Global Acetic Acid Market Procurement Intelligence Report with COVID-19 Impact Analysis | Global Market Forecasts, Analysis 2021-2025

Bloomberg
Goldman Sold $10.5 Billion of Stocks in Block-Trade Spree
(Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. liquidated $10.5 billion worth of stocks in block trades on Friday, part of an extraordinary spree of selling that erased $35 billion from the values of bellwether stocks ranging from Chinese technology giants to U.S. media conglomerates.The Wall Street bank sold $6.6 billion worth of shares of Baidu Inc., Tencent Music Entertainment Group and Vipshop Holdings Ltd. before the market opened in the U.S, according to an email to clients seen by Bloomberg News.That move was followed by the sale of $3.9 billion of shares in ViacomCBS Inc., Discovery Inc., Farfetch Ltd., iQiyi Inc. and GSX Techedu Inc., the email said.More of the unregistered stock offerings were said to be managed by Morgan Stanley, according to people familiar with the matter, on behalf of one or more undisclosed shareholders. Some of the trades exceeded $1 billion in individual companies, calculations based on Bloomberg data show.Wall Street is now collectively speculating on the identity of the mysterious seller or sellers. The liquidation triggered price swings for every stock involved in the high-volume transactions, rattling traders and prompting talk that a hedge fund or family office was in trouble and being forced to sell.Several major investment banks with ties to hedge fund Archegos Capital Management LLC liquidated holdings, contributing to the slump in share prices of ViacomCBS and Discovery, IPO Edge reported, citing people it didn’t identify. CNBC reported forced sales by Archegos were probably related to margin calls on heavily leveraged positions. Archegos is controlled by former Julian Robertson protege and Tiger Management analyst Bill Hwang.Maeve DuVally, a Goldman Sachs spokeswoman, declined to comment. A spokesperson for Morgan Stanley declined to comment. A person reached at Archegos’s New York office on Friday declined to comment. An email sent to Hwang seeking comment wasn’t returned.Price SwingsIn block trades, large volumes of securities are privately negotiated between parties, usually outside of open market.Friday’s selloff dragged companies including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and NetEase Inc. lower. The peers later recovered after traders said word of the offerings lessened fears that a broader trade was unfolding throughout the sector.That late rebound pushed up an index of companies engaged in internet-related businesses in China and the U.S., with the measure halting a three-day selloff while still notching a slide of about 6.5% for the week.Chinese stocks have been under pressure after a warning from the Securities and Exchange Commission that it’s taking steps to force accounting firms to let U.S. regulators review the financial audits of overseas companies -- the penalty for non-compliance being ejection from exchanges. In addition to that, Bloomberg News reported that China’s government has proposed forming a joint venture with local technology giants that would oversee the lucrative data they collect.Read more: ViacomCBS, Discovery Plunge on New Downgrade, Block Trades(Updates with the search for the mysterious seller in the fifth 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.
1d ago
Bloomberg
Bond Investors Are Already Betting on a Return to Normal Life
(Bloomberg) -- It wasn’t so long ago that airliners and real estate companies were asking for emergency support and precautionary bank loans. Now investors are desperate to lend them money.Bonds of EasyJet Plc and U.K. property manager Hammerson Plc are among the best performers in Europe this year. Investment-grade companies in the two sectors have sold almost $22 billion of debt in euros and sterling, the fastest pace of year-to-date issuance since at least 2010.Money managers are betting that vaccine rollouts in the U.K. and U.S. will allow a return to normal life by the summer, even as much of Europe suffers under a third wave of the pandemic. Notes of the virus-battered companies also offer good value after central bank bond-buying pushed down corporate yields.