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Apple Car Manufacturing Partner Chosen For Launch In 2024: Report

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The highly-anticipated Apple car will be made with South Korea's Kia, at a U.S. factory, according to reports.

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  • Wall Street's SPAC sell-off drags on amid fears of a bubble

    Shares of special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), for months the darling of Wall Street as they attracted unprecedented investor interest, slid again this week amid concerns that their valuations have become inflated. The Defiance Next Gen SPAC Derived ETF, an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks SPACs, was down more than 6% in morning trading on Friday and is on track for its biggest weekly drop since it launched in October. A SPAC is a shell company that raises money in an initial public offering (IPO) to merge with a privately held company that then becomes publicly traded as a result.

  • Binance Pledges New Controls After 99% ‘Flash Crash’ in Polkadot Futures

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  • SPAC Froth Turns on Itself With Stocks Plunging 20% in Two Weeks

    (Bloomberg) -- It may turn out that five new special purpose acquisition companies per day was too many.SPAC mania is showing signs of hitting a stock-market saturation point, with an index tracking blank-check flyers suddenly down about 20% from its peak. The craze is being clipped as quickly as it whipped up, with sentiment souring on growth stocks amid a runup in interest rates and rotation into beaten-down names. Before the selloff, SPACs had almost doubled since October.“When the price is moving up way faster than fundamentals can justify, that screams risk to us, and people who have those exposures are experiencing that risk today,” said Matt Stucky, portfolio manager at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. “It’s an awfully risky proposition to have a lot of capital invested in an exposure that is pretty volatile.”The group’s meteoric growth has come to symbolize speculative behavior in equities. SPACs surged as famous executives, athletes, private-equity giants and venture-capital firms alike rushed to raise money for yet-to-be identified future investments, tapping appetite for early-stage companies. In the first two months of 2021, 175 SPACs sold initial public offerings, or roughly five deals per trading day, according to data compiled by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.In February alone, 90 SPACs raised $32 billion, a monthly record. Should the current pace of issuance persist, this year’s offerings will surpass the full-year total of 2020 before the end of this month, Goldman Sachs strategists led by David Kostin estimate.“The blistering pace of issuance is likely unsustainable,” they wrote in a note this week.The pace of money raising from SPACs has far exceeded the heydays of traditional IPOs during the dot-com era. In terms of dollars, SPAC issuance has been running at a clip of $28 billion a month, Goldman data show. In 1999 and 2000, companies raked in an average $5.4 billion a month through initial offerings, according to data compiled by Jay Ritter, professor of finance at the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business.Riskier areas of the market have sold off in recent days amid a bout of Treasury market volatility. The IPOX SPAC Index, which tracks the performance of a broad group of special purpose acquisition companies, has fallen toward a bear market, down about 20% since a mid-February peak. It’s on track for its second-worst week ever relative to the S&P 500.Meanwhile, the Defiance Next Gen SPAC Derived ETF (ticker SPAK), is also down about 20% from its February top, with the fund on pace for its worst week of outflows on record.While it isn’t crazy that SPACs became popular given their structure and relatively loose listing requirements, according to Marketfield Asset Management’s Michael Shaoul and Timothy Brackett, any frenzy of this magnitude tends to result in “a long and expensive period of regret.”Outsize returns for buyers look “much less likely (on average) today than it did six months ago, given the bloat of size and number of deals and the ramp-up of negotiated valuations,” they wrote in a note. “Of course this is not a coincidence, since it is the massive expansion of market cap caused by SPAC issuance that is helping undermine its prior success.”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.

