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  • True Test for Saudi Markets Still to Come After Khashoggi Report

    (Bloomberg) -- Monday may provide the true test for Saudi Arabian markets following the U.S. intelligence report that said Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman signed off on the killing of columnist Jamal Khashoggi.The benchmark Tadawul All Share Index fell 0.5% on Sunday, a move that barely reflected the slump in emerging markets at the end of last week when Saudi markets were closed. The relatively muted response may be a sign of relief that the sanctions announced by the U.S. weren’t tougher, though the lower participation of foreign investors on a Sunday might have clouded the picture, analysts said.President Joe Biden’s administration imposed only modest new sanctions on the kingdom when the report was released last week. Still, the president said in an interview with Univision News that he told Saudi King Salman that “the rules are changing” in the kingdom’s relationship with the U.S. and promised “significant changes” on Monday.Saudi Arabia said it “rejects the negative, false and unacceptable assessment in the report” that implicated the crown prince, the king’s son and effective ruler.The report “may affect international institutions’ flows into the Saudi market in the short term, especially until Biden’s Monday speech,” said Mohammed Ali Yasin, chief strategy officer at Al Dhabi Capital Ltd in Abu Dhabi. “But local money, whether retail or institutional, will be steady.”Outflows from the Saudi stock exchange rose to a record of 6.6 billion riyals ($1.76 billion) in October 2018, the month Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. It was the biggest exodus from Saudi markets since the country introduced measures in 2015 that made it easier for foreigners to invest in its stock market.Saudi bonds will be on investors’ radars in anticipation of further measures from Washington. The country’s $2.25 billion of dollar bonds maturing in 2061 rallied Friday, with yields falling 3 basis points, after dropping for five consecutive sessions. Meanwhile, the country’s risk of default as measured by credit default swaps jumped the most since September.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 – Gold Bulls Losing Battle with Bond Investors

    Gold is just an investment that competes for capital just like bonds, stocks and now cryptocurrencies.

  • RBA Doubles Down in Defense of Yields Amid Global Bond Rebound

    (Bloomberg) -- The Reserve Bank of Australia doubled down on bond purchases Monday, spurring the biggest drop in yields in a year as policy makers around the world seek to check runaway bets on reflation.The central bank announced plans to buy more than $3 billion of longer-dated securities, following up on a surprise boost in purchases of shorter-maturity debt at the end of last week. Japanese government bonds also advanced while those in New Zealand surged in the wake of an about-face in the American market on Friday.As the global trading day shifts west, yields on German bunds look primed to decline, with attention also turning to bond-buying figures from the European Central Bank. Markets are also awaiting more from key global leaders this week, including Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who will deliver what are likely to be his final public comments before a mid-month policy meeting.“The Fed may realize that telling the market that they’re ok with what’s happened is just a red flag to a bull,” said Eric Robertsen, chief strategist at Standard Chartered Bank. “The RBA is in the same camp as every major central bank -- they want their economies to recover but they’re more and more dependent on low interest rates.”This Week: Dizzied Bond Traders Brace for More Pain as Fed Speakers Line UpBond markets have been pricing in accelerating inflation on expectations of a rapid global economic recovery that will leave central banks unable to maintain loose settings. Policy makers have pushed back, but with trillions of dollars sloshing around economies courtesy of monetary and fiscal infusions and vaccination rollouts, investors have seen rising price pressures on the horizon.U.S. Treasury yields ended an already tumultuous week on Friday with another sharp move -- shifting suddenly lower as traders squeezed in their final business for the month. The 10-year yield dropped as much as 14 basis points amid month-end rebalancing from equities to bonds. They were little changed on Monday during Asian trading.That set the scene for the open of trading in Asia on Monday, with Australia’s 10-year yield immediately dropping 19 basis points. It then dropped as much as 32 basis points to 1.60% after the RBA said it would buy A$4 billion ($3.1 billion) of long-dated bonds -- double the usual amount -- in a regular operation.Read More: Australia Central Bank Girds for All-Out Defense of Yield TargetThe RBA is expected to maintain its broad settings on Tuesday: a key interest rate and three-year bond yield target at 0.10% and a A$100 billion QE program for longer-dated securities. It surprised last month by announcing a second round of QE when the current tranche expires in mid-April and could tweak its buying plans Tuesday.“Markets will be looking for a firm response to the extreme bond market volatility,” said Su-Lin Ong, head of Australian economic and fixed-income strategy at Royal Bank of Canada. “At a minimum, we would expect a step up in yield-curve control for the next couple of weeks, possibly including more purchases on non QE operation days.”Coming Monday: ECB to Prove Whether Pledge to Cap Yields Is More Than Just TalkThe ECB is due to reveal how serious it is about countering rising yields when it publishes its latest bond-buying figures.A significant increase in purchases would show they are backing their words with action. Yet if the amount is little changed it could convince investors to push on with reflation trades, which are effectively bets the ECB will tolerate higher borrowing costs as the economy begins to recover.Based on moves in 10-year German bond futures since Friday’s close, cash bond yields are implied to fall around four basis points from the open.“With the ECB due to report its bond-buying figures today, the RBA meeting tomorrow and a raft of Fed speakers due this week, the risk is central banks fight back and throw some doubt in rates traders’ minds that the earlier hike schedule is mispriced,” Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone Group Ltd. in Melbourne, said in a note.(Updates with outlook for German bond market Monday)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.

