ARTICLES - Bocconi Students Capital Markets

EMEA

About Saudi Aramco's IPO - Apr 1, 2017
Saudi Arabian Oil Company, commonly known as Saudi Aramco, is a Saudi Arabian national petroleum and natural gas company based in Dhahran. Over the past 80 years it has become a world leader in hydrocarbons exploration, production, refining, distribution and marketing.

Straight out of the liquidity trap: an overview of ECB’s upcoming monetary policy - Mar 24, 2017
Given the financial turmoil occurred in 2008, the ECB decided to step in cutting interest rates. Over the following years, the main refinancing operations rate reached 0%, the marginal lending facility rate 0.25% and the interest rate on deposit facility -0.4%.

Deutsche Bank: Staying Alive - Mar 20, 2017
€10.2bn in 2010, €3bn in 2013 and €8.5bn in 2014: three times since the great financial crisis, Deutsche Bank has turned to its shareholders for cash.

HSBC navigates turbulence - Mar 14, 2017
Disappointment spreads among investors as HSBC fails to meet analysts’ expectations causing the lender’s shares to shrink on the 28th of February.

Who’s Nex(i)t? Netherland’s getaway from the EU - Mar 12, 2017
In recent years the Netherlands have expanded their economy as much as to become one of the most strong and profitable in the European Union.

Norway oil fund to undertake structural changes to face new challenges - Mar 7, 2017
Established in 1990 as the Petroleum Fund of Norway, the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global, generally known as “The Oil Fund", has been created to preserve and invest Norway’s oil revenues for the generations to come.

Deleveraging Europe - Feb 25, 2017
European Central Bank had made clear that it was going to step up measures to incentivize banks to resolve the
non-performing loans (NPLs) issue

  Will Brexit negatively influence one of its most thriving fields: Science and Research? - Feb 21, 2017
   UK leaving the EU implies a lot of damaging consequences for Science and Research & Development in the UK,
   and prevents the numerous benefits that membership brought to healthcare and the national economy.

Essilor and Luxottica agree on €50 billion merger - Feb 16, 2017
On the 16th of January 2017, Essilor, the world leading manufacturer of lenses, and Luxottica, the largest
consumer eyewear group, agreed on one of the largest ever European cross-border transactions.

Italy and France: a nice M&A marriage - Feb 7, 2017
Over the last years, the M&A market between Italy and France has seen French companies acting as acquirers of the Italian ones for most of the times

Glencore’s run could continue in 2017 - Feb 5, 2017
Glencore, the Swiss based mining and commodities company, was one of the best performing European stocks of 2016, returning 203.1% YTD (as of 29 December 2016).

To Bailout or not to Bailout, this is the question - Jan 22, 2017
Sometimes old habits never die. This is probably the case of the numerous bail-outs the Italian government has performed so far.

Vivendi's takeover of Mediaset continues - Jan 8, 2017
On Tuesday December 22nd Vivendi chairman Vincent Bolloré announced that the French Group attained a 28.8% stake in Mediaset and it threatens to lift its stake even more, up to 30% of voting rights.

European Banks called to pay the bill for the financial crisis: recent settlements and stands out - Jan 2, 2017
Just in time for the end of the year the US Department of Justice (DoJ), after months of negotiations, came to an agreement for the settlements to be paid by Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse.

Santander gets full control of its Asset Management unit - Dec 18, 2016
Banco Santander has agreed to buy back a 50% stake in Santander Asset Management. Santander already owned the remaining 50% stake, which makes it get back full control of its asset management business.

Do Not Fear The Monster: Google Challenges Brexit - Dec 11, 2016
Google has announced the plan to open a new UK headquarters building in London. The “campus”, as Google fancies to call its offices, will have a cost of about £1 billion.

Sunday has come: what will the Italian banks’ future be? - Dec 8, 2016
On Sunday the 4th, Italians have voted on the constitutional reform proposed by Mr. Renzi, who has decided to resign after the proposal been rejected.

Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum – Good Prospects for European Defence Stocks - Dec 7, 2016
After Donald Trump’s surprising victory in the United States presidential election, the stocks of European aerospace and defence companies were among the major winners of the following trading days.

New banking rules to bring billions of subordinate debt and halter non-EU banks - Dec 4, 2016
The boggart of “too big to fail” banks has been chasing European regulators for years, so another attempt to defeat it was introduced last week (23rd of November, 2016).