  • Saudis Bet ‘Drill, Baby, Drill’ Over in Push for Pricier Oil

    (Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia just made a high-stakes wager that the glory days of U.S. shale, which transformed the global energy map in the last decade, are never coming back.By keeping a tight grip on supply at Thursday’s meeting of the OPEC+ alliance of oil producers, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman showed he’s focused on boosting prices -- and confident that this time around it won’t encourage American producers to surge back and steal market share.“‘Drill, baby, drill’ is gone for ever,” said Prince Abdulaziz, who’s orchestrated the revival of the oil market after last year’s catastrophic collapse.His swagger comes mixed with a good dose of diplomatic tension: Russia, Saudi Arabia’s most important OPEC+ partner, has tried to convince Riyadh for several months to increase output, fearing that rising oil prices would ultimately awaken rival shale producers. The Saudis are certain the American industry has reformed itself.If the prince is right, OPEC+ will be able to both push prices higher now and recover market share later without worrying that rivals in Texas, Oklahoma and North Dakota will flood the market. But if Riyadh has miscalculated -- and it’s got shale wrong before -- the danger will be lower prices and production down the line.The Saudis have so far convinced their allies the strategy will work. After a quick virtual meeting on Thursday, OPEC+ agreed to prolong its production cuts, defying expectations of an output hike. Russia, however, secured an exemption for itself and Kazakhstan, and will increase output marginally in April.Brent crude jumped 5% to a one-year high of almost $68 a barrel after the decision. Front-month futures extended gains on Friday and a raft of banks updated their price forecasts, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which increased its estimates by $5 -- to $75 next quarter and $80 in the following three months.“This is an incredibly bold move on the part of OPEC+ to extend the oil price rally,” said KPMG Global Energy Sector Leader Regina Mayor.If history is a guide, however, trouble may be brewing. The OPEC+ coalition, which groups Saudi Arabia, Russia and almost two dozen other oil producers, has in the past underestimated its American rivals, who year after year produced more than most expected. From a low point of less than 7 million barrels a day in 2007, the U.S.’s total petroleum output more than doubled to hit an all-time high of almost 18 million barrels a day by early 2020, forcing the cartel to cede market share.Risky Move“This is a risky take,” Amrita Sen, chief oil analyst at consultant Energy Aspects Ltd., said Friday in a Bloomberg Television interview. While U.S. oil companies probably won’t raise output this year, in 2022 “there’s nothing really stopping them, especially the small and mid-cap producers.”Sen sees prices hitting $70 a barrel as soon as next week, $80 by the end of the year and a possible climb to $100 in 2022.For now, U.S. total oil output remains constrained, hovering at 16 million barrels due to the impact of last year’s slump, which briefly saw benchmark prices trade below zero.Under pressure from shareholders, shale producers have promised restraint, putting profits before the growth they relentlessly pursued during the boom years. Although drilling has risen from the lows of 2020, it’s well below previous levels. In addition, President Joe Biden is trying to temper the worst excesses of the industry, including the indiscriminate natural gas flaring that’s a byproduct of shale’s success.Under a different oil minister, Saudi Arabia attacked shale producers in 2014 and 2015, flooding the market and forcing prices lower -- a strategy that ultimately failed. Prince Abdulaziz is doing the opposite, because oil higher prices will eventually benefit shale producers. Yet, he’s convinced the industry won’t repeat its past excesses.“Shale companies are now more focused on dividends,” Prince Abdulaziz told Bloomberg News in an interview after the OPEC+ meeting, saying that the kingdom wished the American industry well. “We’ve never had any issue with shale oil. It’s the shale companies which are themselves changing. They have had their fair share of adventure and now they are listening to the call of their shareholders.”Shale executives agree with him -- at least for now.“A couple years ago it was ‘drill, baby, drill,’” John Hess, the head of Hess Corp., said in Houston earlier this week. “Now, it’s ‘show me the money.’”Ryan Lance, the chief executive officer of ConocoPhillips, echoed the sentiment: “I hope there’s discipline in the system. The worst thing that can happen right now is U.S. producers start growing rapidly again.”As the industry cuts spending to pay shareholders fatter dividends, there’s not much left to finance increased production. Even Big Oil is scaling down its ambitions in shale. Exxon Mobil Corp. had been running 55 oil rigs in the Permian basin that straddles West Texas and southeast New Mexico, part of an effort to boost output to 1 million barrels a day by 2025. After tightening its belt, the U.S. oil giant is running just 10 rigs, and has cut its 2025 output target by nearly a third to 700,000 barrels a day.Yet, there are also signs that higher oil prices may ultimately reactivate the U.S. shale industry. With benchmark West Texas Intermediate now changing hands above $60 a barrel, some companies believe they may be able to both grow and keep shareholders happy. EOG Resources Inc., the largest producer in the Permian, has announced a big spending increase for next year. And others are following suit.But the reaction of the stock market made Prince Abdulaziz’s case: investors punished EOG for spending more on drilling, marking down its shares relative to more disciplined rivals.(Updates with comments from Energy Aspects in 10th, 11th paragraphs.)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.