  • Why Is Chevron (CVX) Up 12.3% Since Last Earnings Report?

    Chevron (CVX) reported earnings 30 days ago. What's next for the stock? We take a look at earnings estimates for some clues.

  • Texas electricity firm files for bankruptcy citing $1.8 billion in claims from grid operator

    Brazos Electric Power Cooperative Inc is one of dozens of electricity providers facing enormous charges stemming from a severe cold snap last month. The fallout threatens utilities and power marketers who collectively face billions of dollars in blackout-related charges, executives said. Brazos and others that committed to provide power to the grid and could not, were required to buy replacement power at high rates and cover other firms' unpaid fees.

  • As the market nosedived last year, my older brother advised me to sell. I lost $80,000. How can I ever forgive him?

    This time last year, when the market was nosediving, my older brother advised me to get out of the market, and go to cash to conserve my assets. The Moneyist: ‘Warren Buffett and Harry Potter couldn’t get those two retired early’: Our spendthrift neighbors said our adviser was ‘lousy.’

  • Hyatt calls hate symbols 'abhorrent' after CPAC stage compared to sign used by Nazis

    Hyatt Hotels Corp called symbols of hate "abhorrent" on Sunday after the design of a stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference at one of its hotels drew comparisons to a Norse rune used by Nazis during World War Two. High-profile Republicans including former President Donald Trump were attending the four-day event in Orlando, Florida, as conflict rages between Trump allies and establishment politicians trying to distance the party from him. A photo of the CPAC stage went viral on social media on Saturday, with thousands of Twitter users sharing posts comparing its distinctive design to an othala rune, one of many ancient European symbols that Nazis adopted to "reconstruct a mythic 'Aryan' past," according to the Anti-Defamation League.

  • How to make sure your next stimulus check is the full $1,400

    The payments in President Biden's COVID relief plan will rely on an IRS formula.

  • 5 Takeaways From Axos Financial's Record Second Quarter

    The bank posted record net income in its most recent earnings period. Here are five things we learned about the bank from its report.