“Fundamentally there is a very good reason investors are getting behind these stories,” said Andreas Michalitsianos, a portfolio manager at JPMorgan Asset Management, which oversees $2.3 trillion. “In most cases, they aren’t going to default, they aren’t going to become high yield and their business models aren’t fundamentally broken.”Michalitsianos is looking to buy up laggards with the hope that they will keep closing the gap with the broader market. Yields on Easyjet’s 2025 notes are more than 100 basis points higher than the index. Bonds of real estate firm Kennedy-Wilson Holdings, Inc. and bus operator FirstGroup Plc also trade at a premium despite a rally this year.Others warn that the optimism is unsustainable as a successful vaccine rollout doesn’t necessarily equate to the return of pre-pandemic work and travel habits.Sectors like travel and real estate could suffer from “longer term structural demand shortages,” prompting investors to ask for higher compensation to own them, said James Vokins, head of U.K. investment grade credit at Aviva Investors.Last year, companies worldwide borrowed more than $430 billion of new loans and used at least $340 billion of existing credit lines to weather the pandemic. Some travel and leisure companies were lining up new financing deals as recently as January.The prospective reopening also boosts the outlook for inflation, pushing government bond yields higher and sinking the total return of corporate bond indexes. So far, investors have responded by ditching interest rate risk while boosting credit exposure ahead of economies getting back to normal.Finding cheap bonds is becoming a necessity as spreads in the broader European investment-grade market have struggled to tighten further than the pre-pandemic levels reached at the end of 2020.In the U.K., where the vaccination program is more advanced compared to other major economies, the government has set June 21 as the earliest date when all restrictions in England will end.“There is still value in the sectors that suffered last year and we are positioned for their recovery,” said Serena Galestian, a money manager at Insight Investment in London, which oversees 753 billion pounds ($1 trillion). “Given the pace of vaccine rollout, at least in the U.S. and U.K, we can now see the path to normality.”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.
2h ago
Reuters
China Evergrande to raise $2 billion in pre-IPO for property, car marketplace unit
China Evergrande Group on Monday said it will sell 10% of its online real estate and automobile marketplace, Fangchebao (FCB), to 17 investors for HK$16.35 billion ($2.10 billion), in a fundraising ahead of the unit's initial public offering (IPO). FCB, with a pre-financing valuation of over 150 billion yuan ($22.92 billion), could list on the Nasdaq or other suitable stock exchange, Evergrande said in a bourse filing. The firm listed Evergrande Property Services Group Ltd in December, raising $1.8 billion.
1h ago
FX Empire
Earnings to Watch in Holiday-Shortened Week: Lululemon, Walgreens Boots and CarMax in Focus
Following is a list of company earnings scheduled for release March 29-April 2, along with an earnings preview for select companies. Next week’s earnings are probably not much significant for major market movements as earnings almost ended, but it is adequate to gauge investors’ sentiment.
23h ago
MoneyWise
IRS: Your COVID face masks and hand sanitizer are tax-deductible
Items that protect you from the virus are medical expenses, the tax agency says.
2d ago
Bloomberg
Abu Dhabi Wants to Revolutionize How Middle East Oil Is Sold
(Bloomberg) -- Tucked between the Gulf of Oman and a craggy mountain range, the dusty port Fujairah isn’t an obvious base from which to try and revolutionize the Middle East’s oil markets.But on Monday, when Abu Dhabi begins selling futures contracts for its oil and then shipping the barrels from Fujairah, it will mark an aggressive shift by the emirate. It hopes to change the way nearly one-fifth of the world’s crude is priced.Persian Gulf states pump nearly 20 million barrels of oil a day and Abu Dhabi wants the futures for its flagship Murban grade to become the region’s main benchmark.The Gulf’s biggest producers -- including Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates, of which Abu Dhabi is the capital -- have traditionally priced their barrels based on benchmarks from other regions. They’ve mostly sold their crude directly to refiners or international companies with stakes in their fields. Crucially, they’ve prevented those customers from re-selling the oil and benefiting from arbitrage opportunities that exist in energy markets.Now, Abu Dhabi’s removing those curbs with the aim of opening up its oil to financial as well as physical traders. Investors globally are clamoring for commodities because of their high yields relative to other assets and to protect themselves against any rise in inflation.Once sold on an exchange, Murban will be sent by pipeline to Fujairah, where Abu Dhabi’s desert fields physically connect with global markets.