Big Japanese manufacturers are gaining momentum

• Sam Jacoba, Business Insider Australia

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Joe Mann/AFP/Getty Images

Confidence is rising among big manufacturers in Japan, the latest data shows.

Japan’s quarterly Tankan survey released by the Japanese central bank showed that business sentiment improved in the sector for the second straight quarter.

The index rose from a reading of +11 to +12, which is the highest since December 2015 for the closely watched economic indicator.

It was short of market expectations, however, for a rise to +14.

The sentiment index arrives at a net figure from a simple calculation of positive respondents less negative respondents.

This chart from Investing.com shows the trend in Japanese manufacturer sentiment over the last year:

Investing.com

The Tankan survey also found that big Japanese manufacturers expect an increase capital expenditure by 0.6% in the 12 months to the end of March 2018 (forecast -0.1%).

The survey adds to a strong recent run of positive sentiment in Japan, and will factor into the Bank of Japan’s next interest rate meeting on April 26/27.

Read the original article on Business Insider Australia. Copyright 2017. Follow Business Insider Australia on Twitter.

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Tesla delivers quarterly record of 25,000 vehicles

• Devika Krishna Kumar, Reuters

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The Tesla Model S P85D won the highest rating Consumer Reports has ever awarded. Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images

NEW YORK, April 2 (Reuters) - Tesla Inc, the U.S. luxury electric car maker, said on Sunday first-quarter vehicle deliveries jumped 69 percent from a year ago to a quarterly record of 25,000 vehicles, bouncing back from delays in the previous quarter.

The company said of the total vehicles delivered, about 13,450 were Model S sedan and about 11,550 were Model X sports utility vehicle.

Tesla has said it expects to deliver 47,000 to 50,000 Model S and Model X vehicles combined in the first half of 2017.

In the fourth quarter, deliveries had fallen 9.4 percent due to short-term production hurdles from the transition to a new autopilot hardware.

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Ultimately, about 2,750 vehicles were missed being counted as deliveries in the fourth quarter either due to last-minute delays in transport or because the customer was unable to physically take delivery.

In addition to the first quarter deliveries, about 4,650 vehicles were in transit to customers at the end of the quarter and will be counted as deliveries in the second quarter, Tesla said in a statement on Sunday.

Production in the first quarter also hit a quarterly record at 25,418 vehicles.

Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk has taken big risks repeatedly since going public in 2010, but investors got spooked after he said in February the electric car company could get "close to the edge" as it burns cash ahead of its crucial Model 3 launch.

China's Tencent Holdings Ltd bought a 5 percent stake in Tesla last week for $1.78 billion, providing the company with a deep-pocketed ally as it prepares to launch its mass-market Model 3.

The midsize, high-volume Model 3 sedan is due to go on sale later this year in the United States.

Shares of Tesla closed up slightly at $278.30 on Friday on the Nasdaq and have soared more than 30 percent so far this year.

(Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar in New York; Editing by Sandra Maler)

Read the original article on Reuters. Copyright 2017. Follow Reuters on Twitter.

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The EU has blocked a £22.5 billion mega-merger between the London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Börse

• Thomas Colson, Business Insider UK

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Reuters/Suzanne Plunkett

LONDON — The European Union blocked a mega-merger of the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) and German exchange Deutsche Börse (DBAG) on Wednesday, only hours before the UK formally announces its intention to leave the European Union.

Margrethe Vestager, the EU competition regulator, blocked the £22.5 billion ($28 billion) deal to create an Anglo-German exchange group because both groups failed to offset concerns about a "de facto monopoly" in the markets for clearing European fixed income instruments.

Fixed income instruments refer primarily to bonds and repurchase agreements. A statement from the EU said that both groups "are the only relevant providers of these services" in Europe — meaning the merger would have combined DBAG's clearing house in Frankfurt and LSEG's clearing houses in London, Paris, and Rome.

The EU veto had been widely expected, after LSEG said in February that the European Commission was unlikely to provide clearance for the merger.

Vestager said in a statement: "The European economy depends on well-functioning financial markets. That is not just important for banks and other financial institutions. The whole economy benefits when businesses can raise money on competitive financial markets.

"The merger between Deutsche Börse and the London Stock Exchange would have significantly reduced competition by creating a de facto monopoly in the crucial area of clearing of fixed income instruments. As the parties failed to offer the remedies required to address our competition concerns, the Commission has decided to prohibit the merger," she added.