  • ‘Markets Are Wrong’: $2 Trillion of Pension Funds Skip Bond Rout

    (Bloomberg) -- As interest-rate jitters supercharged a meltdown in the world’s biggest bond market, Sam Sicilia barely blinked.“The markets are wrong” about inflation expectations, said Sicilia, chief investment officer of the A$56 billion ($43 billion) Host-Plus Pty pension fund in Melbourne. “Deflationary forces are bigger. Interest rates are going to stay at effectively zero.”With governments around the globe still adding to trillions of dollars of stimulus to ride out the pandemic, pension fund managers who are trying to discern the long-term effects are posing the question: Will inflation make a comeback? If it does, more than $46 trillion of global pension assets would be affected as central banks pivoted toward sustained higher interest rates.Interviews with five pension funds that help oversee parts of Australia’s A$2.9 trillion ($2.3 trillion) in retirement assets reveal a rank of investors largely unconcerned about the risk of rising prices.Last week, bond trades triggered speculation that inflation may accelerate to multi-year highs as the inevitable conclusion to the world’s $19.5 trillion coronavirus rescue package. Yields on 10-year Treasuries surged to pre-pandemic levels on Thursday, convulsing markets from stocks to credit as traders bet on more aggressive tightening -- with a U.S. interest rate hike briefly priced in for late 2022, at least a year earlier than the Federal Reserve had signaled.Debt markets calmed on Monday, as investors bet central banks would ramp up asset purchases to prevent yields rising too quickly.“I don’t think they would want to risk any recovery” by allowing markets to tighten too quickly, said Michael Clavin head of fixed-income at the A$140 billion Aware Super, Australia’s second-biggest pension fund by assets. There may be a “burst of inflationary data, but we’re not really sure it’s sustainable.”Wind VaneLike Sicilia, Clavin points to technology advancements as the biggest damper on long-term price growth.Economists have struggled for years to quantify technology’s deflationary impact on everything from supply chains to wage growth -- Clavin’s wind vane for price pressures -- but the overall effect has been to stifle price increases. And that’s not including the increased unemployment from the pandemic.“There’s still quite a big hurdle to get the jobs back that were lost,” Clavin said. “I don’t see how you’re going to overcome those deflationary forces without some sort of wage growth.”Aware is sticking to a strategy that includes being overweight in global equities and cash in its default option to ride out the market volatility. It also invests about 15.6% of its default fund in fixed-income assets.Sicilia continues to shun “outrageously expensive” bonds and is investing in stocks and private equity on bets that risk-assets will continue to outperform as central banks keep rates near record lows.“In five to 10 years’ time, you’ll have people saying ‘we should have bought equities at 20 times earnings,’” he said. “If technology is the root cause of no inflation, that means you’re not going to be able to generate inflation anytime soon.”While bond markets suggest there may be “inflation in the pipeline”, it might be short-lived, said John Pearce, Sydney-based investment chief at the A$90 billion UniSuper Management Pty.The 30-year market veteran points to Japan as an example where inflation remains elusive despite years of quantitative easing and ultra-loose monetary policy. Markets today are a far cry from the 1970s when a massive oil shock and collapse of the Bretton Woods system turbocharged price hikes, he said.“You look at the marginal cost of everything just plummeting because of the improvements in technology -- I don’t see that stopping anytime soon,” said Pearce. “We’re not a believer that we’re going to see persistently high inflation.”It may be “worth having a look at” 10-year Treasuries if yields climb to 2.5%, he said.Contrarion BetsThat’s not to say that the recent volatility hasn’t produced some buying opportunities.When bond yields plunged to historic lows last year, IOOF Holdings Ltd. pivoted some of its funds from government debt to credit and senior loans. By December, one of the Melbourne-based pension’s underlying asset managers had switched from a long duration position -- or holding securities with higher interest-rate risk -- to a short on signs inflation pressures were building.The wagers paid off. During the worst month for Australian bond returns on record, the fund’s fixed-income strategy rose 0.6%.“Because we’re starting from such a low base on inflation, you’re probably likely to see over the next three-to-six months” economic data showing some price rises, said Osvaldo Acosta, head of fixed-interest assets who studies bonds and stock returns to look for an inflection point for inflation. “The greatest risk that we saw for the last 12 months was the amount of stimulus both monetary and also fiscal that was coming through -- it is just tremendous.”Now, with U.S. yields pulling global rates higher, Acosta is weighing his fund’s position. “Bonds are starting to look attractive,” he said.Even so, most of those managing Australia’s giant pension funds don’t see a return to the high levels of inflation that characterized U.S. economics in the 1970s.Con Michalakis, chief investment officer of Statewide Superannuation Pty, compares the S&P 500 Index dividend yield against the U.S. 10-year benchmark as a bond valuation barometer and he’s now looking at opportunities in government debt after the selloff.“We’re going to hit an inflection point -- bonds near 2% offer some insurance value that they didn’t offer when they were 80 basis points,” said Adelaide-based Michalakis. “We are in an era of slightly higher structural long-term inflation, but nothing disastrous.”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.

  • Some California Residents Will Receive $600 in Stimulus Funds Separate from Federal Checks

    As Washington awaits the House of Representatives' vote on the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill on Friday, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a coronavirus aid package worth $7.6 billion,...