“If successful -- and I think the chances are good -- Murban futures could be a pivotal moment for Middle East crude pricing,” said Vandana Hari, founder of Singapore-based Vanda Insights, which provides oil analysis. If “a sizable chunk of Middle Eastern crude trades freely in the spot market,” that could push other regional producers to follow Abu Dhabi’s lead, she said.Storage CavernsTo help its cause, Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., the state energy firm, is spending around $900 million to build 40 million barrels of storage space in caverns beneath Fujairah’s mountains. That, and tanks Adnoc already has at the port, will ensure there’s plenty of Murban on hand to manage any future supply disruptions, Khaled Salmeen, the company’s head of marketing and trading, told reporters this month.Adnoc can pump about 2 million barrels a day of Murban and has pledged to provide the exchange with half that amount over the next year -- in line with or greater than the supply of today’s major oil benchmarks such as Brent and West Texas Intermediate.Liquidity’s “critical to the whole equation,” said Chris Bake, a director at Vitol Group, the largest independent oil trader, which is backing the exchange.Creating a new benchmark will hardly be easy. Oil traders dislike change, especially when they believe markets already do a good job matching supply and demand. S&P Global Platts caused uproar this year after announcing it would overhaul Dated Brent, the world’s main crude price. It was forced to shelve the plan indefinitely.Murban will also face competition regionally. Platts publishes price assessments for Dubai oil and the Dubai Mercantile Exchange trades futures for Omani crude. Both act as benchmarks for Middle Eastern shipments to Asia.Enter GoldmanThe benefits from trading Murban, a crude first exported in 1963, are worth the effort, according to Sultan Al Jaber, Adnoc’s chief executive officer. “Price transparency will allow our customers to better hedge and manage their market risks,” he wrote Sunday in The National, a local newspaper.Abu Dhabi says the combination of high supply, easy access to oil-consuming markets from Fujairah and the absence of trading restrictions will attract plenty of buyers to its exchange. Philippe Khoury, a former HSBC Holdings Plc energy banker who Adnoc hired in 2018 to build its trading operations, said Murban may even compete with Brent and WTI.The futures platform will be run by Atlanta-based Intercontinental Exchange Inc. and called ICE Futures Abu Dhabi. Last week, ICE approved Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and 22 other banks and brokers as exchange members.Wider AmbitionAdnoc’s plan underscores the UAE’s wider ambition to monetize its hydrocarbon resources faster in case oil demand starts shrinking with the global shift to greener energy. The country aims to increase output capacity from about 4 million barrels a day now to 5 million by 2030, which would make it OPEC’s biggest producer after Saudi Arabia.The Murban exchange and the capacity boost could raise tension within the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, according to Hari of Vanda Insights. The Gulf states dominate the cartel and tend to prize unity. They also began unprecedented production cuts last year to bolster prices as the coronavirus pandemic spread.Still, the UAE says Murban futures won’t affect OPEC or its ability to stabilize oil prices.“We definitely hope” other regional producers adopt Murban as a benchmark for their own crude, Adnoc’s Khoury said this month at the Fujairah Bunkering & Fuel Oil Forum.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.
5h ago
FX Empire
European Equities: A Lack of Stats Leaves COVID-19 and Geopolitics in Focus
It’s a quiet day on the economic calendar, with no major stats for the markets to consider. That leaves COVID-19 news and geopolitics in focus.