  • Stock market news live updates: Stocks resurge, ending a three-session losing streak after strong jobs report

    Stocks turned negative after the Labor Department's February jobs report handily exceeded expectations, reaffirming the building momentum in the economic recovery, but also stoking a rise in Treasury yields and concerns over an economic overheating.

  • China Vows Oversight of Fintech, Financial Holding Firms

    (Bloomberg) -- China plans to step up oversight of financial holding companies and the nation’s booming fintech industry, Premier Li Keqiang said, setting the tone for closer scrutiny over the next five years of behemoths including Jack Ma’s Ant Group Co.The authorities will also expand an anti-monopoly crackdown and prevent the “unregulated” expansion of capital to create fair competition, Li said Friday at the opening of the National People’s Congress. The fintech sector should be developed in a “prudent” manner and China aims to create a “deviation correction” mechanism to fix and suspend innovative financial products when needed, according to a separate plan covering policies for 2021 to 2025.China’s policymakers are walking a fine line of trying to curb risks at home while encouraging local champions as the economy opens wider to foreign capital. Fintech has become the latest target of scrutiny since the nation’s leaders pledged in 2017 to clean up threats to its $53 trillion financial industry, tackling property loans, opaque wealth management products and fraud-riddled peer-to-peer lending.“We will improve the mechanism for managing financial risks, see responsibilities are fulfilled by all the stakeholders, and ensure that no systemic risks arise,” Li said. “Financial institutions must serve the real economy.”All three financial watchdogs have made it their primary goal this year to curb the push of technology firms into finance, taking aim at a sector where loose oversight fueled breakneck growth for firms such as Ant and Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s Wechat Pay.Regulators has introduced a raft of measures to curb fintech’s growing influence over China’s financial plumbing since late last year, targeting monopolistic practices and tightening scrutiny in areas from credit scoring to payments. New rules on online microlending and financial holding companies have hit billionaire Ma’s Ant particularly hard, derailing its $35 billion initial public offering abruptly and forcing the firm to restructure its sprawling businesses.Ant is in talks with regulators to restructure into a financial holding company, people familiar with the matter said earlier, a move that will subject it to more capital restrictions and ownership scrutiny.Meanwhile, China will balance its derisking campaign with efforts to revive economic growth. The government plans to extend policies allowing small businesses to delay repayments and have financial institutions further reduce lending rates and forgo profits to help the economy. Big banks should boost their small business loans by 30% this year, Li said.The lenders were put on the front-line in helping millions of struggling businesses during the pandemic and required to forgo a combined 1.5 trillion ($232 billion) in earnings by reducing borrowing costs and allowing delayed repayments. That helped China become the only major economy to achieve economic growth last year.The banking industry reported a 3% decline in combined profit in 2020, the worst performance in at least a decade, according to official data. Lenders disposed of a record 3 trillion yuan of non-performing loans last year and are under pressure to carve out more soured credit in 2021 as a payment holiday ends at the end of March. The pandemic’s extraordinary relief measures hid the true state of asset quality in the banking sector, which reported an unexpected decline in its bad loan ratio last year.(Adds details from the 14th five-year plan in the second 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.

  • Texas watchdog says grid operator made $16-billion error

    A firm hired to monitor Texas' power markets says the region's grid manager overpriced electricity over two days during last month's energy crisis, resulting in $16 billion in overcharges.

  • China says to promote U.S. business ties on basis of 'mutual respect'

    Chinese Premier Li Keqiang pledged on Friday to promote business ties with the United States based on "mutual respect" that benefit both countries. The world's two largest economies have been at odds over trade and economic policy, especially when it comes to U.S. efforts to restrict tech exports to China and tariffs both have put on each others goods. This week, President Joe Biden singled out a "growing rivalry with China" as a key challenge facing the United States, with his top diplomat describing the Asian country as "the biggest geopolitical test" of this century.