  • Israel-Iran Tensions Rise as Netanyahu Says Tehran Attacked Ship

    (Bloomberg) -- Israel accused Iran of attacking one of its cargo ships in the Gulf of Oman last week, as tensions mount over the U.S.’s desire to rejoin a nuclear deal with Tehran.“It was indeed an act by Iran, that’s clear,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday in an interview with Kan radio, a local station. Iran “is Israel’s greatest enemy and we are striking it across the region.”The Israeli-owned car carrier, called the Helios Ray, was struck by an explosion while sailing 100 kilometers (62 miles) off the coast of Oman either on Feb. 25 or the early hours of Feb. 26. None of its crew was hurt and the vessel is now docked in Dubai for repairs.“We categorically reject” Israel’s accusation, a spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry, Saeed Khatibzadeh, said in a press conference on Monday in Tehran.Friction between Israel and Iran has been high at a time U.S. President Joe Biden is exploring rejoining a 2015 accord designed to reduce Tehran’s nuclear activities. Netanyahu opposes Washington returning to the pact, saying it would pave the way for Iran to build a nuclear weapon. Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, withdrew the U.S. from the accord in 2018 and tightened sanctions on Iran.Iran has accused Israel of several attacks and killings in the past year. It said Israel sabotaged one of its nuclear facilities in July and assassinated a top Iranian nuclear scientist in November.Israeli media reported that the country launched missile strikes on Iranian targets in Syria over the weekend in response to the assault on the ship. Israel’s military did not comment.The Helios Ray, owned by Tel Aviv-based Ray Shipping Ltd., had traversed the Strait of Hormuz and was on its way to Singapore when the explosion occurred, according to tracking data compiled by Bloomberg and information from U.K. Maritime Trade Operations, which serves as a link between the Royal Navy and commercial vessels in high-risk areas. It turned around on Feb. 26.The Associated Press, citing unnamed American officials, said the explosion created two holes on each side of the ship, just above the waterline.Several merchant vessels have been attacked or detained in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman over the last two years, rattling oil and shipping markets. Iran seized a South Korean-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz in January and its forces boarded another ship in the Gulf of Oman in August 2020. It also detained the U.K.-flagged Stena Impero for several months in 2019.Four oil vessels were attacked with explosives in May 2019 while at anchorage off Fujairah, a United Arab Emirates port on the Gulf of Oman coast. Two more were sabotaged in the Gulf of Oman in June. Iran was blamed for the incidents but denied involvement.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.

  • Biden's stimulus checks bill could cut your taxes by $3,100

    The legislation, which just passed the U.S. House, includes several tax savers.

  • A Look at Tiger Woods’ Fortune in the Wake of His Tragic Accident

    Find out Tiger Woods' net worth after he won his fifth Masters title on April 14. The victory was Woods' first major win in more than a decade.

  • Dogecoin Gets New Wings With Developer Upgrades: What You Need To Know

    Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE), the joke cryptocurrency popularized by Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk, has received an under-the-hood upgrade. What Happened: The release of the Dogecoin Core 1.14.3 was announced on the r/dogecoin discussion board on Reddit on Sunday. The update includes “important performance improvements," and is a “strongly recommended update for everyone [running a DOGE node].” Why It Matters: Significant improvements to the speed at which a node can upload blocks will be made by removing expensive integrity checks which were previously carried out each time a block was sent to another node after the update is applied. The default time that transactions are cached in the mempool — a mechanism for storing information on unconfirmed transactions — will be reduced from 336 hours to 24 hours. See Also: In Bitcoin's Path Back To ,000, Institutional Investors, Whales Battle Miners The default setting can be modified by inputting a value in hours that makes the most sense for the use cases the node serves. Technical development in DOGE has mirrored Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), according to CoinDesk. “Since March 2014, “[Dogecoin Core] has always been based on Bitcoin,” said DOGE developer Maximilian Keller, as per CoinDesk. The price increase in the meme cryptocurrency has hastened the improvements in the Shiba-Inu-themed cryptocurrency. DOGE has risen 812.56% since the year began. In the same period BTC has given 58.12% returns. Price Action: DOGE traded 0.82% higher at $ 0.049 at press time, while BTC traded 0.54% higher at $46,637.15. Read Next: Dogenomics: What's So Special About Dogecoin Anyway? See more from BenzingaClick here for options trades from BenzingaIn Bitcoin's Path Back To ,000, Institutional Investors, Whales Battle MinersWhy Cardano Is Surging Amid Bitcoin-Led Crypto Slump© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

  • Biden’s New PPP Rules: Only Small or Minority-Owned Companies Can Apply for 2 Weeks

    The Biden administration announced a slew of changes to the Paycheck Protection Program today, which aims to help "the smallest businesses" and women and minority-owned businesses, according to a...

  • My brother owes $10K to our late father’s estate. There’s no loan agreement and I’m executor. How should I approach repayment?

    ‘He feels that if he had paid this money back before dad passed, he would still get half back and, therefore, owes $5,000.’

