GLOBAL INVESTMENT STRATEGY, EXECUTION AND RISK MANAGEMENT FOR INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS

Since we sent this over there’s been some talk about a 2024 maturity instead of a 2/3yr so that it’s eligible for QE… (Although QE ops in 2020/21 are relatively small compared to this year.)

 

Proposed auction maturity calendar:

 

2 April 2020 - conventional gilt auction - ukt 1.25% 2041

7 April 2020 - conventional gilt auction - New 1/2026 or new 4/2023

15 April 2020 - conventional gilt auction - UKT 0.875% 2029

21 April 2020 - conventional gilt auction - new 1/26 or 3/23s..

23 April 2020 - conventional gilt auction - ukt 1.75% 2049

28 April 2020 - index-linked gilt auction UKTI 2036 or new 2035s

5 May 2020 - conventional gilt auction -new 2026 or 3/23

14 May 2020 - conventional gilt auction - New 2030

27 May 2020 - conventional gilt auction - new 26 or new 3/23

2 June 2020 - conventional gilt auction - new 26 or new 3/23

9 June 2020 - conventional gilt auction -add to new 2030

16 June 2020 - conventional gilt auction - ukt 1.75% 2057

23 June 2020 - index-linked gilt auction - ukti 2028

25 June 2020 - conventional gilt auction new 1/26 or new 3/23s.

Syndicated issue-
We propose a tap of the Conventional 1.625% 2054s or a new 2062 maturity early May.

Mini Tenders there only seems stress on liquidity in Index Link so a tap in that sector may help liquidity & with the RPI Consultation feel a syndication is best left until the June-September.

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(Bloomberg) -- A dash for cash from corporate treasurers may be about to put additional strain on global funding markets. As uncertainty grows over the ultimate economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak, companies are rushing to borrow to bolster their cash reserves. Commercial paper rates climbed Tuesday with their spread over overnight swaps hitting the widest since ...

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(Bloomberg) -- Chinese and Thai bonds are set to be the most resilient emerging-market securities to the coronavirus market meltdown, according to a Bloomberg analysis of past sell-offs in U.S. shares. The spread of Chinese bonds over Treasuries widened by an average of just 0.4 basis point for every one basis-point move in the U.S. yield during past U.S. stock collapses, ...

(Bloomberg) -- While corporate-debt markets shut down for issuers in the U.S. and Europe for a stretch in February, with investors spooked by the economic hit from the coronavirus, China had its busiest month on record. Optimism about Chinese policy makers providing abundant liquidity and spending has helped support the country’s $4.5 trillion corporate-debt market. (It ...

(Bloomberg) -- JPMorgan Chase & Co. strategists called for the U.S. Treasury to replace older government bonds with current benchmarks to address liquidity strains in the world’s biggest pool of risk-free securities. Treasury market liquidity has dried up at times amid the tumult caused by fears over the economic hit of the coronavirus and the shock emergence of an ...

(Bloomberg) -- Japanese investors went on a record shopping spree in global debt markets last week as the yen strengthened and their hunt for yield intensified. Net buying soared to 4.24 trillion yen ($41 billion), surpassing the previous high of 2.55 trillion yen set in July 2016, according preliminary figures from the nation’s finance ministry going back to 2005. ...

(Bloomberg) -- The yen and Treasuries pared gains after Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda pledged to provide ample liquidity. The haven assets had rallied after U.S. measures to combat the virus outbreak disappointed.

• Leveraged funds covered short positions on dollar-yen after Kuroda said the BOJ would act without hesitation, according to an Asia-based trader
• Investors had earlier questioned if steps unveiled by U.S. President Donald Trump, ...

(Bloomberg) -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will be tested for coronavirus and key economic officials -- including the central bank governor and finance minister -- are going into quarantine as infections rise. The peso and stocks fell. The central bank, finance department, Senate and Asian Development Bank will close from Thursday for disinfecting, they said in ...