  • Australia Plans to Loosen China’s Grip on Minerals Supply Chain

    (Bloomberg) -- Australia wants to leverage off its position as a top mineral producer by boosting processing and manufacturing, part of a plan to challenge China’s dominance in the supply of products key to the clean-energy transition.The government unveiled a 10-year road map on Thursday that includes A$1.3 billion ($1 billion) of funding to help businesses capitalize on the country’s abundant natural resources and exploit opportunities in a de-carbonizing world. It encourages growth in high-value products like batteries and solar cells, as well as technologies and equipment that make mining safer and more efficient.The Modern Manufacturing Initiative comes as the U.S. and Japan look to cut their dependence on China for minerals that are vital to many manufacturing sectors. Australia is the top exporter of lithium, a key component in batteries, and is also a major source of rare earths. Beijing is reviewing its rare earths policy and there are signs it may ban the export of refining technology to nations or firms that it deems are a threat to state security.See also: Biden’s Hopes for Rare Earth Independence at Least a Decade Away“It’s a sovereign and strategic priority for Australia to ensure that we are hard-wired into this supply chain around the world,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said at a media briefing following the announcement. It has to be “a supply chain that Australia and our partners can rely on, because these rare earths and critical minerals are what pull together the technology that we will be relying on into the future,” he said.Lynas Rare Earths Ltd. currently sends rare earths from its operations in Australia to Malaysia for processing, but has plans to build a facility close to its Mt. Weld mine in the country’s west. Lynas’ rival Iluka Resources Ltd. is also assessing options to build processing capacity. Energy Renaissance, meanwhile, and other companies are looking to establish a domestic battery manufacturing industry on Australia’s east coast.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 Could Reach $1 Million or More, Kraken CEO Says

    (Bloomberg) -- As the leader of crypto exchange Kraken, Jesse Powell is bound to be bullish on Bitcoin. Yet he’s projecting a disruptive future that would stretch the imagination of even the most ardent crypto fans.In a Bloomberg Television interview, Powell said Bitcoin could reach $1 million in the next decade, adding that supporters say it could eventually replace all of the major fiat currencies.“We can only speculate, but when you measure it in terms of dollars, you have to think it’s going to infinity,” he said. “The true believers will tell you that it’s going all the way to the moon, to Mars and eventually, will be the world’s currency.”The CEO also said San Francisco-based Kraken is considering going public, possibly next year.Extreme predictions are nothing new in the world of Bitcoin, where adherents stand to profit from convincing a wider audience that crypto is a legitimate asset class, rather than a speculative fad. The dollar remains the world’s reserve currency and is the benchmark for global trade, though its value has softened in the past year.Powell said Bitcoin bulls see it one day exceeding the combined market cap of the dollar, euro and other currencies.The dollar “is only 50 years old and it’s already showing extreme signs of weakness, and I think people will start measuring the price of things in terms of Bitcoin,” he said.The digital currency slipped 3% in early U.S. trading on Thursday, hovering around $49,000. Prices have surged almost 600% since the start of 2020 on the back of wider mainstream adoption, with bulls seeing it as both an inflation hedge and speculative asset.Critics argue that Bitcoin is in a giant, stimulus-fueled bubble destined to burst like the 2017 boom and bust cycle.Kraken benefits from higher prices as it reaps fees from increased trading. Bloomberg reported last month that the exchange was in talks to raise new funding, which would double the company’s valuation to more than $10 billion.“Personally, I think $10 billion is a low valuation,” Powell said. “I wouldn’t be interested in selling shares at that price.”The CEO did acknowledge the potential for wild market swings, saying prices can “move up or down 50% on any given day.” That kind of volatility has long been one of the negatives of Bitcoin, relegating the market to one of speculation, rather than a means of doing business.“If you are buying into Bitcoin out of speculation, you should be committed to holding for five years,” Powell said. “You have to have strong convictions to hold.”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.

  • Price of Gold Fundamental Daily Forecast – Rate of Decline Slowing; Could Be Ripe for Counter-Trend Move

    Gold starts the session on the bearish side of the 50% to 61.8% retracement zone of last year’s trading range.