  • Should You Think About Buying Aristocrat Leisure Limited (ASX:ALL) Now?

    Aristocrat Leisure Limited ( ASX:ALL ) saw significant share price movement during recent months on the ASX, rising to...

  • Bitcoin’s Long-Term Value Doubted Due to ESG, Tighter Rules

    (Bloomberg) -- Bitcoin is nursing losses after its worst weekly plunge in almost a year and on one view its longer term outlook could be even worse because of environmental concerns and tightening regulations.The sheer amount of energy needed to mine Bitcoin and the prospect that governments will create more obstacles for the largest cryptocurrency point to the token losing “most of its value over time,” BCA Research Inc. said.The expense and slowness of Bitcoin transactions make it “unsuitable as a medium of exchange,” BCA Research Chief Global Strategist Peter Berezin wrote in the report released Friday. In addition, environmental, social and governance-focused funds are likely to shun companies associated with Bitcoin due to the large energy consumption by miners on computer networks.Bitcoin is still up more than five times over the past year, a divisive rally pitting believers in a new asset class against naysayers who see a speculative bubble. Among notable recent developments are Tesla Inc.’s $1.5 billion purchase of the token. At the same time, Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen are among those signaling caution.Governments will create more obstacles because they could lose billions of dollars in revenue from seigniorage -- the difference between the face value of money and the cost to produce it -- according to BCA.“Many companies have cozied up to Bitcoin in order to associate themselves with the digital currency’s technological mystique,” BCA’s Berezin added. “As ESG funds start to flee Bitcoin, its price will begin a downward spiral. Stay away.”Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, was up 3% to about $46,615 as of 8:13 a.m. in London on Monday. That leaves it well off the record high of $58,350 set just over a week ago.Other commentators remain bullish on the outlook for digital currencies. While there are many risks, Bitcoin is at a tipping point and we may be “at the start of massive transformation of cryptocurrency into the mainstream,” Citigroup Inc. wrote in a report.The Citi team including Kathleen Boyle highlighted the token’s increased attractiveness for institutional investors and the argument that it can help to hedge inflation risk.In the shorter term, investment flows into Bitcoin funds may be among the keys to the price outlook. JPMorgan Chase & Co. strategists said inflows into the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust -- the largest traded crypto fund -- are “ceasing,” and the cash going into other Bitcoin vehicles isn’t “strong enough to prevent an overall slowing in the Bitcoin fund flow impulse.”(Updates with comment from Citigroup from the 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.

  • China Stood Out as the World Dumped Bonds Everywhere Last Week

    (Bloomberg) -- China’s bonds stood out as a haven last week when investors fled from virtually everywhere including Treasuries and high-yielding developing-nation debt.Funds poured $671 million into exchange-traded funds tracking yuan bonds over the past five sessions, taking inflows so far this year to $2.2 billion, data compiled by Bloomberg show. In contrast, they offloaded almost $600 million of emerging-market notes last week.China’s bonds have largely escaped the tumult in global debt markets, with yields on the benchmark holding firm on Thursday while that on Treasuries soared more than 20 basis points. With strategists warning of more volatility in the days ahead, investors may find safety in the more-insulated Chinese debt market where fears of sudden monetary tightening is less prevalent.“China bonds are likely to be a safe haven now -- stable policy and growth make them less volatile compared to global peers, while yields are also more attractive,” said Xing Zhaopeng, a senior China strategist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in Shanghai. “The notes’ relative performance this year will be better than bonds sold by other major economies.”China’s sovereign notes are the third-best performer globally in February, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, thanks to their interest-rate advantage and inflows spurred by the nation’s inclusion in global bond indexes. The authorities’ successful containment of the coronavirus outbreak has also allowed the economy to rebound quicker.The iShares China CNY Bond UCITS ETF, which tracks the Bloomberg Barclays Index of Chinese government and policy bank debt, saw the largest inflows among all similar contracts this year, data compiled by Bloomberg showed. The fund gained 8.8% over the past year, beating most global peers.Overseas investors are also buying more Chinese notes directly. In January, they purchased $27 billion of bonds in the interbank market, the most according to data going back to 2014. Sovereign securities accounted for $19 billion of the total inflows.Over the past year, global investors boosted holdings of ETFs tracking China bonds by $5.6 billion, including secondary classes of the securities, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. They added $313 million of such funds over the past week and $1.2 billion so far this year, if only primary classes are considered, the figures showed.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.