(Bloomberg) -- Want the lowdown on what's moving European markets in your inbox every morning? Sign up here. Good morning. Donald Trump is restricting travel from Europe, the virus is officially a pandemic and the European Central Bank is meeting. Here’s what’s moving markets. U.S. President Donald Trump said he’ll restrict travel from Europe for 30 days in an ...

(Bloomberg) -- Welcome to the Brussels Edition, Bloomberg’s daily briefing on what matters most in the heart of the European Union. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every weekday morning. The European Central Bank will be put to the test today, as a global effort to protect businesses and households from the economic repercussions of the coronavirus outbreak gathers momentum ...

(Bloomberg) -- The BOJ may start buying longer corporate bonds to ease market concerns about big companies’ finances, says Toshiyasu Ohashi, chief credit analyst at Daiwa Securities.

• The central bank could begin buying bonds maturing in as long as 5 years, compared with 3 years now, Ohashi writes in the report

• Notes that BOJ has already extended the maturity limit for ...

(Bloomberg) -- Christine Lagarde will bid to prevent the coronavirus outbreak from sparking a repeat of the 2008 financial turmoil when the European Central Bank finally unveils its monetary response to protect the region’s economy. The president effectively -- and exceptionally -- pre-committed action this week when she told European leaders that the region risks an ...

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump’s proposals to cushion the U.S. economy from the coronavirus’s shock are likely to provide some relief but face an uphill battle to stave off the risk of the nation’s first recession in more than a decade. Trump said Wednesday in an address from the Oval Office that he’s seeking cuts to payroll taxes by an unspecified amount, $50 ...

(Bloomberg) -- The U.K.’s largest fiscal giveaway in almost three decades will be rooted in a borrowing binge that takes advantage of rock-bottom interest rates. Rishi Sunak, the country’s finance minister, on Wednesday announced a 30 billion-pound ($39 billion) spending spree that ended years of austerity and laid out the most comprehensive response to the coronavirus ...

(Bloomberg Economics) -- How much of China’s economic activity is back to normal remains a key question. Bloomberg Economics’ monitoring of a new big-data-based indicator -- China Economic Recovery Index (CERI) -- shows that while not yet back to normal, economic activity picked up strongly in March. We expect this pace to accelerate after President Xi’s visit to Wuhan on March 10, which signaled the virus was well ...

(Bloomberg) -- Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said he discussed recent market volatility with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a meeting following further sharp falls in stocks and gains in the yen ahead of a central bank policy meeting next week. “We continue to monitor the situation closely and won’t hesitate to take appropriate measures as necessary,” Kuroda told ...

(Bloomberg) -- Christine Lagarde has her work cut out to persuade bond investors that the European Central Bank can help stave off the kind of recession she’s warned them about. Traders in money markets are expecting the European Central Bank to cut interest rates by 10 basis points. Policy makers will struggle to do much more given that the deposit rate is already at ...

(Bloomberg) -- European Central Bank to announce its latest interest rate decision. RWE due to report results. Euro area industrial production data coming up. WHAT TO WATCH:

• Top News:

• U.S. Warns on Travel Abroad; Cases Reach 125,000: Virus Update
• $153 Billion and Counting: Europe Adds to Global Virus Aid Tally
• A Berlin Biotech Company Got a Head Start on Coronavirus Tests ...

Mark Cranfield  Markets Live Strategist, Singapore

(Bloomberg) -- For weeks, investors have been pleading for governments to shore up a global economy ravaged by the coronavirus. But after the biggest wave of stimulus announcements since the outbreak began, fear is mounting that the efforts might not provide the salvation markets are looking for. Emergency measures in the U.K., Italy and Australia, along with a commitment from ...

(Bloomberg) -- The Indian rupee slid to near a record low and equities headed for a bear market as continued worries over the economic impact from the coronavirus extended a rout in risk assets globally. The rupee weakened as much as 1% to 74.3387 per dollar on Thursday to near its record low of 74.4825, a level last seen in October 2018. All 30 stocks in the S&P BSE ...

(Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve could revive some 2008 crisis tools to help small businesses and consumers facing cash flow disruptions, in the event interest-rate cuts and bond-buying programs fail to buttress the U.S. economy, Pacific Investment Management Co. said. “Monetary policy, which works through long and variable lags, cannot stop the spread of the virus, nor ...

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. equity futures and Asian stocks retreated with Treasury yields as investors awaited details from the Trump administration on planned stimulus measures to counter the coronavirus impact. S&P 500 futures fell as much as 3%, following a strong rebound on Wall Street after Monday’s plunge. President Donald Trump didn’t appear at a briefing on the ...

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. coronavirus cases climbed past 1,000, according to a Johns Hopkins tally that includes cruise ships, as a top health official said some parts of the country are now beyond containment efforts. Regions from Italy to New York amped up containment efforts as the global death toll rose above 4,000. Infections in Italy topped 10,000 as the country attempted a ...

(Bloomberg) -- Joe Biden has opened an all-but-insurmountable lead over Bernie Sanders in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, as the party’s voters increasingly turn to him as the candidate they believe is best equipped to take on President Donald Trump in November. The former vice president swept to convincing victories in Missouri, Mississippi, Idaho and, ...

(Bloomberg) -- President Xi Jinping has re-engineered China’s foreign policy since taking power, imploring diplomats to expand the nation’s global reach with new international organizations and a worldwide infrastructure program involving hundreds of billions of dollars. But since the new coronavirus has ravaged China, prompting nations to shun Chinese visitors and reassess ...

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(Bloomberg) -- The impact of the coronavirus outbreak on Wall Street may worsen trading conditions for one of the world’s most liquid and important assets: U.S. Treasuries. So say strategists at JPMorgan Chase & Co., who warn that overwhelmed dealer-banks in an extreme scenario could be flooded with an extra $200 billion worth of U.S. government debt as market ...

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(Bloomberg) -- Treasuries are cheap even after a record-setting rally as the spreading coronavirus will push the world into recession, according to Japan investment giant Asset Management One Co. Global growth won’t recover even if the disease is contained, as it arrived when economies had peaked, said Akira Takei, a global fixed-income money manager at the $450 billion ...

(Bloomberg) -- It won’t have gone unnoticed that at the apex of the record global bond rally Monday, the world’s stock of negative-yielding debt failed to match last year’s $17 trillion peak. Blame it on the Japanese and Italian debt markets. Monday’s bond frenzy saw the yield on the Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate slump to a record 0.87%, with the entire U.S. Treasury ...

(Bloomberg) -- China’s largest private telecommunications services provider saw a surge in both its share and bond prices Wednesday after revealing a funding plan to pare debt. Dr. Peng Telecom & Media Group Co.’s stock jumped 5.8% toward its highest level since May, propelling its rally from a February low to 85%. Its dollar bond due June posted its steepest gain in ...

(Bloomberg) -- Treasuries surged on Wednesday, showing that large swings may be the new normal. This sets up the 10-year Treasury for a fifth consecutive session moving more than 10 basis points, which signals that markets have settled into a high-volatility regime. The price changes are often violent and exacerbated by poor liquidity which makes knowing where the price ...

(Bloomberg) -- The yen’s elevated volatility is spurring talk of intervention. But the Bank of Japan may be powerless to halt the currency’s rise. Swings in the yen climbed to an 11-year high this week, suggesting that policy makers could have stepped in as the currency surged to the strongest since October 2016. The rapid advance may have unsettled Japanese authorities but ...

(Bloomberg) -- Taiwan’s central bank disclosed its outstanding position in foreign-exchange swap trading, a rare move aimed at answering calls for improved transparency. The bank’s outstanding position in foreign-exchange swap trading was $99.1 billion at the end of February, the central bank’s Governor Yang Chin-long wrote in a report prepared for legislators. The central ...