6h ago
Bloomberg
Investors Return to Neglected Canadian Stocks as Economy Rises
(Bloomberg) -- As the global economy picks up speed, investors are dusting off the Canada playbook.Covid-19 vaccinations are gaining momentum and fiscal support is helping the growth outlook, lifting bond yields. That’s a winning set of conditions for the nation’s value-oriented and cyclical stock market, which is outrunning its U.S. counterpart in 2021 after years of lagging performance.“Canada has what you want” in the current landscape, said Mike Archibald, vice president and portfolio manager at AGF Investments, a unit of Toronto-based AGF Management Ltd., which has C$39.8 billion ($31.6 billion) in assets under management.The S&P/TSX Composite Index has trailed the S&P 500 nine of the past 10 calendar years but is beating the U.S. benchmark in 2021 with a 7.6% gain. That’s largely because of banks, which are producing a gusher of profits, and energy and industrial companies that are riding economic tailwinds.Global investors have overlooked Canada for years in favor of countries with greater choice in high-growth technology stocks, primarily the U.S., but valuations and earnings momentum have become attractive, Archibald said.Canadian equity exposure is also increasing, according to Bank of Nova Scotia analysts. They say the valuation gap with U.S. stocks is still “extremely wide,” with the TSX at a 23% discount on a forward price-to-earnings basis.“We have started to notice some flows into Canadian-branded equity funds funds/ETFs this year,” strategist Hugo Ste-Marie wrote in a note to clients. “The bleeding of the past few years could be over if the macro landscape improves as we expect.”Canadian exchange-traded funds have taken in more than $9 billion in less than three months this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence analyst James Seyffart. That’s well ahead of last year’s pace, which saw a total of $22.2 billion of flows, or about $1.9 billion a month, and 2019 at about $17.5 billion.‘Re-Rating’ Market“The reflationary environment of robust global growth prospects and unrelenting monetary policy support are likely to embolden sentiment towards the previously-battered value space and prompt a re-rating in the S&P/TSX,” Candice Bangsund, vice president and portfolio manager at Montreal-based Fiera Capital Corp., said via email.Bangsund, whose firm manages about C$180 billion, predicts Toronto’s index will beat the S&P 500 this year. Financials are nearly one-third of the benchmark; rising rates and an improving economy help insurers such as Manulife Financial Corp. and Sun Life Financial Inc. as well as banks, which see wider lending margins and reduced loan losses.The first decade of this century was better for emerging markets such as Brazil and commodities-driven developed countries including Canada. “It might well be that the next decade lines up well for non-U.S. markets,” Craig Basinger, chief investment officer of Richardson Wealth, said in an interview.On the other hand, hiccups in the effort to reopen economies could lower growth and inflation expectations, hindering Canada’s bull case.“To be clear, we are not suggesting investors should ‘buy Canada’ at the expense of U.S. stock exposures,” but the group is worth a closer look, Archibald said in a note.“If a sustained cyclical rally moves out of the realm of possibility and becomes a reality, Canadian stocks might, at long last, be something to finally gloat about.”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.
16h ago
Bloomberg
Nomura Warns of ‘Significant’ Loss From Unnamed U.S. Client
(Bloomberg) -- Nomura Holdings Inc. said it may have incurred a “significant” loss arising from transactions with a U.S. client, sending its stock tumbling the most in more than nine years.The estimated amount of the claim against the client is about $2 billion based on market prices as of March 26, the Japanese brokerage said in a statement on Monday. It didn’t name the customer.Nomura is evaluating the extent of the possible loss and the impact it could have on the group’s results. The Tokyo-based firm also canceled plans to sell dollar-denominated bonds.While the Nikkei newspaper reported that the losses arose at its U.S. prime brokerage, it wasn’t immediately clear whether they were tied to the massive margin call that roiled U.S. markets on Friday. Archegos Capital Management, the family office of former Tiger Management trader Bill Hwang, was forced by its banks to sell more than $20 billion worth of shares after some positions moved against him, Bloomberg reported.Shares of Nomura fell as much as 15% on Monday morning in Tokyo, the biggest intraday decline since November 2011. The stock has climbed 29% in the past 12 months.The potential loss would blemish a bumper year for Japan’s biggest securities firm, which has benefited from a boom in trading and investment banking during the pandemic. Nomura’s profit jumped to the highest in 19 years in the nine months ended December.Nomura said the estimate of the claim against the client may change depending on unwinding of the transactions and market price fluctuations. It will continue to take steps to address the issue and make a further disclosure once the impact of the potential loss has been determined.(Updates with Nikkei report in 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.
5h ago
Bloomberg
Credit Suisse Joins Nomura Warning of Hit From Hedge Fund
(Bloomberg) -- Credit Suisse Group AG said it may face a significant loss in the first quarter related to an unnamed U.S. hedge fund client defaulting on margin calls, the latest blow to the Swiss lender after a string of recent hits. The Zurich-based bank said that while it is too early to quantify the exact size of the loss, “it could be highly significant and material to our first quarter results,” according to a statement Monday. Credit Suisse said it and other banks are exiting positions related to the client. Earlier, Japanese lender Nomura Holdings Inc. also warned of a “significant” potential loss from an unnamed U.S. client. That’s related to the unwinding of trades by Bill Hwang’s Archegos Capital Management, according to people familiar with the matter.Hwang’s New York-based firm is at the center of a margin call that led to the forced liquidation of more than $20 billion in shares on Friday, according to people familiar with the transactions. Among the sales were shares of ViacomCBS Inc., GSX Techedu Inc., Baidu Inc. and Discovery Inc.The family office founded by Hwang, a former Tiger Management trader, was one of Nomura’s prime brokerage clients, one of the people said, without providing further details. They asked not to be identified discussing private information. Other prime brokers include Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., one of the people said.“A significant US-based hedge fund defaulted on margin calls made last week by Credit Suisse and certain other banks,” Credit Suisse said. “Following the failure of the fund to meet these margin commitments, Credit Suisse and a number of other banks are in the process of exiting these positions.”The potential loss is the latest blow to the Swiss bank, already reeling from the Greensill scandal and the write-down on a hedge fund stake and other hits in 2020.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.
