15 Mins Ago
China sees argument for lowering interest rates, Deloitte economist says
China’s latest industrial profit plunge provide an argument for its central bank to lower interest rates, Deloitte China told CNBC.
“There’s no inflation in China, therefore you need a looser monetary policy,” Deloitte China’s chief economist Sitao Xu told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Monday.
He pointed to the People’s Bank of China’s daily USD/CNY reference rate, or the midpoint fix, as functioning similarly to a rate cut.
“If you look at the recent change on the exchange rate, the impact is the same as the lowering interest rate,” he told CNBC.
The PBOC on Monday set its yuan fixing at 7.0575 compared to the previous session’s 7.0760 against the U.S. dollar.
— Jihye Lee
An Hour Ago
CNBC Pro: How much of A.I. is just hype? A bull and a bear share their tips on how to invest
Artificial intelligence has taken the investing world by storm since early this year — thanks largely to the emergence of ChatGPT, which triggered a wave of buying into AI-related stocks.
Is it here to stay or just hype?
A bull and a bear faced off on CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia,” telling investors how they can navigate the dilemma, as well as what stocks to play the trend.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Weizhen Tan
An Hour Ago
CNBC Pro: TSMC or Samsung? One chipmaker is the better play on A.I., geopolitics and earnings, analyst says
2 Hours Ago
Singapore’s Temasek cuts pay for senior management and investor team involved in FTX
Singapore state-owned investor Temasek cut the compensation of senior management and its investment team responsible for the recommendation to invest in failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
“Although there was no misconduct by the investment team in reaching their investment recommendation, the investment team and senior management, who are ultimately responsible for investment decisions made, took collective accountability and had their compensation reduced,” Chairman Lim Boon Heng said in a statement.
The move from Temasek comes after an internal review was launched to look into its investment into FTX, which resulted in a write-down of $275 million.
Lim added that there was fraudulent conduct by FTX “intentionally hidden from investors, including Temasek.” The statement did not specify how many staff were affected, nor the severity of the pay cuts.
— Lim Hui Jie
Fri, May 26 2023 11:38 AM EDT
Fed’s Loretta Mester expects interest rates will have to rise
Cleveland Federal Reserve President Loretta Mester told CNBC on Friday that she expects more interest rate increases will be needed as inflation stays elevated.
“When I look at the data and I look at what’s happening with the inflation numbers, I do think we’re going to have to tighten a bit more,” Mester said on “Squawk on the Street.” “We’ve made progress. Now it’s this calibration exercise, and that’s what’s difficult.”
Mester is a nonvoting member this year on the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee.
—Jeff Cox
Fri, May 26 2023 8:39 AM EDT
Preferred Fed inflation gauge rises more than expected
The core personal consumption expenditures index, the Fed’s preferred gauge of inflation, rose 0.4% in April. That’s more than economists polled by Dow Jones expected. Year over year, core PCE rose 4.7%, also more than expected.
— Fred Imbert
Fri, May 26 2023 9:19 AM EDT
Markets now expecting Fed rate hike in June
Markets raised their bets for a June rate hike from the Federal Reserve following hotter-than-expected inflation data Friday morning.
Odds for a quarter percentage point increase jumped to 56%, according to CME Group data. That followed a report showing that personal consumption expenditures prices rose 0.4% in April and 4.7% from a year ago.
The chances of an increase were just 17% a week ago. The probability of a hike by no later than July rose to 75%.
—Jeff Cox
Fri, May 26 2023 11:13 AM EDT
Consumer sentiment slightly beats expectations
The final reading on May consumer sentiment was slightly above expectations. The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index came in at 59.2, while economists polled by Dow Jones had forecast a reading of 57.7.
To be sure, that level is well below April’s 63.5.
“Consumer sentiment slid 7% amid worries about the path of the economy, erasing nearly half of the gains achieved after the all-time historic low from last June. This decline mirrors the 2011 debt ceiling crisis, during which sentiment also plunged,” Surveys of Consumers director Joanne Hsu wrote.
— Fred Imbert
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