(Bloomberg) -- Good morning. Details of what kind of stimulus will come from governments to deal with the virus outbreak remains the order of the day, along with ongoing restrictions to contain the disease’s spread and the crude oil price war. Here’s what’s moving markets. European governments continue to take extreme measures to limit the spread of ...

(Bloomberg) -- The U.K. government is set to ramp up borrowing Wednesday, confronting the worst economic backdrop since the financial crash as the coronavirus continues its spread unchecked. The outbreak is overshadowing what was meant to be Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s landmark moment: A plan to pour funds into infrastructure and revive “left-behind” regions that handed ...

(Bloomberg) -- A Europe-wide push for people to self isolate to prevent the spread of the coronavirus could prove challenging for the majority of the continent’s population who typically don’t work from home. Six out of 10 individuals in the European Union hadn’t worked from their home in 2018, according to figures compiled by the ...

(Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is preparing to increase Italy’s fiscal stimulus program for the fourth time in a month, officials said, after the European Union agreed to stretch its budget rules to the limit to help member states fight the coronavirus. While Finance Ministry officials in Rome were working out how to double their existing package to as much as ...

(Bloomberg) -- After embarking on an oil price war that shook global markets, Russia has been boasting that it can cope with oil as low as $25 a barrel for the next decade. Economists aren’t so sure. Russia has spent the past five years tightening its budget and building up more than $550 billion in reserves -- leaving it in a stronger position than oil-market rival Saudi ...

(Bloomberg Intelligence) -- The coronavirus, an oil price war, and a period of extreme financial market volatility have turned expectations for global growth on their head. Bloomberg Economics' base case: China gets quickly back to work, the U.S. dodges a downturn, and the world economy suffers a short, severe blow in the first half, before getting back on its feet in the second. Risks to that scenario are elevated - a global ...

(Bloomberg Economics) -- Lots of firms in the euro area are already feeling the pinch from the spread of the coronavirus, but the smaller ones may need the most support. They tend to operate in extremely competitive areas of the economy with thin profit margins and lack cash buffers. To play its part, the European Central Bank will probably throw them a lifeline this week, helping to avoid the widespread bankruptcies and ...

(Bloomberg) -- Welcome to the Brussels Edition, Bloomberg’s daily briefing on what matters most in the heart of the European Union. Social gatherings are being banned, flights canceled, borders re-erected, and yet the death toll keeps rising. As Europe goes into gradual shutdown, its leaders have vowed to bend EU budget rules and legal restrictions on direct aid to companies ...

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- The stakes couldn’t be higher for Europe. With the U.S. Federal Reserve aggressively cutting interest rates to buoy the U.S. economy in the face of the Covid-19 crisis, a “too little, too late” policy on the part of the European Central Bank risks sending the euro soaring to uncompetitive levels and Europe into recession. European policymakers should keep in mind that in March 2015, it was the soaring euro that ...

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Having flown largely below the radar of an increasingly polarized discussion on how to respond to the coronavirus, the European Central Bank will be on center stage when its governing council meets Thursday in Frankfurt. The meeting comes at a time when the economic and financial damage is severely aggravating what already were complicated policy challenges due to the Eurozone’s secularly weak ...

(Bloomberg) -- Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte appealed to the European Central Bank to do “whatever it takes” to defend the euro-area economy against the coronavirus as the number of cases in his country topped 10,000. In a video conference with EU leaders, the premier urged his counterparts to show the same spirit of solidarity that saw them through the debt crisis ...

(Bloomberg) -- Stocks showed signs of stabilization with a rebound in Asian trading Tuesday after the deepest equity rout since the global financial crisis. Futures on the S&P 500 Index gained more than 3% after the gauge’s near 8% plunge Monday, and benchmarks rose in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Japan closed higher after sliding 4% at one point. Shares in Sydney came back ...

