The US unit of Deutsche Bank failed to pass the stress test from the FED. It wasn't the only bank which had issues during this stress test as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were told to strengthen their balance sheet. These tests were done yearly, to see if the payouts to investors (dividends) are good to go. DB, GS and MS were all told to halt dividends and share buybacks. Overall results of the stresstest were convincing. It has been several times in the news, the dispute between Apple and Samsung regarding a patent, but after seven years it has been settled. It all had to do Apple saying Samsung stole their iPhone design. The legal departments of both companies have spent hundreds of millions and especially Apple is now free to go on to the next big dispute with Qualcomm. Specific financial details are not disclosed but it's known Samsung has already made some payment to Apple regarding this case in the past, and it could certainly be there have been more financials rewards being paid by Samsung. Blackstone is setting up a new fund to invest up to $5 billion in infrastructure, which could be seen as part of the $40 billion promise of Donald Trump for investing in better roads, airports, etc. The 5 billion can be split between half of the money coming from institutional investors and the other half from Saudi Arabia. It wasn't easy for Blackstone to reach this 5 billion and it was said they had to cut their management fees to 50bps after an initial expectation of 100bps. The trade war is heating up and Trump isn't holding back. The latest developments show that the US administration will restrict investments from China in US companies. This is a new 'era' in trade wars, and could have long term consequences. It could be not only targeted to China but also to Europe, to protect the US technology. China has been a big investor in the US, but it has already plunged this year as Trump is putting America first. The Bank of China announced it will cut bank reserves by $100 billion to give the banks more options to fund companies in trouble. This is to help the companies which will be hurt by the trade war that Donald Trump started recently. The Chinese stock market fell to a 2 year low last week as a reaction to the looming trade war. After a little slump in oil prices the last 2 months, today Opec announced an increase in production of approx 1 million barrels a day. All the major oil countries agreed to this deal. This triggered oil prices to soar for the biggest daily gain in over 2 years. West Texas Intermediate rose almost 5% to $68.50. It was kind of strange to see prices rise on the news of an increase of supply, which normally would lead to falling prices. ECB announced it will be stopping its controversial QE program at the end of this year. Furthermore they mentioned they won't be hiking rates anytime soon. The expectations of analist is that first rate hike could be at the end of 2019. Currency markets responded heavily by a rising USD versus the Euro. Stock markets rallied after the announcement of the ECB. The ECB will still keep the balance sheet intact by rolling over maturing debt by buying new European debt. US President Donald Trump and the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un swept aside decades of hostility between their nations at a historic summit in Singapore on Tuesday, jointly pledging a “new future” of peaceful relations. In a significant concession that sparked criticism in Washington, Mr Trump declared the US would halt military exercises in Korea and pledged security guarantees to Pyongyang in return for an “unwavering” but unspecified commitment to “complete denuclearisation” of the Korean peninsula by Mr Kim. Italian finance giant Unicredit is in talks with French Societe General for a merger which could result in one the biggest European banking institutions. It could be the start of a new round of consolidation in the European banking sector at a time where there is a lot of uncertainty about the future of the EU. The two companies are value roughly the same, with market caps of around 32 billion euro. President Donald Trump confirmed that he would hold a historic summit with Kim Jong Un on June 12 in Singapore, following a two-hour meeting with the most senior North Korean official to visit the US in 18 years. Mr Trump said he would proceed with the on-again, off-again summit after an Oval Office meeting with Kim Yong Chol, a trusted adviser to Kim Jong Un and the second most powerful official in North Korea. |
PurposeMajor markets news headlines which captured the markets. Archives
March 2021
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