CommSec Daily Report Tuesday
Latest News Local shares are marginally weaker at lunch on Tuesday. The ASX 200 has fallen 8 points or 0.1% to 6721 and following global peers lower. US and European markets fell in anticipation of interest rate meetings by the US Fed Reserve and European Central Bank, the UK general election and US-China tariff deadline…
Paul Volcker, US Fed chief who led war on inflation, dead at 92
Former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, who tackled American inflation in the 1970s and 80s and later lent his name to landmark Wall Street reforms, has died in New York. Volcker, who headed the US central bank from 1979 to 1987, was 92. The cause of his death Sunday was complications from prostate cancer,…
UK’s ‘Brexit election’ campaign enters final straight
Britain’s election campaign entered its frenetic final straight Monday with Prime Minister Boris Johnson trying to lock in the votes needed to draw a line under years of arguments and paralysis over European Union membership. Johnson is hoping Thursday’s poll hands his ruling Conservatives the majority needed to push through his EU divorce deal and…
HSBC eyes selling retail bank business in France: sources
HSBC bank is looking to sell part or all of its retail banking business in France, which employs thousands of people, sources close to the negotiations said on Monday. A source confirmed details reported in French financial newspaper Les Echos that discussions will start with French and foreign banks who have shown interest in the…
US manufacturers see higher 2020 sales despite trade cloud
US manufacturers expect a bounce in revenues in 2020 despite lingering unease over trade tariffs that are prompting supply chain shifts, according to an industry survey released Monday. The semi-annual survey painted a mixed picture for US manufacturers overall, with companies forecasting flat employment and lower capital spending but higher overall sales. That could spell…
Trump: ‘Very good things’ happening in USMCA talks
President Donald Trump on Monday suggested a breakthrough was near in efforts to push a new continent-wide trade deal through the US Congress, even as lawmakers prepared to impeach him. Trump’s remarks followed a report that US and Mexican trade negotiators have reached a deal making changes to labor enforcement under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)…
2020 election crucial for US to catch up on climate action
A significant expansion of state, city, and business climate action could reduce US greenhouse gas emissions by up to 37 percent by 2030 over 2005 levels even without federal support, according to projections published Monday. But the election of a president who advances a comprehensive national climate strategy could reduce emissions by 49 percent by…
US stocks sag ahead of Fed meeting, British vote
Wall Street stocks retreated on Monday at the start of a news-jammed week that includes a British election and a Federal Reserve decision. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 0.4 percent at 27,909.60, snapping a three-day winning streak. The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 0.3 percent to 3,135.96, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost…
WTO chief to launch talks to save appeals panel
The World Trade Organization announced Monday the launch of “intensive” political negotiations to salvage the appellate branch of the body’s internal court, which is set to collapse under US opposition. The WTO appeals panel, sometimes dubbed the supreme court of world trade, will no longer have the needed quorum of three judges as of midnight…
EU opens subsidies for electric battery push
The EU’s powerful anti-trust authority on Monday approved billions of euros in subsidies from seven member states as Europe seeks to make up lost ground in batteries. The move is part of a big push led by Germany and France to prepare Europe for the emergence of electric cars, as gas combustible engines are phased…