Essentra shares shrinks as company warns on profit - Dec 1, 2016
The Britain giant supplier of plastic and fiber products, Essentra PLC, has gone through a bearish year having his market value driven down by one fifth in the last semester of 2016.

Wind - 3 Italia merger takes first step - Nov 26, 2016
Wind and 3 Italia took a decisive step towards their merger that should take effect at the beginning of 2017. After months of long negotiations Hutchison Holdings, parent company of Italian mobile operator 3 Italia

The largest IPO ever: Saudi Armco - Nov 20, 2016
The state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco, is planning to go public. This is expected to be the world’s largest IPO, and Saudi Aramco could thus become the most valuable company with a valuation between 2 and 3 trillion dollars, according to Thomson Reuters.

The moment of truth is coming for Monte dei Paschi - Nov 16, 2016
Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena is to cut 2,600 jobs in the latest plan to return to profitability and achieve the CEO Marco Morelli’s target of €1.1bn net income and 11% return on tangible equity by the end of 2019.

Deutsche Bank in Trouble – Could the Giant Fail? - Nov 10, 2016
Germany’s largest bank, Deutsche Bank, is currently facing major pressure and is subject of speculation regarding its liquidity position and whether the bank can achieve a turnaround or not.

European largest wealth fund to increase its risk profile in 2017 - Nov 2, 2016
Government Pension Fund of Norway, the largest pension fund in Europe, has been urged by an internal committee to shift 10 percent of its investments from bonds to stock.

The birth of Italy’s third largest lender - Oct 28, 2016
The merger between Banca Popolare di Milano (BPM), one of Italy’s strongest lenders, and Banco Popolare, which ranks among the weakest banks in terms of exposure to bad loans, was finally approved last Saturday after the vote of the shareholders of BPM.

Brexit: an overwhelming catastrophe over the UK? - Oct 25, 2016
June 23rd, 2016 was an historical date in the history of the European Union. 51,9% of the British citizens voted to leave the EU– which led to the “Brexit”.

UniCredit to announce €10 billion capital increase - Oct 22, 2016
Little by little, UniCredit, Italy’s biggest lender by total assets is working on plans to shore up its balance sheet and strengthen its position both in Italy and in the Eurozone.

Saudi Arabia’s Liquidity Issue - Sep 29, 2016
The kingdom of Saudi Arabia is currently facing growing concerns with respect to the amount of liquidity circulating in the economy. Authorities are struggling to find a way to boost liquidity levels in an attempt to improve figures which are at their lowest level since the financial crisis.

Carbon Emissions Trading: Financial Instruments vs. Global Warming - May 3, 2016
The market for permits to emit greenhouse gases (GHG) was quite turbulent this year. From the beginning of the year the prices for carbon emissions allowances have dropped drastically to less than €5 per metric ton in February.

Is Nigeria going the same way as the Zimbabwe did a decade ago? - Apr 23, 2016
The Zimbabwean dollar was abandoned as a currency in 2009 after achieving a peak annual inflation of 7.3x 1022% in the last quarter of 2008. Nigeria, a large oil exporter and the most populous country in Africa, has seen large increases in prices as the government attempts to control the currency markets.

Atlas: the bank rescue fund for Italy - Apr 17, 2016
Lately Italian banks are having troubles because of the huge amount of non-performing loans (NPLs) on their balance sheets.

Campari toasting to the tune of old-fashioned cocktails - Apr 7, 2016
Founded back in the 1860, the Italian spirit producer is going to complete another acquisition, following the strategic pattern that it has recently undertaken.

The case of negative interest rates in the Eurozone - Mar 24, 2016
Originally the idea behind the negative interest rates was to flee from the deflation stage in an economy, which Europe feared in 2014.

HSBC: "Hedge Brexit with the Swiss franc" - Mar 20, 2016
According to HSBC’s currency strategists, lead by David Bloom, “Brexit would be a colossal event for Europe. We believe it would drive the pound weaker by 15%-20%, and would likely drag the euro lower with it”

Insurers vs QE - Mar 19, 2016
Nowadays everyone talks about how the low interest rates environment is affecting banks and their profitability: this is probably due to the fact that they are the most known players in the financial business, and therefore exposed to the mood of the market and the interest of the press.

