Andrew Bailey selected to replace Mark Carney as governor of the Bank of England - CNBC

Andrew Bailey, the current head of the U.K.'s financial watchdog, has been named as the next governor of the Bank of England.

The news, first reported by the Financial Times late Thursday, was confirmed by the U.K.'s Finance Minister Sajid Javid on Friday morning.

"When we launched this process, we said we were looking for a leader of international standing with expertise across monetary, economic and regulatory matters. In Andrew Bailey that is who we have appointed," Javid said at a press conference Friday.

Bailey, 60, is the chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which regulates the financial services industry in the country. Prior to joining the FCA in 2016, Bailey was the chief executive for the Prudential Regulatory Authority — another part of the U.K.'s central bank.

Bailey joined the Bank of England in 1985 and has worked in a number of areas, including as the executive director for banking services. Bailey is set to take over from Mark Carney on March 16, becoming the 121st governor of the Bank. He will be serving a full eight-year term.

Carney, who joined in 2013 and had to deal with the uncertainty and market turmoil caused by the 2016 Brexit referendum, was set to step down on January 31. However, Javid confirmed that Carney has agreed to stay in the post until March 15 for an orderly transition.

Javid thanked Carney for his work and contribution to the U.K. economy. "The intellect, rigor and leadership he brought to the role during a critical time was a significant contribution to the U.K. economy moving to recovery and growth," he told reporters.

Sterling is down more than 14% against the dollar since Carney took office in July 1, 2013.

"Mark Carney has overseen one of the most tumultuous periods in the U.K.'s political and economic history," Phil Smeaton, chief investment officer at Sanlam U.K., said in a note on Friday.

"Now however, Boris' (Johnson) newly revitalised government is set to being certainty to the U.K., boost fiscal spending on infrastructure and core public services, and allow business to unleash its pent up investment demand. Such a backdrop is a stark difference to the quagmire that Carney was forced to slog through, and though tackling the economic challenges of a departure from the EU is still the top priority for Andrew Bailey, he will also need to balance the inflationary risks against subdued global growth."

Andrew Bailey, chief executive officer of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Jason Alden | Bloomberg via Getty Images

Bank of England's security breach

More recently, the Bank of England has been criticized after it admitted that an audio feed of sensitive information had been leaked to high-speed traders.

On Thursday, following a report in The Times newspaper, the Bank said that a third-party supplier had "misused" the audio feed to give hedge funds early access to information. According to The Times, the supplier had sent the audio feed to traders who had access to a 5 to 8-second head start, as audio tends to be transmitted faster than video.

"This wholly unacceptable use of the audio feed was without the Bank's knowledge or consent, and is being investigated further," the central bank said in a statement Thursday, without naming the supplier.

The central bank held its main interest rate steady on Thursday at 0.75% with its rate-setting committee voting 7-2 in favor of keeping the current level.

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2019-12-20 08:53:00Z
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Jobless claims tumble in mid-December after spiking to a more than two-year high - MarketWatch

Bloomberg News/Landov

Job seekers can still find work even with the economy slowing and companies not hiring as many workers.

The numbers: The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell in mid-December after a post-Thanksgiving surge, returning closer to the extremely low level of layoffs that has prevailed over the past few years.

Initial jobless claims fell by 18,000 to a seasonally adjusted 234,000 in the seven days ended Dec. 14, the government said Thursday.

New claims had jumped in early December to 252,000 to mark the highest level in more than two years. The increase stemmed from a late Thanksgiving holiday that skewed the government’s process for adjusting the numbers for seasonal swings in employment.

Economists polled by MarketWatch estimated new claims would total 235,000 in the seven days ended Dec. 7. Claims are seen as a rough measure of how many people are losing their jobs.

Read: Fed signals no change in interest rates in 2020 in more upbeat view of the economy

What happened: All the states with the biggest increases in actual or unadjusted jobless claims two weeks ago showed the biggest declines last week. They fell sharply in New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Minnesota.

The one notable exception: California. If applications for benefits subside in the Golden State next week, the national jobless claims number could drop close to prior levels. New claims have averaged around 215,000 a week since last spring.

Jobless claims often gyrate during the long holiday season at the end of each year. Complicating matters was a later than usual U.S. Thanksgiving holiday that threw off the government’s seasonal adjustments.

The more stable monthly average of new claims, meanwhile, rose by 1,500 to 225,000.

The number of people already collecting unemployment benefits, known as continuing claims, increased by 51,000 to 1.72 million.

Big picture: No surprises here. Economists had expected new claims to fall after the spike early in the month, sending them back toward post 2008 recession lows.

By most measures, the U.S. labor market is the strongest it’s been in decades. Hiring has slowed a bit from last year, but incomes are rising a healthy 3% a year and the unemployment rate sits at as 50-year low of 3.5%. Many companies say their biggest labor-related problem is finding skilled workers.