(Bloomberg) -- Gold investors have their eyes on the world’s leading central banks on expectations that a further round of easing to combat the fall-out from the coronavirus crisis will help the traditional haven extend a rally that’s seen prices hit the highest level since 2012. Bullion has surged as the health crisis upended markets and triggered concerns of a potential ...

(Bloomberg) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the coronavirus epicenter of Wuhan for the first time since the disease emerged, a trip intended to project confidence that his government has managed to stem its spread domestically. Xi arrived Tuesday morning in the capital of Hubei province, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Xi will meet with medical workers, ...

(Bloomberg) -- Italy will become the first country in the world to attempt a nationwide lockdown to try and stop the spread of the highly-infectious coronavirus across what is Europe’s fourth-biggest economy. The death toll from the virus, which is on the cusp of turning into a pandemic, is edging toward 500. Its leader has called it the country’s “darkest hour,” inviting ...

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump promised “very dramatic” actions to support the U.S. economy as the World Health Organization said the threat of a pandemic is “very real.” Infections climbed across Europe, prompting a nationwide lockdown across Italy while Air France-KLM said it will cancel 3,600 flights. Signs of improvement emerged in Asia, as China announced only ...

(Bloomberg) -- The weeks-long ordeal of more than 1,000 Taiwanese stuck at the center of China’s coronavirus outbreak shows how the global crisis has evolved into another battleground between Beijing and Taipei. Taiwan on Tuesday was set to airlift almost 500 of its residents from Wuhan, the original epicenter of an outbreak that has since spread across the globe and shaken ...

(Bloomberg) -- Japan’s cabinet approved a bill that would enable Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to declare an emergency over the new coronavirus if needed, as he warned of the need to prepare for the worst-case scenario. The measure could be submitted to parliament Tuesday and passed by the end of the week, after Abe gained the endorsement of the main opposition Constitutional ...

(Bloomberg) -- Treasuries and the yen led a sell-offs in haven assets on bets that governments worldwide will introduce fiscal measures to deal with the economic fallout from the coronavirus. The yen tumbled by the most since 2014, while Treasury 10-year yields saw their biggest one-day jump in more than three years. Bonds from Japan to Australia were also sold. ...

(Bloomberg) -- The yen dropped by more than 2% against the dollar and Treasuries were sold as expectations grow that governments will introduce stimulus to combat the coronavirus outbreak.

• Japan’s currency fell from a 2016 high reached on Monday, while Treasuries lead a global bond sell-off
• U.S. President Donald Trump flagged the possibility of a payroll tax cut on Monday, ...

(Bloomberg) -- From Indian tycoon Anil Agarwal’s metals and mining company to American shale explorers, the historic crash in oil prices has left energy companies that loaded up on debt vulnerable. With a global recession looking increasingly likely, commodities firms whose finances were already crumbling due to the outbreak of the coronavirus are suddenly on even shakier ...

(Bloomberg) -- The last great refuge for giant Asian pools of savings -- U.S. bond yields -- is dramatically collapsing, posing a major challenge to investment strategies among pension funds and insurance firms in Japan and Taiwan. The cratering in benchmark Treasury yields since late January, sparked by fears over the coronavirus and now the bear market in oil, took ...

(Bloomberg) -- Corporate bonds got some relief in Asia after the U.S. announced planned economic relief to help limit turmoil sparked by the rapid spread of the coronavirus and a collapse in oil prices. Borrowing costs in Asian debt markets eased Tuesday, with spreads on top-rated dollar bonds from companies in the region indicated 5 to 10 basis points tighter, traders ...

(Bloomberg) -- Foresight Energy LP filed for bankruptcy protection after it was unable to turn a profit on coal mining anymore as power generators switched to cleaner and cheaper fuels. The company, founded by the late billionaire Christopher Cline, is among a wave of U.S. miners to file for Chapter 11 in recent years, including Murray Energy Corp., which owns a controlling ...