Morals or Money? Russia’s bond deal followed by ECB concerns - Mar 17, 2016
After nearly a year of EU and US sanctions had been imposed on the Kremlin in 2014, Russia has decided to finally start its first issuance of sovereign debt.

Brexit: implications and a possible trading strategy - Mar 15, 2016
Brexit! June 23rd! Referendum! These are the three big words that are shocking financial markets these days. Since UK Prime Minister David Cameron announced the UK’s EU referendum, volatility has spiked across markets

The good old gold: Deutsche bank point of view - Mar 1, 2016
Probably if you ask to your grandparents where to invest safely money, they will cite for sure gold in their answer.

London Boerse: On the road for a European stock Exchange? - Feb 26, 2016
The London Stock Exchange shares jumped on Tuesday’s afternoon after Reuters reported the company managing the City’s Exchange was engaged in merger talks with Deutsche Boerse.

What’s happening to the “most solid” European bank? - Feb 11, 2016
Yesterday shares of Deutsche Bank hit their lowest level ever over fears about the ability of the German Bank to meet obligations on its riskiest bonds. Markets are questioning the solvency of the bank to meet its coupon obligations. Only today the bank jumped 14% after the CEO said he is planning a buyback for DB bonds.

A unique benchmark for European insurers - Jan 18, 2016
Insurers, like banks, need to hold some capital buffers to ensure that they are able to meet customers’ claims even in adverse economic conditions or in case of unexpectedly large payouts

What shall investors expect from UK in 2016? - Dec 22, 2015
The UK has been one of the best performer among the advanced economies in 2015. The economy has grown by about 2.5%, in line with analysts’ estimation for the year. On the edge of 2016, market participants have two major sources of concern for the next year.

Who is interested in Yahoo? - Dec 8, 2015
The day after the news was announced that Yahoo management is considering the sale of internet business, potential buyers have emerged. Many of them: from media to telecoms giants and private investment companies.

Coffee break with Jody Vender - Nov 28, 2015
Jody Vender is one of the pioneers of private equity and venture capital in Italy. Born in 1950, he graduated in Economics at Bocconi University in the 70s and he started a successful financial career in Milan, in the 80s, when capital markets were monopolized by stockbrokers and nobody was willing to invest on new ideas

The Netherlands re-enters the prestigious AAA class - Nov 24, 2015
Two years after being out of the best-rated league countries in the euro area, The Netherlands is back after S&P’s re-awarded AAA rating.

German debt trades at a record low yield - Nov 22, 2015
On Wednesday November 18, Germany broke a record selling its two-year government debt at a yield of minus 0.38 per cent. According to analysts, this move reflects the expectation of further monetary easing by the European Central Bank in the next months.

AB InBev and SABMiller making history of M&A deals - Nov 13, 2015
The global beer giant AB InBev two days ago announced a formal offer to acquire SabMiller for the equivalent of 112 billion euro.

French hands on Telecom Italia - Oct 29, 2015
Telecom Italia boom today in the Milan stock market. Its stock rose 8.7% to close the day at a price of €1,261, reaching also an 11% increase during the day. This incredible growth follows the news of the entrance in the society of the French billionaire Xavier Niel, founder of Internet operator Iliad.

AMERICAS

Kraft Heinz and Unilever: when an M&A does not succeed - April 2, 2017
When rumours of a bid made by the giant Kraft Heinz, the food conglomerate backed by Brazil’s 3G and Warren Buffet, to acquire Unilever turned real, Unilever shares jumped 14 per cent to a record high and putting them on track for their biggest one-day rise since 1987.

Dr. Donald and Mr. Trump - Mar 26, 2017
A harsh conflict between economic theories broke out in the Oval Office. Proud nationalists tried to convince the U.S. President to contrast globalization while, on the other side, liberalism from Wall Street claimed the benefits of US free-trade agreements.

Snap jumps in debut even if concerns over growth threaten the rally - Mar 18, 2017
Snap Inc., the parent company of Snapchat, had a great day on its debut on the New York Stock Exchange.
The stock opened at $24 and then closed the day at $24.51, resulting in a 44% premium relative to the IPO price.

Comeback of inflation in the United States? - Mar 15, 2017
Several signs indicate that inflation will pick up in the United States. If the fiscal and trade policies promised by Donald Trump during his presidential campaign will be implemented.

Chinese investor accused of insider trading of DreamWorks shares - Feb 13, 2017
Due to a leak of information the SEC accused a Chinese investor of being guilty of insider trading. The trader
earned $29m exploiting non-public data.