Read: CEOs lower forecast for U.S. economy for the seventh quarter in a row

Market reaction: The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.10% and the S&P 500 SPX, -0.04% were set to open slightly lower in Thursday trades.

The 10-year Treasury yield TMUBMUSD10Y, +0.64% edged up to 1.94%.

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2019-12-19 13:31:00Z
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Bank of England press conferences were leaked to traders seconds before broadcast - CNN

The Bank of England said Thursday that an audio feed of some of its press conferences had been leaked to "external clients" by the third party supplier of the feed since earlier this year.

"This wholly unacceptable use of the audio feed was without the Bank's knowledge or consent, and is being investigated further," the Bank of England.

A spokesperson for the central bank said it has referred the matter for investigation to the Financial Conduct Authority, which regulates UK financial markets. The regulator said in an emailed statement that it is "looking at the issue."

The Times was the first to report the breach. The British newspaper said that high-speed traders, who hoped to profit by being first to act on Bank of England Governor Mark Carney's comments to journalists, were the recipients of the audio feed.

The central bank said that the leaks related only to press conferences that followed monetary policy statements where announcements on interest rates are made.

These press events are closely followed by market watchers for clues on the future direction that interest rates might take. Market participants use this information to trade currencies, government bonds and other financial assets.

The audio feed had been installed to act as a backup in case the video recordings of the press conferences failed, the central bank said, adding that the third party supplier's access has been permanently disabled and that it did not have access to the most recent press conference on the Financial Stability Report.

Bloomberg manages the live video footage of the press conferences, but is not responsible for the backup audio feed, a Bank of England spokesperson said.

A spokesperson for the European Central Bank told CNN Business it has offered a fast audio feed of its press conferences since September, after it suspected that people other than journalists in the room were accessing live audio transmissions 20 to 30 seconds ahead of video broadcasts. The audio feed is freely available on the ECB's website.

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2019-12-19 10:17:00Z
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Bank of England Audio Was Leaked, Giving Some Traders an Edge - The New York Times

LONDON — The Bank of England said Thursday that an audio feed from its news conferences had been released to some investors before it had been made public, giving them a leg up on the rest of the market.

The central bank said it was investigating how a third-party supplier had gotten early access to policymakers’ remarks since earlier this year. In the world of high-speed trading, just a few seconds’ lead time can offer some investors a trading advantage.

The Financial Conduct Authority, which regulates Britain’s financial markets, also said it was investigating the leak.

After queries from The Times of London, the bank said the audio feed of its news conferences, which is used as a backup in case the video feed fails, had been “misused by a third-party supplier to the bank since earlier this year to supply services to other external clients.”

The audio feed provides traders a five- to eight-second advantage over the video feed, The Times reported.

The supplier of the audio feed was not identified.

Comments from the Bank of England’s news conferences are closely monitored for indications about the bank’s thinking on interest rates and the state of the economy.

The bank said that it had disabled the supplier’s access. “As a result, the third-party supplier did not have any access to the most recent press conference and will no longer play any part in any of the bank’s future press conferences,” it said in a statement.

“The bank operates the highest standards of information security around the release of the market sensitive decisions of its policy committees,” the statement added. “The issue identified related only to the broadcast of press conferences that follow such statements.”

Any trades made on the basis of leaked information or insider dealing would come under the review of the Financial Conduct Authority.

A spokeswoman for the agency said in an email that it was looking into the Bank of England leak, but declined to comment on whether any trading had occurred on the basis of the leaked information.

The bank routinely puts reporters through tight precautions to prevent leaks that could prove valuable to traders. Before they are allowed to view policy announcements and forecasts ahead of their release, reporters are locked in a room with a security guard standing by and cellphone connectivity is cut. They are not allowed to leave the room until after the embargo is lifted.

Premature access to potentially market-moving information is a crucial concern to financial regulators around the world. In a 2015 case, prosecutors and regulators in the United States asserted that 32 traders and hackers had reaped more than $100 million in illegal proceeds from a scheme that provided a look at corporate news releases before they were made public.

Elian Peltier contributed reporting.

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2019-12-19 08:39:00Z
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Dow Jones Futures Ignore Trump Impeachment: Micron Earnings Guidance Weak, But Micron Stock, Chip Stocks Rally - Investor's Business Daily

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1. Dow Jones Futures Ignore Trump Impeachment: Micron Earnings Guidance Weak, But Micron Stock, Chip Stocks Rally  Investor's Business Daily
2. Stocks Hit Record Highs as Investors Ignore Impeachment  Breitbart
3. S&P 500 inches into the red, ending five day winning streak  CNBC
4. Wall Street near flat amid economic optimism, FedEx swoon  Investing.com
5. Modest rally for stocks is mostly gone by the closing bell  The Associated Press
6. View full coverage on Google News

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2019-12-19 07:40:00Z
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Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot owner agree deal to create world's third largest automaker - CNN

The companies said in a joint statement Wednesday that they expect the 50-50 merger to be completed within 12 to 15 months, pending approval from shareholders and regulators.

