Citigroup announced that the company will cut down on block trading businesses as one of the bank's strategy to protect the firm from any losses, especially with current market uncertainty. The bank also plans to avoid its client from big losses as the trading could give a high return but at the same time, the client could risk losing more than they invested when the market turns south.
Investors
Malaysia Property Stocks traded at 32 percent discount
Malaysia's Eastspring Investments Bhd. was reported to have been buying property related stocks listed in the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange when the stocks plunged to its lowest recently. According to the valuation, the company bought the stock at the price of 32 percent discounted rate.
Quindell spends £11M bid to bolster its own share price
The LSE-listed insurance claims processor Quindell Plc is investing heavily to jack up its own share price. It's estimated that the company has pumped in £11million so far to push up the share price on London Stock Exchange (LSE).
Alibaba offers to privatized another Chinese company listed on the NYSE
The Chinese biggest e-commerce company, Alibaba announced that it will buy the remaining 82 percent of China's YouTube-like service provider, Youku Tudou. According to a source, the company is offering Youku Tudou $26.60 per share totalling up to $3.6 billion.
Bank of America posts profit for 4 quarters in a row
Distancing from the impact of financial crisis, Bank of America (BoA) has posted positive numbers for the third quarter making its fourth consecutive quarter with profits. The Charlotte-based bank posted a net profit of $4.07bn for the third quarter. Despite its pedestrian performance in the third quarter ending September 2015, the bank has been able to post profits for the last four quarters. This is considered to be encouraging for the shareholders of $2.2trillion bank. The North America's second largest bank by assets suffered a drop of 2.5 percent in revenues owing lower interest rates. This resulted in 6.9 percent drop in net interest income.
Latest News
China Resources SZITIC Trust Co Ltd, a unit of China Resources Corp, is planning to divest minority stake in Wal-Mart Stores Inc. The state-backed China Resources Trust has a minority stake in the US retailer's operations in China. Wal-Mart Stores Inc has 21 Wal-Mart outlets in China. China Resources has listed its stake for sale at Yuan3.3billion ($525million). It's estimated that China Resources has 35 percent stake in the Wal-Mart outlets in China. Wal-Mart believes the transfer of minority stake doesn't impact the operations in China.
The major banks from the US have exposure to the debt of ailing commodity giant Glencore Plc. Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley have reportedly lent $350million apiece to Glencore. North American banks contributed 20percent of the total loan exposure of Glencore. The ongoing slump in commodities market adversely impacted the Swiss-based Glencore's performance. This indicates potential alarming situation for the American banks if embattled Glencore slips into a liquidity crisis. Glencore is engaged in commodity trading and mining activities.
Taking cues from the overnight gains on Wall Street, Asian markets moved upwards marginally on Thursday. The reopening of trading in Chinese markets after a long-week holiday streak also infused fresh interest into the market.
Tracking to the steep drop of over 25 percent in competitor Nu Skin shares, Nutrition company Herbalife Ltd's stock also plunged over seven percent.
With discouraging response towards the new Galaxy smartphone, Samsubg's share price continued to move down in the market. Samsung's stock was trading 13 percent lower this year so far. Already Samsung's market capitalization dropped by $25 billion following lukewarm sales of S6 and Note 5 devices.
Bill Gross, a bond manager, forecasts further fall of 10 percent in many asset classes, while advising investors that cash is the best bet until a clear picture about the next direction of the market emerges.
Is the $200 price target for Apple's stock achievable considering the estimated sales realization from iPhone 6 and Apple Watch? Some analysts say yes and some say it's overpricing from the current price of $110. Overdependence on price-earnings (PE) multiples and surplus cash are being added to $200 target.
The US stocks were beaten down adversely during the third quarter ended September as Wall Street recorded bleak performance in any quarter ever since 2011. Barring limited bargain buying, there was no much buying support in the market.
The lack of clarity about the US data and timing of interest rate hike have put further pressure on Asian stock markets. Several Asian stocks slipped into pressure on Friday trading ahead of the US data jobs report. Japan's Nikkei fell 1.7 percent for the week. The long holiday stretch for Chinese markets also resulted in sluggishness in the Asian market.