Walgreens and Rite Aid: a losing battle? - Feb 11, 2017
At the end of October 2015 Walgreens Boots Alliance announced its intention to buy Rite Aid for a tie-up worth
$9.4 billion.

21st Century Fox - Sky: a new giant media company - Jan 5, 2017
On December 15th , 2016 Twenty-First Century Fox announced it has reached an agreement to take full control of Sky, by purchasing the remaining 61% stake it did not already own.

The Federal Reserve interest rate hike: markets reaction and economic implications - Dec 22, 2016
On December 15th, 2016, the Federal Open Market Committee has decided by a unanimous vote to raise the benchmark interest rate, by 0.25 percentage points, to a range of 0.50% - 0.75%.

¿Mercado Libre? - Dec 6, 2016
The Republic of Cuba, currently undergoing a slow and painful modernization process, just lost its “Líder Máximo”. Fidel Castro, aged 90, reportedly passed away on Friday, November 25th.

Markets reaction to US presidential elections - Nov 22, 2016
On November 8th Donald Trump was elected President of the United States. This was quite a bit of a surprise since polls were forecasting a Clinton presidency for the country.

Oracle seals $9.3Bn Acquisition of NetSuite - Nov 12, 2016
On July 28, 2016, Oracle announced it had offered to purchase NetSuite for $9.3 billion USD. Some days ago, November 7th, Oracle Board announced to have obtained 53% of adhesions to its offer.

Blockbuster Deal: AT&T and Time Warner - Nov 6, 2016
The mega-deal, announced on Saturday Oct 22nd, would bring together the world’s largest telecommunications company ($146.8 billion in consolidated revenues in 2015) and one of the world’s leading media groups.

When Giants Hold Hands: The Case of DowDupont - Nov 3, 2016
In October 2016, Citigroup upgraded both Dow Chemical (DOW) and DuPont (DD) from Neutral to Buy and defined DowDuPont as “the stock to own in 2017.”

Twitter: as Free as a Bird - Oct 30, 2016
After nearly a month of rumors about the potential takeover of Twitter, now it seems like the company is left to sort its issues all by itself.

Brazil's comeback from the greatest recession in over 100 years - Oct 23, 2016
Throughout the year, Brazil’s inflation hit a 12-year high of 10.71%, the Central Bank’s benchmark Selic Rate was set as 14.25%, people from all over the world visited the country during the Rio ’16 Olympic Games.

Snapchat IPO: good bye Unicorn? - Oct 17, 2016
A couple of days ago the Wall Street Journal reported that there are rumors of Snap Inc. going public, probably by late March 2017 and the company has just chosen its book runners leaders.

More surveillance leaks and the Yahoo deal - Oct 13, 2016
After former CIA analyst Edward Snowden revealed in 2013 that the NSA is spying on every American’s internet usage and telephone records, we realized that we are not aware of all the surveillance that is going on.

You think WhatsApp is great? Get to see what Google’s “Allo” is about! - Sep 24, 2016
Just when you might have taught that the battle for messaging apps was over, with Facebook’s being crowned the clear winner, Alphabet Inc. launched today its last offense, named Allo. The company from Mountain View claims that “messaging is not a solved problem”.

Fed Rate Hike: Yes vs No - May 12, 2016
As a ship sailing in the storm waiting for captain’s directions, global markets last week have been reacting wildly to several controversial news making Janet Yellen and all her colleagues of main worldwide central banks spend sleepless nights.

Sometimes they come back: Argentina’s bonds - Part II - May 10, 2016
Argentina issued $16.5bn in 3, 5, 10 and 30 years denominated bonds, increased from the planned emission of $15bn, among exceptional interest on the markets with the demand peaked $70bn.

The Future of Coal Industry - May 7, 2016
Recently the planet got much hotter. Certainly, this does not sound like fresh news to anyone. However, data do not lie. We are not going to live on the Earth over the next decades if temperatures keep on rising.

The political revolt against Free Trade - Apr 29, 2016
The Second World War taught us an important lesson. Economic competition condemns state-nations to destroy themselves militarily. Since 1946, global economic integration has been a great concern to policymakers.

More buyers than sellers - Apr 26, 2016
Nothing describes the current state of the housing market better than the phrase “more buyers than sellers”. The imbalance between supply and demand has led to an increase in prices: the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-City composite index is now only 11% off pre-crisis levels.

