(Bloomberg) -- Stocks in Asia kicked off the week in mixed fashion as low trading volumes once again suggested a lack of conviction and as investors mulled the impact of coronavirus outbreaks in countries from the U.S. to Australia.S&P 500 contracts reversed a slide of as much as 1% to edge higher. Hong Kong shares opened lower, while losses in Korea, Australia and Japan were pared back and those main indexes traded flat. California reported record new cases and Florida infections jumped more than the weekly average. The Aussie erased earlier losses seen in the wake of one Australian state tightening restrictions due to fresh cases. Treasuries were little changed.Markets remain vulnerable as governments gradually ease coronavirus lockdowns and travel restrictions to revive economic growth while attempting to control the spread of Covid-19. Meanwhile, China over the weekend released details of a proposed national security law that would give the mainland...
(Bloomberg) -- The company once hyped as the future of German finance has become a symbol of national embarrassment.After promising to shake up the world of payments, Wirecard AG saw its stock collapse and its chief executive officer resign after 1.9 billion euros ($2.1 billion), or about a quarter of its balance sheet, went missing. It subsequently withdrew its fiscal 2019 and first-quarter 2020 financial results after saying those funds on its balance sheet didn’t exist. That was a bombshell for Germany’s establishment after it defended Wirecard from critical investors who have long warned of accounting irregularities.“We Germans aren’t as prone to euphoria as in the U.S., but back when Wirecard joined the DAX, there was this great feeling that we can also produce successful tech giants,” said Hans-Peter Burghof, a finance professor at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart. “What we’re seeing now is just awful.”“It’s embarrassing for Germany,” he...
Jun.21 -- A new generation of social media users may have been behind the lower turnout at President Donald Trump's rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Some teenage TikTokers ordered tickets with no intention of attending. Sarah Frier reports on "Bloomberg Daybreak: Asia."...
Oil prices nudged higher on Monday on tighter supplies from major producers, but a record rise in global coronavirus cases raised concerns a recovery in fuel demand could stall, checking gains. Brent crude rose 8 cents, or 0.2%, to $42.22 a barrel by 0249 GMT, while U.S. crude was at $39.93 a barrel, up 10 cents, or 0.3%. Both contracts rose about 9% last week and Brent crude futures have flipped into backwardation, where oil for immediate delivery costs more than supply later, usually an indication of tightening supply....
Oil prices nudged higher on Monday on tighter supplies from major producers, but concerns that a record rise in global coronavirus cases could curb a recovery in fuel demand checked gains. Brent crude rose 9 cents, or 0.2%, to $42.28 a barrel by 0009 GMT, while U.S. crude was at $39.76 a barrel, up 1 cent. Both contracts rose about 9% last week and Brent crude futures flipped into backwardation, where oil for immediate delivery costs more than supply later, usually an indication of tightening supply....
(Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks kicked off the week with modest losses as investors mulled the impact of coronavirus outbreaks in countries from the U.S. to Australia, though U.S. futures recouped much of an early decline.S&P 500 contracts pared most of the slide of as much as 1% after Monday’s open. Shares in Japan, South Korea and Australia started lower. California reported record new cases and Florida infections jumped more than the weekly average. The Aussie was weaker as one Australian state tightened restrictions due to fresh cases. Treasuries were little changed.Markets remain vulnerable as governments gradually ease coronavirus lockdowns and travel restrictions to revive economic growth while attempting to control the spread of Covid-19. Meanwhile, China over the weekend released details of a proposed national security law that would give the mainland the right to directly prosecute Hong Kong residents for still vaguely defined offenses.“Shares remain technically overbought and vulnerable to...
(Bloomberg) -- Investors should be more selective in the next six months as asset returns are likely to diverge because liquidity “cannot paper over specific weaknesses indefinitely,” according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.An “indiscriminate approach” to a portfolio would largely have worked in April and May, when most financial assets rallied -- a typical result at a turning point in the cycle, according to strategists led by John Normand in a June 19 note. They cited extreme positioning and liquidity dynamics, plus central-bank asset purchases, as contributing to increased correlations when economies enter recessions and then move to expansions.“But typically these high correlations mean-revert to their long-term averages within a few months, in part because the pace of quantitative easing slows and in turn allows country, sector and company-specific factors to reassert themselves,” the strategists wrote. The second half of 2020 “should bring this sort of differentiation.”Read more: JPMorgan Sounds Warning...
