In The News

World's Bond Markets: Bloomberg

John Ainger July 15, 2019
Bonds are generally considered safe investments, and demand pushes yields down. Confronting low wages and low inflation, central banks struggle to raise interest rates. The number of negative-yield bonds is growing: These are worth less than the principal invested when held to maturity. Governments may take on excessive debt as bond issuers essentially charge investors for holding their money....

US Under Trump Leads on Global Dealmaking: FT

Eric Platt, Arash Massoudi and Don Weinland June 27, 2019
The United States is dominating in what the Financial Times calls a record-breaking boom in global mergers and acquisitions. “Ambitious deals by large companies ranging from drugmaker AbbVie to defence contractor United Technologies, to oil group Occidental Petroleum, have driven US activity,” reports a team for the Financial Times. “Buoyant stock markets and cheap financing in the debt markets...

Financial Tail Wags Economic Dog: Asia Sentinel

Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Michael Lim Mah Hui June 3, 2019
The ability to pay for goods and services now dominates economies and the processes of financing have become a larger goal than actual production. “Financialization involves the growth and transformation of finance such that with its hugely expanded size, scope and concentration, finance now overshadows, dominates and destabilizes the productive economy,” explain Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Michael Lim...

The US as Economic Bully? Wall Street Journal

Gerald F. Seib May 14, 2019
The United States is the world’s largest economy in nominal terms and also the largest market. But flexing economic muscle could chase other major economies like China and the European Union to pursue their own partnerships. Under the Trump administration, the United States has applied economic leverage on China, Mexico, Canada, Europe, Iran, North Korea and Venezuela. “The weapon works, at least...

Wall Street Journal: Malaysia Charges Goldman Sachs

Tom Wright December 18, 2018
The Malaysia Development Berhad, known as 1MDB, was set up by Malaysia’s former prime minister in 2009 to improve the country through strategic investing. Reports soon emerged of missing finance payments and funds diverted into personal accounts. “Goldman arranged $6.5 billion in bonds for 1MDB in 2012 and 2013, of which $2.7 billion was allegedly stolen,” reports Tom Wright for the Wall Street...

New York Times: US Africa Strategy Counters China

Mark Landler and Edward Wong December 14, 2018
The United States plans to devote more funding and attention on Africa, according to National Security Adviser John Bolton. He suggests the threat for Africa is not poverty or extremism but expanding Chinese influence. “Bolton conceded that the United States had limited resources to compete with the tens of billions of dollars China is pouring into Africa,” report Mark Landler and Edward Wong for...

Washington Post: Iran Sanctions Choke Medicine Imports

Erin Cunningham December 10, 2018
Economists project the latest round of US sanctions on Iran to have detrimental effects on the nation’s healthcare sector, according to the Washington Post. Sanctions on Iranian financial firms “could endanger the flow of humanitarian goods as foreign banks and outside suppliers abandon business ties with their partners in Iran, analysts and experts warn,” reports Erin Cunningham. Moreover, some...