FED Rates’ hike: is it affordable? - Apr 24, 2016
Nowadays short-term interest rates are very low. Undoubtedly, it is a positive stimulus for the economy as long as borrowers would take advantage of it. Emerging markets too, which retain a huge proportion of debt in dollars, benefit from a weaker currency of the dollar

Student loans and subprime mortgages: is history about to repeat itself? - Apr 22, 2016
Not oil, not China, not the Fed. But the latent issue of the student loan market. A market which has disproportionately grown over the years and whose growth might resemble that of the pre-crisis housing market.

US Inflation: Trade or Trend? - Apr 20, 2016
People who have not approached the world of economics before this decade would find it hard to believe their own eyes if one morning they woke up reading on the newspaper about actual rises in the consumer prices.

US Junk Bond Market: Dead or Alive? - Apr 18, 2016
The $1.3tn US market for high-yield corporate bonds (also called “junk bonds”) has taken a ride on the roller coaster over the last few months.

Game is over for tax inversions - Apr 15, 2016
On April 4th Jack Lew, the American treasury secretary, announced a renewed clampdown on inversions, takeovers that allow American firms to shift their tax domicile to countries with lower corporate tax rates, leaving the American treasury with empty hands.

Sometimes they come back: Argentina’s bonds - Apr 12, 2016
Back to 2000’s Argentina was in the middle of a thunderstorm; an extremely severe crisis, imported from Brazil and Russia, along with widespread unemployment (peaked over 20%) and poverty hit Argentina’s economy so heavily that the period 1998-2002 is called Argentine Great Depression.

Thinking of trading US equity options? Worst time ever - Apr 9, 2016
“We were No. 1, and we’re going to be No. 1 again with a larger lead” declared Nasdaq chief executive Bob Greifeld commenting last month decision of a $1.1 billion acquisition of International Securities Exchange.

An overview of Brazilian economy - Apr 8, 2016
Brazil has been for years considered an emerging markets, pursued by investors for the possibility of high returns, as they often experienced faster economic growth measured by GDP.

Is Latin America ready for the inflation test? - Apr 5, 2016
Latin America’s economy has experienced a sharp deterioration in the second half of 2015. The trend has been mainly driven by Brazil’s path toward recession but is also due to the weak growth in previously performing countries (such as Colombia and Peru).

US inflation concerns - Mar 31, 2016
Undoubtedly, when people expect falling prices, they become less willing to spend and therefore less willing to borrow. Moreover, if consumers become less willing to borrow, hence they become less willing to spend.

More trouble ahead? - Mar 29, 2016
Shares in Valeant lost half of their value on last Tuesday, after the prospect of defaulting on its 30bn of debt was raised by the company, along with the second cut of full-profit targets in five months.

The New Black Plague: Wealth Inequality in the United States - Mar 16, 2016
Wealth inequality is one of the major causes of concern for economic and legal policymakers in the USA at the moment.

Ferrari’s IPO: how the Italian pride went public - Mar 15, 2016
On Thursday we had the great honour to host at our university as guest speakers Davide Tavaniello and Loris Dell’Andrino, respectively Director and Associate Director at UBS Investment Bank.

The oil crash takes its toll on the US shale industry - Mar 14,2016
The last five years represent the fastest expansion of U.S. oil production in history, driven by new technologies like the horizontal drilling through shale rocks.

The Tech-Unicorns' fairy tale - Mar 11, 2016
Recently, in the financial environment, the term “unicorn” started to be utilized with reference to those private companies, mainly tech start-ups, most of which located in the Silicon Valley, which are valued at more than $1 billion.

Debt, Oil and Gold: a Venezuelan story - Mar 7, 2016
These are bad times for Venezuela and its debt: ever lower oil prices mine the country creditworthiness and this risk has been readily priced by the market

The gold rush - Feb 29, 2016
Since the beginning of the year markets high volatility is fostering demand for commodities and government bonds. Billions of dollars and euro are currently moved from equity to safer assets. As you might guess, the commodity winner is…GOLD.

Increases in Chinese Debt lending to South America - Feb 21, 2016
2015 has been a very tough year for South American countries. As a matter of fact, the recessions that many of these countries experienced in the previous year led economists to label this event as the “South American Financial Crisis”.