36m ago
Bloomberg
Oil Falls as Suez Ship Partially Refloated, Market Weighs Demand
(Bloomberg) -- Oil retreated as salvage teams partially refloated the giant vessel that has been blocking the Suez Canal, and traders weighed the impact of renewed lockdowns on global demand before an OPEC+ policy meeting.West Texas Intermediate lost as much as 2.5%, while Brent fell. Crude has been hit by rising volatility in recent sessions, with WTI swinging between gains and losses last week. The Ever Given is now being secured, according to maritime services provider Inchcape, although it isn’t clear when the canal will reopen.Traders were also tracking the advent on Monday of a significant new contract, with Abu Dhabi kicking off futures for its oil in a bid to establish a new regional benchmark. The move represents a bold challenge to the way nearly one-fifth of the world’s crude is priced.Oil is still set to close out a fourth consecutive quarterly gain this week, aided by sustained supply curbs imposed by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, and optimism that global demand will expand as coronavirus vaccines get rolled out. But a run of three weekly losses for WTI has put a dent in crude’s performance, driving speculation that OPEC+ will again refrain from easing curbs when ministers meet on April 1.“With the Suez and OPEC+ uncertainties on top of a foggy demand picture, we may see big mood swings and high intraday volatility,” said Vandana Hari, founder of energy consultancy Vanda Insights. “I don’t see how OPEC+ or the Saudis could risk putting more oil into the market after the downward pressure on crude of the past fortnight.”The crisis in the Suez Canal has caused a vast backlog of ships on either side of the vital waterway, and spurred some vessels to avoid the congestion by taking the longer, much costlier route around Africa. Rates for tankers had increased, boosting the cost of shipping crude around the world.Despite progress with vaccines, the Covid-19 pandemic remains a challenge. Global cases rose for a fifth week, with several European nations facing a resurgence. Brisbane, Australia’s third most-populous city, will enter a three-day lockdown, while India’s Maharashtra -- which encompasses Mumbai -- asked authorities to prepare for another shutdown if a rebound isn’t quelled. Also in Asia, the Philippine capital is also back under strict curbs.At the last OPEC+ gathering, the alliance surprised investors by sticking with curbs despite expectations the taps would be loosened. This time around, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is among banks forecasting no change for production in May. Citigroup Inc. has said the restrictions may even be tightened.Brent’s prompt timespread was 14 cents in backwardation. While that’s a bullish pattern -- with near-term prices above those further out -- it’s down from 67 cents at the start of 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.
50m ago
Reuters
Nomura flags $2 billion loss, cancels bond issue; shares plummet
TOKYO (Reuters) -Nomura Holdings Inc on Monday flagged a possible $2 billion loss at a U.S. subsidiary, prompting Japan's biggest brokerage and investment bank to shelve a hefty bond issuance and sending its stock tumbling by the most in over a decade. Nomura's stock was greeted by a deluge of sell orders at market open, pushing its price down as much 16% in early trade. The trades were linked to sales of holdings by Archegos Capital Management, a person with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
6h ago
MoneyWise
A break for borrowers? Spiking mortgage rates may be stalling, experts say
A survey shows rates are higher for a sixth week, but they might already be pausing.