(Bloomberg) -- Sharp market falls pushed the Bank of Japan toward unrealized losses on its holdings of exchange-traded funds, a potential development that could make officials at the central bank more reluctant to commit to higher levels of ETF buying. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell again on Tuesday morning, trading as low as 18,891.77 following a rout in ...

(Bloomberg) -- The Bank of Russia said it would begin selling foreign currency on Tuesday ahead of schedule after the rout in oil prices made the ruble the worst-performing currency in the world. The move is aimed at “increasing the predictability of the actions of the monetary authorities and reducing volatility on financial markets amid significant changes in the world ...

(Bloomberg) -- Britain may once again become a model for fighting an economic slump more than a decade after setting the tone in the financial crisis. The government is due to unveil its budget on Wednesday, a major fiscal set piece that’s now likely to unleash some short-term stimulus to combat the coronavirus. With the Treasury and central bank stressing they are working ...

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump said Monday he will seek a payroll tax cut and “very substantial relief” for industries that have been hit by the virus, reversing course on the need for economic stimulus hours after markets posted their worst losses in more than a decade. Trump, speaking at a White House news conference, said that he plans to announce “very dramatic” ...

(Bloomberg) -- Anyone expecting Germany to ride to the rescue of Europe’s economy is in for a wait. Increasing global pressure and a tally of 1,000 coronavirus cases this weekend still weren’t enough to convince the politicians governing the region’s most fiscally potent country to unleash a major stimulus. That reticence is likely to endure as long as they deem the ...

(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has just started an oil-price war. Winning it will come at a cost he might not be ready to pay for long. If oil prices fail to recover and stay at less than half the level Saudi Arabia needs to balance its budget, the economy -- and the crown prince’s big ambitions to reform it -- may be among the biggest ...

(Bloomberg) -- China’s inflation slowed as the coronavirus hammers demand, with a measure of price gains that strips out food and energy prices slumping to the weakest in a decade. Core consumer prices rose 1% in February from a year ago, the slowest pace since June 2010, and factory prices returned to deflation, with the producer price index registering a 0.4% decline on ...

(Bloomberg) -- Economists are increasingly counting on the European Central Bank to cut interest rates on Thursday, with Deutsche Bank AG and JPMorgan Chase & Co. joining colleagues at HSBC Holdings Plc and Oxford Economics in predicting reductions. ECB President Christine Lagarde “will be aware that her first big policy decision will shape perceptions of her approach, ...

(Bloomberg) -- The European Central Bank said that a member of its staff had been diagnosed with the coronavirus and was receiving the appropriate medical care. The ECB said in a statement on Monday that around 100 colleagues who had worked in proximity with the member of staff will work from home temporarily and it was undertaking a deep clean of potentially affected ...

(Bloomberg) -- Commodities face another epic week of extreme price moves and heightened volatility. The principal focus will be on the upheaval in the global oil market after the failure of OPEC+ talks last week triggered an all-out price war between top suppliers. That rift was driven by an inability to agree on how best to respond to the challenges thrown up by the coronavirus crisis. ...

(Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Bank now sees 10bps cut in deposit rate on March 12, from April previously, and says “the probability of the ECB announcing a package of policies has gone up,” economists Mark Wall and Marc de-Muzion write in note

• “We continue to expect a new targeted liquidity facility (e.g., a short-term LTRO aiming to boost SME lending in affected regions),” they ...

(Bloomberg) -- ABN Amro forecasts ECB will cut its deposit rate by 10 basis points, increase net asset purchases to 40 billion euros, and loosen conditions on its TLTRO program, economists Bill Diviney, Nick Kounis and Aline Schuiling say in note.

• “Number of possibilities” on TLTROs include increase in maturity by 1-2 years and amounts that banks can borrow; ECB could also ...

(Bloomberg) -- The biggest one-day correction in emerging-market dollar bonds since the 2008 global financial crisis has increased their allure versus local-currency debt for some of the world’s biggest fund managers. PineBridge Investment Investments LP, BNP Paribas Asset Management and Union Investment Privatfonds Gmbh say the spread for emerging-market dollar bonds is ...