  • Tesla Stock Update: Meltdown in Tesla Beginning as Forecasted

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  • Dip Buyers Fuel Stock Rebound; Treasuries Steady: Markets Wrap

    (Bloomberg) -- Dip buyers drove a rebound in stocks after an earlier bout of selling pushed the Nasdaq 100 down 10% from a record.All major groups in the S&P 500 advanced, while the tech-heavy gauge climbed more than 1.5% as giants Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc. erased their losses. Robinhood Markets Inc., the trading platform behind the boom-and-bust swing in GameStop Corp.’s shares, has chosen the Nasdaq for its eventual initial public offering, according to a news report. Earlier Friday, equities retreated as U.S. jobs data topped estimates, fueling anxiety the economy could run too hot and kick up inflation. Benchmark 10-year yields stabilized after hitting 1.6%.Friday’s turnaround in financial markets wiped out the S&P 500’s drop for the week. The intense volatility of the past few days was a test to stock bulls who see the recent spike in Treasury yields as an indication of brighter prospects for the economy and corporate profits. While concern over equity valuations have emerged, several analysts say that as long as data continue to improve, any selloff would present dip-buying opportunities.“Many investors are going to be buying these dips here, capital continues to be pouring into equities,” said Tony Bedikian, head of global markets at Citizens Bank. Bond yields are still “incredibly low, so equity yields are still very attractive to investors,” he added.U.S. Treasury yields have been rising because of a much stronger economic outlook and are not a cause for worry -- or a call to policy action -- said Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard. His remarks follow Chairman Jerome Powell’s Thursday caution that rising yields had caught his eye and he would be “concerned by disorderly conditions in markets or persistent tightening in financial conditions.”“As a central banker I am always concerned if there is disorderly trading or something that looks panicky,” Bullard said Friday in an interview with Wharton Business Radio. “That would catch my attention. But I think we are not at that point.”These are some of the main moves in markets:StocksThe S&P 500 rose 1.9% at 4 p.m. New York time.The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slid 0.8%.The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.6%.The MSCI Emerging Market Index decreased 0.6%.CurrenciesThe Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index increased 0.4%.The euro dipped 0.4% to $1.1917.The Japanese yen depreciated 0.4% to 108.36 per dollar.BondsThe yield on 10-year Treasuries rose less than one basis point to 1.57%.Germany’s 10-year yield climbed one basis point to -0.30%.Britain’s 10-year yield increased three basis points to 0.756%.CommoditiesWest Texas Intermediate crude climbed 3.9% to $66.29 a barrel.Gold rose 0.1% to $1,698.65 an ounce.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.

  • Analysis: Wealth managers frustrated over bitcoin, anxious for piece of the action

    The rollercoster ride in bitcoin since the start of the year has not dampened wealth manager Jim Paulsen's enthusiasm for the cryptocurrency. Yet Paulsen, chief investment officer for Leuthold Group, which manages $1 billion, cannot own bitcoin in client portfolios due to regulatory constraints. The promise of an asset class that behaves differently than stocks or bonds is leaving portfolio and wealth managers scrambling own cryptocurrencies if they can.