The deal, which was first announced in October, should help spread the huge cost of developing electric and autonomous vehicles and help the mid-sized carmaker compete with larger rivals. The combined company would have roughly 410,000 employees and annual revenues of $190 billion.

Fiat Chrysler (FCAU) and PSA (PUGOY) sold a combined 8.7 million vehicles last year, just ahead of General Motors (GM), which sold 8.3 million, and not far behind Volkswagen and Toyota (TM), which each sold over 10 million. Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors, which share some resources as part of an alliance, sold a combined 10.8 million cars last year.

In a statement on Wednesday, the companies said that Chinese carmaker Dongfeng Group had agreed to sell part of its stake in PSA back to the French automaker, a move that could appease US regulators.

The planned sale of 30.7 million shares would reduce Dongfeng's stake in PSA from 12.2% to just 4.5%.

The combined company will be based in the Netherlands, which is the current headquarters of Fiat Chrysler, although it will keep a head office for its North American operations near Detroit.

John Elkann, the US-born scion of the Italian family that founded Fiat, will be chairman of the combined company, while PSA chief executive Carlos Tavares will be CEO.

The merger comes amid a global auto sales slowdown, which could worsen as economies around the world slow or even fall into recession.

At the same time, carmakers are scrambling to invest in the electric and hybrid technologies needed to meet strict new emissions targets in China and Europe.

The huge amount of capital needed to meet these new challenges has forced some automakers to find partners and turned others into acquisition targets.

The carmaker with the most urgent need to combine in this case was PSA, which has fallen behind on developing clean cars.

Electric vehicles account for less than 0.3% of its overall sales, and it had to pay Tesla for credits needed to comply with EU emissions standards. Fiat Chrysler has also trailed larger rivals in developing electric vehicles.

Even the biggest players in the industry are making changes.

Volkswagen (VLKAF) and Ford (F) are working together to develop electric and self-driving vehicles, while German carmakers BMW (BMWYY) and Daimler (DDAIF) have formed a joint venture that will develop driverless technology. Honda has invested in General Motors' self-driving car unit.

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2019-12-18 12:15:00Z
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Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot owner agree deal to create world's third largest automaker - CNN

The companies said in a joint statement Wednesday that they expect the 50-50 merger to be completed within 12 to 15 months, pending approval from shareholders and regulators.

The deal, which was first announced in October, should help spread the huge cost of developing electric and autonomous vehicles and help the mid-sized carmaker compete with larger rivals. The combined company would have roughly 410,000 employees and annual revenues of $190 billion.

Fiat Chrysler (FCAU) and PSA (PUGOY) sold a combined 8.7 million vehicles last year, just ahead of General Motors (GM), which sold 8.3 million, and not far behind Volkswagen and Toyota (TM), which each sold over 10 million.

In a statement on Wednesday, the companies said that Chinese carmaker Dongfeng Group had agreed to sell part of its stake in PSA back to the French automaker, a move that could appease US regulators.

The planned sale of 30.7 million shares would reduce Dongfeng's stake in PSA from 12.2% to just 4.5%.

The combined company will be based in the Netherlands, which is the current headquarters of Fiat Chrysler, although it will keep a head office for its North American operations near Detroit.

John Elkann, the US-born scion of the Italian family that founded Fiat, will be chairman of the combined company, while PSA chief executive Carlos Tavares will be CEO.

The merger comes amid a global auto sales slowdown, which could worsen as economies around the world slow or even fall into recession.

At the same time, carmakers are scrambling to invest in the electric and hybrid technologies needed to meet strict new emissions targets in China and Europe.

The huge amount of capital needed to meet these new challenges has forced some automakers to find partners and turned others into acquisition targets.

The carmaker with the most urgent need to combine in this case was PSA, which has fallen behind on developing clean cars.

Electric vehicles account for less than 0.3% of its overall sales, and it had to pay Tesla for credits needed to comply with EU emissions standards. Fiat Chrysler has also trailed larger rivals in developing electric vehicles.

Even the biggest players in the industry are making changes.

Volkswagen (VLKAF) and Ford (F) are working together to develop electric and self-driving vehicles, while German carmakers BMW (BMWYY) and Daimler (DDAIF) have formed a joint venture that will develop driverless technology. Honda has invested in General Motors' self-driving car unit.

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2019-12-18 10:40:00Z
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