(Bloomberg) -- Panic reigned in currency markets as orders from traders and algorithmic machines snowballed to spur some of the biggest moves since the global financial crisis. As markets reopened after a weekend filled with crisis headlines, the yen soared to approach the key 100 level against the greenback. Risk and commodity currencies from Australia to Norway and Mexico ...

(Bloomberg) -- The recent buoyancy in the world’s second-largest stock market in China was under threat Monday after oil plunged and U.S. index futures tumbled. A gauge of stocks in Shanghai and Shenzhen fell 2.6% in afternoon trading, while selling by foreigners was set to notch a record. An index of Chinese shares traded in Hong Kong dropped as much as 4.6%, which would ...

(Bloomberg) -- The opening battle of the global oil price war got under way in Asia as some of the world’s biggest buyers said they’d try to buy more Saudi crude than planned in April after the exporter offered them unprecedented discounts. Even as they grapple with a collapse in fuel demand because of the coronavirus, at least six refiners from China to Singapore said ...

(Bloomberg) -- Global fatalities from the coronavirus reached 3,800 as infections spread to about half of the world’s countries. The Trump administration is drafting measures to blunt the economic fallout and help slow the disease’s spread in the U.S., according to people familiar with the matter. Countries from Germany to New Zealand also announced financial plans to ...

(Bloomberg) -- North Korea fired what appeared to be three short-range ballistic missiles off its eastern coast, raising regional security concerns as world leaders battle the spread of the coronavirus. The projectiles were fired in quick succession Monday from a coastal area near Sondok, flying about 200 kilometers (125 miles) and reaching an altitude of about 50 ...

(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s dramatic one-two punch against perceived rivals at home and abroad is sending shock waves through the royal family, fueling turmoil in global markets and underscoring the de-facto ruler’s own concerns about his grip on the oil-rich kingdom. On Friday, Saudi authorities rounded up the brother and a nephew of Prince Mohammed’s ...

(Bloomberg) -- On a lazy Saturday afternoon, British prime minister Boris Johnson went to watch the rugby in the spring sunshine with his fiancee. The couple -- who are expecting their first baby -- beamed at each other and shook hands with the crowd as England beat Wales. Their public display was intended to show life carrying on as normal -- but there is nothing normal ...

(Bloomberg) -- The coronavirus outbreak in South Korea is showing signs of slowing as the rate of new daily infections falls and health authorities almost finished testing members of a religious sect at the center of the epidemic, the country’s health minister said. With the number of new cases slowing to 367 from 483 the day before, Health Minister Park Neung-hoo said late ...

(Bloomberg) -- Treasury yields tumbled, with the entire curve trading below 1% for the first time in history. Markets are now pricing for the Federal Reserve to cut policy rates to 0% in the coming months. Panic ensued Monday, with the latest leg of the blistering bond rally fueled by an all-out price war among the world’s largest crude producers. Risk assets plunged with ...

(Bloomberg) -- An epic plunge in crude-oil prices poses another major blow to global credit markets, which have already seen doors closing to corporate-debt issuers as the coronavirus outbreak spreads. Asian investment-grade dollar bond spreads blew out the most in at least six years Monday. The cost to insure corporate notes against default surged, with the Australia ...

(Bloomberg) -- Lebanon is about to enter the crucial first phase of talks aimed at renegotiating its $30 billion in Eurobonds after saying at the weekend it won’t pay dollar debt coming due on Monday. The government’s declaration on Saturday that it won’t repay the $1.2 billion Eurobond puts the country on course for the first default in its history as it copes with ...

(Bloomberg) -- Purchases of foreign bonds by Japanese banks’ trust accounts have hit back-to-back records, spurring speculation the Government Pension Investment Fund is boosting buying as part of a planned allocation shift. Trust accounts, which typically handle investments for pension funds, took in 2.22 trillion yen ($21.6 billion) worth of overseas debt in February, ...

