Predictions 2014: Reversals and Revivals
By Breakingviews columnists
The authors are Reuters Breakingviews columnists. The opinions expressed are their own.
Breakingviews’ annual compendium of financial foresight sets the agenda for the next 12 months. From Wall Street to the Great Wall, who has most potential to surprise, where are markets heading, and which are the companies to watch? Plus, we predict the winner of soccer’s World Cup.
BoE’s small-firm stimulus is blueprint for Draghi
By Neil Unmack
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
The euro zone is no longer collapsing, but credit is. The European Central Bank is reportedly considering giving banks cheap loans to stimulate lending. The Bank of England’s so-called Funding for Lending scheme shows that’s tricky, but the euro zone shouldn’t hold back.
A trio of finance lessons from Bacon’s triptych
By Richard Beales and Rob Cox
The authors are Reuters Breakingviews columnists. The opinions expressed are their own.
The record-busting $142 million sale by Christie’s of Francis Bacon’s triptych of Lucian Freud on Tuesday – not to mention the unprecedented New York auction total of almost $700 million – shows a contemporary art market in heady territory. It’s possible, if a tad tenuous, to extract a matching trio of lessons for the broader world of finance.
China’s banks languish in valuation twilight zone
By John Foley
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
What if investors valued China’s big lenders the same way they do global banks? By one measure, lenders like ICBC and Bank of China would be worth twice what they are today. Instead, the country’s banks languish in a valuation twilight zone. It’s a sign of the deep scepticism facing China’s financial sector.
When will US stop acting like a fat spoiled brat?
By Rob Cox
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
Imagine future historians looking back at the 113th Congress of the United States. They will not judge it kindly. One day when the dollar is no longer the currency of choice for financial transactions around the world, the fictional chroniclers will ask, perhaps as Romans did in the fifth century: how did a nation that had so much going for it manage to squander everything?
Debt deal may encourage Asia’s dollar craving
By Andy Mukherjee
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
Washington’s last-minute deal on raising the U.S. government’s debt ceiling made grim viewing for Asian central banks. It’s the second time in two years they have faced anguish over the safety of their enormous U.S. government bond holdings. But even with an agreement to raise the ceiling until Feb. 7, and default averted, the harrowing experience is unlikely to turn America’s largest creditor group into a bunch of angry sellers. They may in fact do the opposite, and buy more.
Guest column: Why China’s bad banks are a bad idea
By Joe Zhang
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews guest columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
At the end of the 1990s, China’s banks faced a rising tide of bad debts, and Beijing came to the rescue. Financial insiders still see that move as necessary, wise and courageous. On the contrary, bailing out the banks was a bad idea. It would be a mistake to repeat the trick.
Dear Mr President: Dodges for the U.S. debt ceiling
By Swaha Pattanaik
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.
With almost no official data to analyse, economists who follow the United States have little to discuss nowadays. Many of them are keeping busy thinking about how the U.S. government could delay default if lawmakers refuse to raise the nation’s maximum borrowing limit. Breakingviews imagines a letter from one of them to President Barack Obama.
For China, U.S. debt ceiling is a paper tiger
By John Foley
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
For China, the U.S. debt ceiling is what Mao Zedong might have called a paper tiger: terrible to behold, but in reality not so scary. Provided Washington doesn’t actually default on Oct. 17, when the Treasury has warned it could run out of cash unless allowed to borrow more, Chinese concern looks needless, and even self-serving.
China’s financial paradox: rescue or reform?
By Peter Thal Larsen
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
China’s financial system is a paradox. Reform demands that the authorities relax their grip on banks and capital flows. But if they do, it could trigger the debt crisis the country has so far avoided.
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Breakingviews: GoPro’s identity crisisMay 30 - Rob Cox and Robert Cyran discuss how the hot camera company is trying to define itself as a media and lifestyle brand rather than a hardware maker as it plans for a public stock offering.Video
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Predictions 2014: Reversals and Revivals
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