18h ago
Bloomberg
Turkey Says April Interest Rate Cut Can’t Be Taken for Granted
(Bloomberg) -- Turkish central bank Governor Sahap Kavcioglu said markets shouldn’t take for granted that he’ll cut interest rates as soon as April, when he sets monetary policy for the first time since his surprise appointment.“I do not approve a prejudiced approach to MPC decisions in April or the following months, that a rate cut will be delivered immediately,” Kavcioglu said in a written response to questions emailed by Bloomberg News, referring to monetary policy committee meeting next month.Q&A: Turkey’s New Central Banker Comments on Monetary Policy“In the new period, we will continue to make our decisions with a corporate monetary policy perspective to ensure a permanent fall in inflation. In this respect, we will also monitor the effects of the policy steps taken so far,” Kavcioglu said.Kavcioglu was appointed on March 20 after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan fired Naci Agbal from the central bank, two days after a larger-than-expected rate increase. The selection fueled expectations for a quick reversal of Turkey’s monetary policy, and triggered a sharp selloff in Turkish assets as investors concluded that policies that had briefly restored the lira’s fortunes had come to an abrupt end after angering the president.Erdogan Ousts Central-Bank Head, Installs Interest-Rate AllyBut in his first interview since taking the job, Kavcioglu said he held a “strict adherence” to the bank’s 5% inflation target.Erdogan’s ShadowIn contrast to most central bankers around the world, Erdogan believes higher interest rates fuel inflation, and wants them to be kept as low as possible. That preoccupation has seen the president fire three central bank three governors in less than two years. Now, after his shock appointment, Kavcioglu is the latest to hold the post.When asked about the Turkish monetary authority’s credibility, given the president’s strong influence and his ability to replace governors, Kavcioglu said the bank maintains “instrument independence” by law. He pledged to use all its tools as required by the inflation outlook, and said he’d stick to the single-rate policy framework inherited from his predecessor.Until Kavcioglu’s predecessor started an aggressive tightening cycle in November, investors frequently criticized the bank for being too quick to undo tightening and too slow to respond to risks, most recently in August 2018 when the lira lost about a quarter of its value.Kavcioglu, a former lawmaker for the ruling AK Party, served as a professor of banking at Marmara University in Istanbul and a columnist at the pro-government Yeni Safak newspaper, which criticized the monetary authority’s latest interest-rate increase on its front page.Central Bank of Erdogan Has Foreign Cash Exiting Turkey The new governor said, though, that he found it wrong to comment on earlier decisions of the central bank both “in principle and ethically.”“We strictly adhere to the medium-term inflation target of 5% set jointly with the government, and I am aware of its importance of this for sustainable growth,” he said. “When determining the monetary policy stance, we will continue to take into account the realized and expected inflation as well as global capital flows, real yields in peer countries, and the portfolio preferences of residents.”Reserves PledgeIn response to a question on how Turkey used its official reserves for nearly two years through 2020 to support the lira, the new central bank chief said, “exchange rates will be determined by supply and demand balance under free market conditions.”Last year alone, Turkish banks spent more than $100 billion of the nation’s foreign reserves to support the currency, according to a report by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. That prompted calls by opposition lawmakers for a judicial probe into the official reserves, while Erdogan’s allies argued reserves were used to finance current-account deficit.Turkey’s total gross reserves, including gold and money held by the central bank on behalf of commercial lenders, dropped 20% last year to $85.2 billion until Agbal’s appointment in November, while net foreign-exchange reserves fell by more than half to $19.6 billion.The central bank will try to amass foreign reserves when market conditions are right, Kavcioglu said, a policy priority he shares with Agbal.“The central bank may use reserve-boosting tools under appropriate conditions, with prior and proper communication thereof,” Kavcioglu said.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.