(Bloomberg) -- Gold could rally toward $1,800 an ounce within weeks, according to one of the world’s largest wealth managers, which flagged the risk that plunging oil will reinforce pressures on top central banks to cut rates. With back-to-back hits from the virus-driven slowdown and tanking crude, all eyes are on what the European Central Bank and Federal Reserve will do ...

(Bloomberg) -- Commodities face another epic week of extreme price moves and heightened volatility. The principal focus will be on the upheaval in the global oil market after the failure of OPEC+ talks last week triggered an all-out price war between top suppliers. That rift was driven by an inability to agree on how best to respond to the challenges thrown up by the coronavirus crisis. ...

(Bloomberg) -- Indonesia’s central bank is stepping up efforts to shield the economy after a plunge in oil prices sent a new shock through markets already pressured by the global coronavirus outbreak. “Our strong commitment is to stabilize the market,” Bank Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo said by text message Monday. The central bank was “intensifying” its intervention in ...

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Since taking over as the euro zone’s main banking supervisor, the European Central Bank has spearheaded efforts to reduce the amount of bad loans that had cumulated throughout the great recession and the euro zone sovereign debt crisis. This pile has fallen from 6.8% of total loans at the peak in the December 2015 to 2.9% in September 2019. But critics, including the Bank of Italy, have insisted that the ECB has been blind to ...

(Bloomberg) -- Another shockwave is about to rip through a world economy already reeling from the coronavirus. Oil prices plunged after the dramatic breakdown of talks between OPEC and Russia on how to manage the world’s oil supply. Saudi Arabia responded with a price war and benchmark Brent crude tumbled by almost a third to $31 a barrel on Monday morning. Goldman Sachs ...

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. is willing to show China some flexibility on its pledges to boost American imports as long as Beijing ensures exports don’t surge when production returns to full strength and widen the trade imbalance between the world’s two largest economies, people familiar with the discussions said. Given Beijing’s focus on containing the coronavirus outbreak and the country’s lagging demand ...

(Bloomberg) -- Japan’s biggest contraction in more than five years adds to escalating concerns among policy makers about the length of a likely recession in the world’s third-largest economy as the impact of the coronavirus and a plunge in oil prices causes markets to slide and the yen to gain. Oil Crash Sends New Shock Through World Crippled by Virus ...

(Bloomberg) -- The relentless march of the yen toward the psychologically important 100 level against the dollar is heaping pressure on the Bank of Japan to cut interest rates. Analysts think Japanese authorities won’t sit idly by after the dollar-yen pair plunged almost 4% Monday to 101.57 -- its lowest since 2016 -- as an oil price crash upended currency and bond markets ...

(Bloomberg) -- Japanese merchants said they’re facing the toughest economic environment since the global financial crisis as the country braces for the full impact of the spreading coronavirus. Store managers, barbers, taxi drivers and others who deal directly with Japanese consumers haven’t been this pessimistic about their prospects since 2009, according to a Cabinet ...

(Bloomberg) -- The first crisis of European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde’s four-month tenure will force her to decide this week whether to fire one of the few monetary-policy bullets she has left. Days after the Federal Reserve slashed interest rates, Lagarde and fellow policy makers must judge if the economic effect of the coronavirus merits cutting the euro ...

(Bloomberg) -- Combination of a virus-driven slowdown and an oil-price war may force the European Central Bank to enact aggressive easing measures to prop up growth, according to JPMorgan Asset Management.

• “Given that the ECB is already running a negative interest-rate policy, it may need to push more aggressively on quantitative easing,” Tai Hui, chief market strategist ...

(Bloomberg) -- The rand and Mexican peso in freefall. Stocks on course for their biggest two-day slide in almost five years. A blow-out in sovereign bond yields. There were few corners of the emerging-market universe left unscathed Monday as a 30% collapse in oil prices reverberated through the world’s higher-risk assets. The trigger was Friday’s failed OPEC+ talks in ...