  • Warning Signs Are Emerging in Credit Markets as Yields Rise

    (Bloomberg) -- Concern is mounting in corporate credit markets globally as longer-term Treasury yields continue to rise, leading borrowers from New York to Tokyo to delay bond sales and strategists to warn of trouble ahead.Gauges of credit fear jumped in Europe for investment-grade and high yield debt on Friday. Two borrowers that had expected to sell bonds in the U.S. opted to push their offerings into next week, after a stronger-than-expected jobs report brought fresh inflation concerns and lifted the 10 year Treasury rate briefly above 1.6%. The extra yield that investors demanded to own U.S. corporate bonds increased 4 basis points on Friday to 96 basis points, the biggest jump since Nov. 12, Bloomberg Barclays index data show.In the U.S. junk market, Ronald Perelman’s Vericast Corp. withdrew a $1.775 billion bond offering after failing to reach an agreement with investors on terms. And in Asia, two state-owned firms in India withdrew planned rupee note sales on Thursday and at least three Japanese companies have put off yen debt offerings in recent days.Still, there are signs that the party isn’t over just yet for corporate bonds. In the U.S. credit derivatives market, the Markit CDX North American Investment Grade Index, which investors use to hedge against defaults on company notes, fell from a four-month high, signaling that firms trading that instrument are a bit less concerned about credit risk. Dealers expect as much as $50 billion of bond sales next week, after more than $65 billion of sales this week.But market sentiment may be shifting. On Thursday, companies selling bonds in the U.S. got orders for just 1.8 times the amount of debt for sale, far below the average of 3.2 times for this year or four times for all of last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.Strategists are starting to sound alarms. Bank of America Corp. cut U.S. investment-grade credit to underweight in a note dated Thursday, citing its expectations that yields will continue to rise, which will likely push credit spreads wider. The underweight is a temporary trade, strategists led by Hans Mikkelsen wrote.Citigroup Inc. warned high-grade investors to “brace for fund outflows” in a Thursday note. Spread tightening is no longer offsetting rising Treasury yields, strategists led by Daniel Sorid wrote, adding that a flight-toward shorter duration strategies may be coming.The speed at which rates have risen is a concern for Barclays Plc, which is watching for a “shift in sentiment” on credit, according to a Friday note. Spreads have been resilient so far, “but there is some risk for spreads in the near term from a more disorderly move higher in rates,” strategists Bradley Rogoff and Shobhit Gupta wrote.Sentiment soured Thursday after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told a Wall Street Journal webinar that the recent run-up in yields was notable, but declined to be drawn on what tools might be used if disorderly conditions or any persistent tightening in financial conditions threatened the Fed’s goals. With energy prices rising and Covid-19 vaccines fueling bets that an economic rebound will spur inflation, financing costs have started to bounce back from recent lows.In Europe, issuance remains robust for now, and notwithstanding recent bouts of turmoil, selling bonds remains cheaper than it was at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis.Companies and governments have sold over 407 billion euros ($487 billion) of bonds so far this year, the region’s fastest pace of issuance ever, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.“Issuers want to take advantage of this supportive environment provided by the central banks, before the market starts to anticipate tapering,” said James Cunniffe, director for corporate syndicate at HSBC Holdings Plc. “As we enter the second quarter, we expect to see a more normalized level of supply reverting back to previous years’ volumes.”U.S.Mobile gaming company Playtika Holding Corp. sold its debut junk bond Friday.A group of unsecured lenders to Hertz Global Holdings Inc. are proposing an alternative reorganization of the rental car company that would take it public, a move that counters a plan to sell the company to two investment funds for as much as $4.2 billion.For deal updates, click here for the New Issue MonitorFor more, click here for the Credit Daybook AmericasEuropeBooming ethical debt sales have increased the market share of green, social and sustainability debt to 17% of this year’s syndicated debt volumes, from around 7% a year earlier.The much maligned London interbank offered rate is finally within sight of retirement after the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority confirmed that the final readings for most rates will take place on Dec. 31The Republic of Italy’s debut green bond was the most-subscribed deal in Europe’s primary market this week, according to data analyzed by BloombergAsiaChina’s Ji’an Chengtou Holding Group was the sole borrower selling a dollar bond on Friday.“Inflation is likely to rise sharply in developed and emerging markets in the coming months on unfavorable base effects and higher commodity prices,” said Michael Biggs, macro strategist and investment manager at GAM in London. “We do not think the rise in inflation will be sustained, but it could scare the market”Combined with relatively lower liquidity versus investment grade and potential outflows, Asia high yield is ripe for a correction, according to Ek Pon Tay, a senior portfolio manager for emerging market debt at BNP Paribas Asset ManagementIn mainland China, a recent jump in defaults has led investors to favor safer assets, which is being reflected in smaller risk premiums for local-currency top-rated corporate bonds(Updates figures throughout)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.

  • Analysis: After weathering February storm, junk bonds count on Fed protection

    Junk bonds, the only fixed-income segment still offering positive returns this year, will continue their outperformance, according to investor bets the U.S. Federal Reserve will eventually put its foot down and calm bond markets. To be sure, corporate debt may face bigger challenges in the coming months. Last month's bond selloff was fuelled by real Treasury yields climbing to multi-month highs.