1h ago
Bloomberg
Tiger Cub Hwang’s Family Office Behind Friday Trade Frenzy
(Bloomberg) -- The family office of former Tiger Management trader Bill Hwang was behind the unprecedented selling of some U.S. stocks Friday, according to two people directly familiar with the trades.Archegos Capital Management was forced by its banks to sell more than $20 billion worth of shares after some positions moved against him, said the people, who asked not to be named because the details aren’t public. The companies involved ranged from Chinese technology giants to U.S. media conglomerates.Morgan Stanley traded about $13 billion, including Farfetch Ltd., Discovery Inc., Baidu Inc. and GSX Techedu Inc., said the people, while Goldman Sachs Group Inc. sold $6.6 billion worth of shares of Baidu, Tencent Music Entertainment Group and Vipshop Holdings Ltd. before the market opened in the U.S, according to an email to clients seen by Bloomberg News.That move was followed by the sale of $3.9 billion of shares including ViacomCBS Inc. and iQiyi Inc. the email said.Hwang didn’t reply to an email seeking comment Sunday. A Goldman spokesperson declined to comment and a Morgan Stanley official didn’t immediately respond.ViacomCBS and Discovery posted their biggest declines ever Friday, after the selling and analyst downgrades. ViacomCBS closed 27% lower to $48.23, down from a high of $100.34 on March 22. Discovery also slumped 27% to $41.90, down from $77.27 on March 19.Wall Street figures have been feverishly speculating about the identity of Friday’s seller. The liquidation had triggered price swings for every stock involved in the high-volume transactions, rattling traders.Block trades -- the sale of a large chunk of stock at a price sometimes negotiated outside of the market -- are common, but the size of these trades and the multiple blocks hitting the market during the normal trading hours aren’t.Hwang was an institutional stock salesman at Hyundai Securities Co. in the early 1990s, where he dealt with Julian Robertson’s Tiger Management. Robertson hired him in 1995 after Hwang won an annual prize awarded to the person outside of Tiger who had contributed most to the fund’s success.After Robertson closed Tiger, Hwang set up Tiger Asia Management, in part with money seeded by his mentor Robertson.In December 2012, Hwang admitted to illegally using inside information to trade Chinese bank stocks and agreed to criminal and civil settlements of more than $60 million.(Updates with reasons behind selling in 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.
13h ago
Reuters
Australia's AMP says Ares keen to buy 100% of unit's private markets business
AMP said it and Ares continued to work towards a potential deal, with Ares showing interest in buying the entirety of the private markets businesses, against an initial plan for Ares to buy a 60% stake for A$1.35 billion ($1.03 billion). Under the earlier plan, AMP would retain 40% of the AMP Capital unit, which deals in infrastructure and real estate investments, with the joint venture between the two companies valued at A$2.25 billion. Prior to that, Ares had withdrawn a A$6.36 billion takeover proposal for the whole company, instead continuing talks over AMP Capital - considered its most valuable unit.
9h ago
Bloomberg
Traders Are ‘Glued to Their Screens’ and Set for Volatile Open
(Bloomberg) -- Global traders are bracing for what’s shaping up to be one of the most anticipated opens for U.S. equities in months following an extraordinary $20 billion wave of block trades Friday that rattled investors worldwide.Archegos Capital Management LLC -- the family office of Bill Hwang -- was behind the sales, dumping shares of Chinese tech giants and U.S. media conglomerates, according to two people directly familiar with the trades. While some of the stocks targeted in the block trades initiated by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley rebounded at the end of Friday’s session, ViacomCBS Inc. and Discovery Inc. didn’t. They posted their biggest daily losses ever.Morgan Stanley traded about $13 billion including Farfetch Ltd., Discovery, Baidu Inc., and GSX Techedu Inc., while Goldman sold $6.6 billion worth of shares of Baidu, Tencent Music Entertainment Group and Vipshop Holdings Ltd. That move was followed by the sale of $3.9 billion of shares in ViacomCBS Inc. and IQiyi Inc., according to an email to clients seen by Bloomberg.Morgan Stanley was shopping a large block of ViacomCBS shares on Sunday, according to a person familiar with the matter. About 45 million shares were offered on behalf of an undisclosed holder, the person said.Sharif Farha, a Dubai-based portfolio manager at Safehouse Global Consumer Fund, said ViacomCBS and Discovery may actually recover on Monday and noted that the market’s fundamentals remain intact.“The correction was not structural,” he said.Farha expects benign price action to start the day, but anticipation for Monday’s open remains high.“Traders everywhere know the story and will be glued to their screens,” he said.June contracts on the S&P 500 fell 0.5% at 8:59 p.m. in New York Sunday, leaving most of Friday’s 1.7% gain intact. Futures on the Nasdaq 100 dropped 0.6%.Huge RalliesThe possibility of additional block trades still looms over the market, while the traditional end-of-quarter volatility may contribute to sharper swings on high-flying stocks. ViacomCBS and Discovery have rallied this year.