Oil prices: still far from recovery - Feb 16, 2016
One of the most important aspect affecting the economy and the financial markets in the last weeks is the oil price drop. Today the Brent crude, which is the main international benchmark, is trading at 33.93$ with a more than 70% fall since June 2014.

Would you bet on Argentina? - Dec 4, 2015
If you have recently been following the presidential elections in Argentina, you were not alone: the financial markets have been documenting each development in the just-ended battle for presidency.

Ferrari at Wall Street: after a month the price has dropped - Dec 3, 2015
After about one month from the IPO, rumors and critical views are rising on the run of Ferrari on the circuit of Wall Street. First doubts came over the stability of the price after 30 days of the initial offering, when analysts assigned first evaluation to Ferrari’s share.

Sure about FED rates hike? Take a look at this ETF - Nov 27, 2015
From the time when the financial crisis broke out, the issue of Federal Reserve interest rates has not let investors sleep soundly. Since then, many variables came into play, making it incredibly difficult to forecast a possible outcome and leaving the other central banks resigned to a policy of very low rates.

The Vulnerability in Latin America currencies - Nov 25, 2015
The foreign exchange (FX) vulnerability index, designed by the Dutch Rabobank, measures how currencies move compared to volatility and put them in relation with economic data such as inflation, external debt to GDP and international reserves.

Isn't the dollar strong enough? - Nov 17, 2015
The currency strengthened a lot in the past months, the EUR/USD is at about 1.067. The opposite policies carried out by the two major central banks of the world may push the dollar even further.

A new competitor for Airbnb: Expedia - Nov 8, 2015
Airbnb has just won (investing a lot of money in advertising) the battle of San Francisco against the proposed restrictive rules for the rent of the houses, but have to worry about a possible aggressive competitor: Expedia.

Driverless cars: a wide range of business opportunities - Nov 7, 2015
The transition to fully driverless cars is still far away, but autonomous cars have already started to change human behavior about transportation.

Apple continues to grow and its shares continue to fly - Oct 29,2015
The Cupertino giant, unable to hit another period of record sales: for its fiscal fourth quarter revenues amount at 51.5 billion dollars, with a net profit for the quarter of 11.1 billion, merely about 1.96 dollars per share

ASIA

Anxiety and tensions in the Pacific: do markets feel the pressure? - Mar 29, 2017
Warning signs of war in Korea. Despite being already the main object of interest (and anxiety) in the Asian economic as well as political set, the unscrupulous leader Kim Jong Un has decided to push the limit a bit further.

Filipinos love their President. Do markets feel the same? - Mar 21, 2017
Rodrigo Duterte, elected President of the Philippines on May 10th, had been able to secure the majority of MPs in the Congress and to establish a strong cult of his personality among all the people disappointed with institutions, which surprisingly represented 39% of the population

Shinzo Abe’s nightmares: Japan difficulties in achieving inflation targets - Mar 19, 2017
In the 80’s nobody would have believed the possibility of reducing interest rates as much as they are in today’s world economy.

Trade War or Twitter War between China and US? - Mar 13, 2017
During electoral campaign, we saw Trump convincingly stressing China’s detrimental impact on U.S. job market and wage inequality

Management of foreign currencies reserves splits chinese leaders - Feb 6, 2017
Chinese foreign currency reserves are falling. The decrease of $70 billions in November 2016 was the highest
since January 2016 and has brought reserves to the $3 trillion threshold.

Brexit, fuelling Japanese appetites - Feb 4, 2017
In early December, Nagatanien, Japan's premier maker of popular instant powder ochazuke, wrapped up a $130m
takeover of Chaucer Foods, a supplier of freeze-dried fruits and vegetables to Kellogg’s and PepsiCo

Hanjin’s collapse: is the shipping industry taking on water? - Jan 19, 2017
Korean shipping firm Hanjin Shipping Co. filed for bankruptcy and court protection on August 31th after lenders withdrew their support.

Japan overtakes China as largest US creditor - Jan 14, 2017
China’s stake of U.S. Treasuries has fallen to the lowest in more than six years, permitting to Japan to become America’s top foreign creditor. This is due to China’s plan to save the renminbi using its exchange reserves.

The Shenzhen – Hong Kong Stock Connect: Much Ado About..? - Jan 3, 2017
On Monday 5th December the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect eventually opened, giving foreigners the possibility to invest in 881 companies in Shenzhen, including fast growing small caps, in China.