Neil Wilson, a market analyst at ETX Capital, said in an email: "Brexit effectively killed this deal off nine months ago so it’s fitting that EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager delivered the coup de grace just a couple of hours before the UK triggers Article 50.

"There were always fierce arguments about the location of the HQ and clearing and the deal never really sat well with regulators.

"They could never agree to do what was really required to make this work – concentrate clearing in either London or Frankfurt. The ECB has made it clear just how much it dislikes London’s domination of euro clearing."

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Amazon has acquired a Middle Eastern retailer that was once valued at $1 billion

• Sam Shead and Reuters

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Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.Getty Images

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Amazon announced on Tuesday that it had agreed to acquire the Dubai, United Arab Emirates-based online retailer Souq.com.

The acquisition represents Amazon's first move into serving the Middle East, which is home to over 200 million people.

The value of the deal was not disclosed, but Souq.com was valued at about $1 billion (£800 million) in its most recent funding round.

Several publications reported that the deal was coming last week. TechCrunch cited sources saying the deal was worth $650 million (£517 million).

Amazon said it expected the acquisition to close by the end of the year.

Russ Grandinetti, the senior vice president of Amazon's international consumer business, said in a statement: "Amazon and Souq.com share the same DNA — we're both driven by customers, invention, and long-term thinking."

He added: "Souq.com pioneered e-commerce in the Middle East, creating a great shopping experience for their customers. We're looking forward to both learning from and supporting them with Amazon technology and global resources. And together, we'll work hard to provide the best possible service for millions of customers in the Middle East."

Souq.com'sounder and CEO, Syrian-born entrepreneur Ronaldo Mouchawar, added: "By becoming part of the Amazon family, we'll be able to vastly expand our delivery capabilities and customer selection much faster, as well as continue Amazon's great track record of empowering sellers."

Souq.com is the largest online retail platform in the Arab world, according to CNBC.

(Reporting by Alexander Cornwell; Editing by Greg Mahlich)

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Traders betting against Wall Street's favorite Trump trade are making a killing

• Akin Oyedele
 

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 More Charts

 
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The biggest beneficiaries of the so-called Trump rally are giving up some of the gains they made after the election.

Financial stocks on the S&P 500 jumped 26% after the election, and were the poster child for Wall Street's biggest bets on the new administration.

Last week, traders increased their bets against banking stocks as uncertainty mounted over the future of the American Health Care Act. According to S3, a financial analytics firm, short sellers in the top ten bank stocks last week gained 6.35% net of financing and mark to market. S3 Partners

GOP leadership eventually pulled its bill to replace Obamacare on Friday as party divisions meant the House would not have had a majority vote.

Trump's agenda includes rolling back some post-crisis regulations and corporate tax reform, both of which make the sector more attractive. Also, if many of the pro-growth promises are kept, the Federal Reserve would probably raise interest rates in step with rising inflation, and that would help banks earn more for lending. 

But financials topped out on March 1, and traders who sought to profit from a reversal of the uptrend are starting to count some gains.

Short interest should increase if the sector's losses continue, said Ihor Dusaniwsky, the head of research at S3 Partners, in a note. The three stocks with the highest short interest last week were JP Morgan, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo.  

Financials led losses in early trading on Monday with a 2% decline. 

Business Insider/Andy Kiersz

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Saudi Arabia is in 'serious discussions' with the NYSE in what could be the biggest IPO ever

• Eric Walsh, Yara Bayoumy, Reuters

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A Saudi Aramco employee sits in the area of its stand at the Middle East Petrotech 2016, an exhibition and conference for the refining and petrochemical industries, in Manama, Bahrain, September 27, 2016.REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia is having "serious discussions" with the New York Stock Exchange about having the NYSE as one of the exchanges for state oil giant Saudi Aramco's IPO, the Saudi foreign minister told Fox News on Thursday.

"Our objective is to try to complete the IPO sometime in 2018. There are serious discussions with the New York Stock Exchange about having the NYSE be one of the exchanges for the Aramco IPO and I believe the decision will be made on the financial merits," Adel al-Jubeir told Fox News.

(Reporting by Eric Walsh; Writing by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by James Dalgleish)

Read the original article on Reuters. Copyright 2017. Follow Reuters on Twitter.

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