“What most people appear to have missed is that both of these companies have seen their share prices almost quadruple since October last year,” Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, said in a note on Sunday, referring to ViacomCBS and Discovery.The selloff on the two media companies started earlier last week, when ViacomCBS reported an offering of $2 billion in shares after closing at a record high. The stock fell 9.1% the following day. On Friday, a downgrade by Wells Fargo and the large block trades compounded the selling pressure.ViacomCBS closed 27% lower to $48.23, down from a high of $100.34 on March 22. Discovery also slumped 27% to $41.90, down from $77.27 on March 19. Other media stocks tumbled too, with AMC Networks Inc. losing 6.4% and Fox Corp. retreating 6.2%.Read more: ViacomCBS, Discovery Plunge on New Downgrade, Block Trades (1)Viacom and Discovery shares are also echoing volatility in a host of companies that soared on lockdown trades, including Zillow Group and Peloton Inc. and to some degree the entire blank-check SPAC space. Earlier this month, data compiled by Susquehanna International Group showed that volatility futures expiring three months from now were hovering 20% above the average level or prior instances when the VIX traded at 20.“We have seen an increase in volatility in equities capital markets, tech, working-from-home names with retail stepping back and more rotation to value in the last few weeks,” said Emmanuel Cau, a strategist at Barclays. “It may have hurt a number of funds that were overly exposed to these trades.”U.S. equities notched their biggest gain in three weeks on Friday and the S&P 500 closed 1.7% higher as the bull market celebrated its first anniversary since hitting pandemic-era lows.“The markets could start trading in a friendly manner at the beginning of the week,” said Andreas Lipkow, Comdirect Bank strategist. “Although there is currently some major profit-taking and unusual block trade activities, these market asymmetries can currently still be processed well.”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.
5h ago
Bloomberg
Iron Ore Set to Drive Australia’s Resources Earnings to Record
(Bloomberg) -- The global economic recovery is set to drive Australia’s resources earnings to an all-time high this financial year, led by number one export iron ore, while rapid growth in the production of battery minerals will see them challenge coal in importance in coming years.A strong bounce back from the pandemic, especially in China, is forecast to lift Australia’s resources and energy exports to A$296 billion ($225 billion) in the year ending June 30, according to a quarterly report from the government.Iron ore giants BHP Group, Rio Tinto Group and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. are enjoying an earnings bonanza after prices surged on the back of strong demand from Chinese steelmakers and supply disruptions in number two producer Brazil. The strength in iron ore, and other key exports such as liquefied natural gas and copper, has helped to insulate the Australian economy from Covid-19, with gross domestic product strengthening by more than 3% in the final two quarters of 2020.“The outlook for Australia’s resources and energy exports has strengthened since our last report, supported by the global economic recovery and associated government stimulus measures,” the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources, said in a media release. Production constraints elsewhere in the world had seen prices for many commodities gain momentum in the early part of 2021, the department said.Price gains are likely to moderate, leading to a modest decline in resources earnings in fiscal 2022, although growth in demand for the materials vital to the clean energy transition is seen buoying the industry out to 2026 and beyond. Lithium exports are set to jump more than five-fold over the period which, along with strong copper and nickel output gains, will put the value of those three metals combined at A$28 billion, just short of Australia’s third-largest export earner in that year, metallurgical coal.China’s import ban on some Australian commodities poses a downside risk to the forecasts, the report said, even though coal and copper producers had successfully diverted sales to other markets. “At present, a high degree of uncertainty exists around the extent to which China’s informal import restrictions will persist through the outlook period,” the report said.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.
17h ago
FX Empire
U.S Mortgage Rates Rise for a 6th Consecutive Week
Mortgage rates were on the rise once more last week. The upward trend in rates and home prices is beginning to take effect on refinancing and demand.
1d ago
BBC
China's answer to YouTube slumps on market debut
Shares of Bilibili opened 2.2% below their issue price before slipping further in early trade
3h ago

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Global Acetic Acid Market Procurement Intelligence Report with COVID-19 Impact Analysis | Global Market Forecasts, Analysis 2021-2025 | SpendEdge

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