Bank of Singapore opening branches to serve private banking solutions - Dec 29, 2016
Bank of Singapore is a Singapore-based private banking arm of OCBC Bank which provides customized wealth management, investment and lending services.

Japanese producers' mood really matters - Dec 24, 2016
Sometimes official statistics do not manage to catch the whole picture of an economic situation. The reliability of GDP as a measure of economic growth has been questioned many times since the 90s.

New hopes for inflation and GDP growth in Japan - Dec 23, 2016
Japan’s inflation data for the last part of the year have come out and they show a shy but positive growth in both the Consumer Price Index and Bank of Japan’s preferred index.

Asian markets reaction to Trump’s Elections: another Brexit? - Dec 19, 2016
Donald Trump’s election on November 8th brought about dramatic reactions in the global markets. With reference to Asia, the major concerns are about Trump’s protectionist moves.

Chinese online travel agency Ctrip flies to Scotland for shopping - Dec 17, 2016
Skyscanner Ltd will not be a British company anymore after the closing of a £1.4bn deal with the Chinese competitor Ctrip.com, announced on November 26th.

Tianhong and its successful Yu’e Bao Money Market Fund - Dec 15, 2016
Xiaoming Zhou was an ordinary investment manager with the brilliant idea of starting his own hedge fund, but like most of the others before him, his plan failed.

Is China’s hunger for foreign companies sustainable? - Dec 12, 2016
2016 is going to be an extraordinary year for Chinese companies’ acquisitions overseas with $233.6 billion in foreign mergers and acquisitions to date.

What is behind Samsung’s $8 Billion offer for Harman International Industries Inc.? - Dec 9, 2016
Samsung has always been more inclined towards doing its own research, rather than acquiring companies to gain new technology.

Trump's isolationism gives a great opportunity to rival China - Dec 5, 2016
The Trans-Pacific partnership is among Obama administration’s last accomplishments. This trade deal among 16 countries in the Pacific area has the purpose to create a single free trade area.

Bank of Japan, discovering the limits of monetary policy - Dec 3, 2016
The unexpected Trump's victory on November 8th has generated sharp movements in financial markets worldwide. Investors are now betting that he might actually revitalize American economy.

JP Morgan Chase’s $264 Million Settlement for Foreign Bribery - Nov 30, 2016
This time JP Morgan’s strategy to acquire new businesses has crossed a legal line. The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department, after having started an investigation in 2013, announced a settlement of roughly $264 million.

Is Debt burden too heavy for China's shoulders? - Nov 18, 2016
Raising capital is a vital concern to every corporation in the world. Thanks to short-term and long-term financing, a firm can fulfil its financial needs and finally achieve his goals.

Uber officially saying “Zàijiàn” to the Chinese Market - Nov 14, 2016
As many managers may know, doing business in China is actually not as straightforward as it might appear, although the potential is beyond any doubt huge.

Is cash too expensive? A glimpse in Australia’s war on cash - Nov 11, 2016
In Australia more and more businesses do not accept cash anymore. According to a report of Westpac Bank, Australia will become cashless by 2020.

India’s battle with the bottle - Nov 9, 2016
A decade ago, India was among the most promising markets for alcohol producers: rising incomes, young population, changing attitude towards alcohol and a taste for western spirits.

“Watch out Chinese banking system, too!” - Nov 7, 2016
Recently, Bank of England required UK financial institutions to disclose in more details their exposure to European banks, with a particular focus on the open positions with Deutsche Bank and MPS.

China’s Housing Market: Will it cool down or burst like last year’s equities bubble? - Nov 5, 2016
Over the past years housing markets in China have been moving in clear up and down cycles, as a result of a combination of monetary and housing policies which had a significant impact on house prices and sales volumes.

JR Kyushu: high yield stock in a low yield country - Nov 4, 2016
On the 25th of October the Japanese government listed JR Kyushu, the branch of the Japan Railways operating in the namesake island of Kyushu.

China: The Recent Uninvited Guest To The M&A Tables - Oct 31, 2016
Chinese companies’ appetite for outbound M&A has nearly tripled in the past three years, moving from $259 billion in 2013 to $735 billion in 2015.

