbled. The 10-year U.S. Treasury note slid below 1.6% to yield 1.563%, a fall of 7.4 basis points that helped spur renewed buying of big tech stocks in the biggest single-day decline in the benchmark's yield in almost three months.

  • Britain’s Reopening Is a Boon for Outperforming Small-Cap Funds

    (Bloomberg) -- As London’s shops and pub gardens reopen for the first weekend in three months, funds targeting smaller U.K. companies are among the best performers in Europe thanks to a rally in domestic stocks that benefit from Britain’s vaccine rollout success.Among Western European stock funds with $200 million or more in assets, the majority of the 10 best performers this year are focused on U.K. small caps, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The FTSE Small Cap Index has gained 14% in 2021 versus a rise of 11% for a benchmark tracking small stocks on euro-area exchanges.The nation’s markets are benefiting from a confluence of factors: Valuations had been depressed by the overhang of the U.K.’s departure from the European Union, and during the worst of the pandemic, when there was no economic growth, investors were will paying to pay a premium for the few companies that were enjoying rapid increases in sales. With the Brexit cloud removed and the economy rebounding as virus restrictions ease, investors are turning back to domestic stocks and those that are cheap relative to earnings.“The ability to generate a return in the U.K. market compared with the most other stock markets is very, very attractive,” said Gervais Williams, co-manager of the Premier Miton U.K. Smaller Companies Fund. Previously, the U.K. had been “very much out of fashion.”U.K. smaller companies are still inexpensive: The FTSE Small Cap sells for about 14 times estimated earnings for this year, compared to a multiple of 20.8 for the Euro Stoxx Small Index.“I’ve been investing since ‘85; I don’t think I’ve ever known this mismatch, this disparity,” said Williams, whose fund has returned 26% in 2021 with holdings including appliances retailer AO World Plc, chilled-storage provider Norish Plc and insurance investor Randall & Quilter Investment Holdings Ltd.Small caps are a traditional way of gaining exposure to the economic cycle, said James Athey, a money manager at Aberdeen Standard Investments.“That end of the company spectrum is, by far and away, most likely to have been heavily and negatively affected by lockdown, because you tend to be talking about companies that deal with these sort of parochial face-to-face services which have been essentially banned for most of this period,” Athey said by phone.English consumers have been splashing out in shops, pub gardens and hairdressers since Monday after venues were allowed to reopen following almost 100 days of being closed to control the spread of Covid-19. Britain also hit its target a few days ahead of schedule of offering a first coronavirus vaccine shot to all over-50s, as its inoculation campaign progresses faster than those of its continental neighbors.In many countries around Europe, meanwhile, restrictions remain in place, with France keeping open-air cafes closed until at least May 15 and Germany taking steps to allow the federal government to impose tighter restrictions.To be sure, it’s not just small-cap funds that are outperforming, with the continued interest in cheaper value stocks instead of high-growth companies also benefiting U.K. mid- and large-cap funds.The U.K. market, with its heavy weighting in commodity companies, is tilted toward value and cyclical shares.“There’s been a colossal rotation that we’ve been enormous beneficiaries of,” said Ian Lance, co-manager of Temple Bar Investment Trust Plc, which has returned 24% year-to-date with bets on stocks like postal group Royal Mail Plc, high street bank Natwest Group Plc and retailer Marks & Spencer Group Plc.Many of Temple Bar’s holdings were cheap even before the pandemic, so recent rallies don’t mean they are now overvalued, Lance said by phone.One issue with small caps is that they often play just one theme -- in many cases right now, the reopening -- leaving them vulnerable to any potential hiccups in the vaccine roll-out, Alexandra Jackson, manager of the Rathbone U.K. Opportunities Fund, said in an interview.Slightly larger companies that might prove to be less “binary” in that sense include Softcat Plc, a technology infrastructure group that also offers work-from-home tech, and construction retailers like Howden Joinery Group Plc and Grafton Group Plc, which should benefit from an elevated interest in home improvements even after people get used to post-lockdown life, said Jackson, whose fund is up 7.4% this year.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Wall Street Can’t Stop Smashing Records While Pandemic Lingers

    (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. struggled to emerge from the pandemic, and its biggest bank broke an earnings record. JPMorgan wasn’t alone -- Citigroup and Morgan Stanley did the same. And Goldman Sachs? Yes, Goldman too.Wall Street thrived during 2020’s year of global catastrophe, and it’s doing even better in 2021. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s soaring investment-banking fees boosted profit to $14.3 billion, the most the centuries-old firm has ever earned in a single quarter. Citigroup Inc., where fees from underwriting shares quadrupled, saw record quarterly profit of $7.94 billion. And Morgan Stanley posted its highest net revenue yet.And Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s $17.7 billion of revenue and $6.84 billion of earnings both set records in a quarter of Reddit-fueled stock-market mania. Fees from putting together deals for companies helped lift investment-banking revenue to a record $3.77 billion, while revenue for Goldman’s asset-management arm reached a high of $4.61 billion.Other lenders had records too. Bank of America Corp.’s investment-banking fees climbed more than 60% to a record $2.25 billion. It also helped that banks released money from the stockpiles they had set aside for loan losses. Even at Wells Fargo & Co., plagued for years by scandal, profit soared sevenfold -- but not to a record.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Oil nudges lower but set for weekly gain on demand recovery hopes

    Oil was modestly lower on Friday but headed for a weekly gain as a stronger demand outlook and signs of economic recovery in China and the United States offset concerns about rising COVID-19 infections in other major economies. Brent crude was down 23 cents, or 0.3%, at $66.71 a barrel by 11:27 a.m. EDT (1537 GMT). The global benchmark was on track for a weekly gain of 6% after rising in the past four sessions.

  • When will ‘plus-up’ stimulus check payments arrive? Catch-up COVID payments sent to 700,000 Americans in latest batch

    The IRS sent out COVID-19 relief checks to nearly 2M more Americans, including over 700,000 'plus-up' payments for people eligible for more money.

  • Dogecoin’s Wild 550% Ride Makes Millionaires and Gives Crypto Pros Migraines

    Dogecoin was worth as much as $55 billion on Friday, nearly tripling on the day. At current levels, it’s worth about as much as Ford and Marriott.

  • What will happen to Citibank customers’ accounts and credit cards as it exits India?

    Citibank has hinted there won't be any possible layoff and closure of physical branches in the countries it is exiting.