  • In Just Hours, Kuroda Kills Weeks of Selling in Japanese Bonds

    (Bloomberg) -- In just a matter of hours, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda killed a trade that has been building for weeks in the nation’s sovereign bonds.Five consecutive weeks of foreign net selling of Japanese bond futures gave way on Friday, as the contracts surged by the most in a year after Kuroda said he doesn’t think it’s necessary to widen the trading band around the BOJ’s 10-year yield target.His comments have helped made Japan bonds an outlier in major markets, with yields along the curve dropping -- the 30-year bond saw yields crash by more than 12 basis points -- even as reflation trades drive continued selling in global debt.Traders have been speculating since January that the BOJ could allow the benchmark yield to fluctuate in a wider range than the current 20 basis points around zero, following local press reports. The thinking was a slight steepening of the yield curve could help improve the functioning of the bond market and take some pressure off beleaguered banks.Investors had built up short positions in Japanese debt, most notably trend-following quant funds, although they may have been already taking profits before Kuroda’s comments.The potential policy tweak -- along with a global selloff in bonds -- helped drive a steady rise in yields this year, with the benchmark climbing as much as 16 basis points to 0.18%. Before Friday’s sharp rally, 10-year bonds hadn’t seen a week of gains this year.The BOJ is concluding a review of its ultra-easy monetary policy, which it plans to release in March.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.

  • Sole proprietors, contractors, and freelancers now qualify for bigger PPP loans

    Contractors, freelancers, and sole proprietors in the US can now access considerably larger loans from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), following a new rule issued by the Small Business Administration (SBA) on Wednesday. The rule allows entrepreneurs without employees to calculate their loan eligibility using gross income rather than net income, making the loans far more generous, especially for businesses with little or no profit.

  • Mortgage rates dig in above 3%, but the worst may be over for now

    Rates are the highest since last summer, but experts think the increases will slow.

  • SPACs Look to India for Next Wave of Targets, Nomura Says

    (Bloomberg) -- Blank-check companies are increasingly looking to India for acquisition targets, which will keep the country’s recent dealmaking streak going, according to Nomura Holdings Inc.ReNew Power last week agreed to merge with a U.S.-listed special purpose acquisition company in a deal that will give India’s biggest renewable power producer an enterprise value of $8 billion. Online grocer Grofers is also looking to go public in the U.S. through a merger with a blank-check company, Bloomberg News reported in February.“SPAC-led transactions are expected to increase in the coming years in India,” Utpal Oza, head of investment banking for India at Nomura, said in a phone interview. “Wherever you’ve got businesses which have caught the fancy of international investors especially in sectors such as renewables, tech or e-commerce, where the corporate structure enables it to be merged quite easily, you will see SPAC activity.”A blank-check company is a shell company that raises money from public investors with the goal of acquiring a business within two years. These deals -- some sponsored by the rich and famous including Hong Kong billionaire Richard Li and ex-Credit Suisse chief Tidjane Thiam -- have raised more than $66 billion in the U.S. alone just this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.Singapore could join the bandwagon soon. The country’s exchange is consulting the market on allowing SPACs to go public, and could see its first such listing this year if it gets enough support. As many as 10 Indian companies could go public through SPAC deals before the end of the year and the trend could accelerate if Singapore’s blank-check firm listings are permitted, Oza said.In India, Nomura expects equal revenue contributions from equity capital markets, mergers and acquisitions as well as financing, Oza added. In a further boost to its business, the Japanese bank plans to hire four bankers across debt origination, corporate finance and sector coverage, he said.Nomura also expects more initial public offerings in India this year, with sentiment buoyed by the post-debut performance of recently listed companies, said Mangesh Ghogre, its head of equity capital markets for India.In 2020, companies raised about $4.6 billion through first-time share sales in the South Asian nation and their shares are now trading more than 50% above their IPO prices on average, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Nomura ranked second as IPO arranger in India last year, just behind Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd., according to the Bloomberg league table.About $1.7 billion has been raised so far this year, while State Bank of India is preparing its mutual fund joint venture for an offering that could raise $1 billion, Bloomberg News reported last week.“The IPO pop on the listing day has meant there’s been value left on the table for investors,” Ghogre said. “This has given a strong confidence for the IPOs in 2021 will also receive strong reception.”(Updates to add league table data in eighth 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.