SoftBank and Saudi Arabia $100 Billion Record Tech Fund - Oct 29, 2016
SoftBank's upcoming “marriage” with the Saudi Prince, Mohammed bin Salman al-Saud, will give rise to the biggest fund ever raised. With a total sum of $100 billion the Japanese group will beat the previous record of $21.7 billion set by The Blackstone Group in 2006.

From the Golden Horde to the copper crisis: the sunset of the Mongolian dream - Oct 26, 2016
Mongolia is a resource-rich country landlocked between Russia and China, in past years it experienced a spectacular growth especially thanks to China hunger of raw materials to sustain its double-digit GDP growth.

Redbacks versus Greenbacks: the currency war begins - Oct 23, 2016
Few weeks ago, China’s Renminbi formally became a reserve currency. What’s more, it happened in the same day of 67th anniversary of Communist party rule in China. It is not just a merely economic and technical issue, it seems to be more a political manoeuvre.

Central Banks' Governance: the case of Reserve Bank of India - Oct 7, 2016
Three years ago, Raghuram Rajan, former IMF Chief Economist and professor at the University of Chicago, became the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India during a critical period. At the time, currency was falling, inflation was surging as well as account deficit.

Private investors put China on hold - Oct 5, 2016
Private investments in China are undergoing a sharp decline. Over the first eight months of 2016 they increased by only 2.1% compared to their equivalent figure in 2015: the lowest increase since 2005, when the measurement began.

Is China “building” its growth? - Oct 2, 2016
Economists and in particular asset managers around the world are recently puzzling their minds with the market-scary idea that China’s noteworthy growth is being fueled by an excessively booming housing market.

Japan's "Lost score" continues - Sep 25, 2016
After 2008, financial world deeply changed. The great illusion of uncontrolled, self-regulating free market has been put aside, at least for the moment. Political world is now demanding more regulation and governance, as we can see from the latest recommendations for the banking industry (e.g. Basel Accords).

Mitsubishi motors’ fuel-efficiency falsification - Apr 25, 2016
After last year’s Volkswagen scandal, the automobile industry is once again found guilty to have rigged emissions tests. Exaggerated fuel-economy figures are, unfortunately, nothing new for this kind of sector.

Southeast Asia as the new center of economic gravity - Apr 21, 2016
Two years after China’s One Belt One Road was launched, Chinese investment along both the mainland and maritime routes has surged; various Southeast Asian countries have been engaged through joint ventures with Chinese state-owned enterprises or private entities.

Betting on negative interest rates - Mar 25, 2016
While the global economic landscape is threatened by the latest economic disruptions, world’s main Central Banks are trying to figure out the right policy to implement in order to boost their economies.

What was wrong with the Chinese circuit breakers? - Mar 13, 2016
After two distressing sessions that tripped the breaker and shock global markets, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) decided to suspend the rule arguing it was exacerbating market declines and increasing market volatility.

Circuit breakers in China - Mar 6, 2016
The term “circuit breaker” refers to measures put in place to avert panic in markets by putting temporary halts or a freeze in trading if, for instance, the index in question falls/rises by a pre-determined level

A step into Indonesian economy: sluggish growth and government spending - Mar 5, 2016
Exports have always been the engine of the Indonesian economy, actually the largest of South-Asia, spurring the growth of the country right from when it gained independence in 1945.

M&A: China over US Technology - Feb 28, 2016
The Chinese giant HNA Group, leader in the horizontal diversification policy with an area of activity ranging from construction to air transport, has recently agreed to buy Ingram Micro for $6 bn.

Peer-to-Peer lending in China: revolutionary instrument or just another ponzi scheme - Feb 22, 2016
China is now the largest peer-to-peer (P2P) lending market in the world. The idea is quite simple: enable individuals and small enterprises to borrow and lend money bypassing the official financial intermediaries.

China's buying spree: going big 2016 - Feb 18, 2016
Diversification and inorganic growth are the two key words for most Chinese State-owned corporations. In fact, lately analysts compare this surge of outbound acquisitions of China’s companies to the wave that involved the Japanese in the 80’s.

How can I spend all this cash: Samsung M&A Focus - Feb 15, 2016
It is tough to state whether or not Samsung Electronics Co. has BlackBerry Ltd. in its sights; on the other hand it is quite easy to predict the giant Samsung is going to do “shopping”.

Yuan is going international - Feb 12, 2016
The International Monetary Fund announced on the November 30th that the Yuan is joining the basket of elite reserve currencies which are used as its unit of account by the international organization. The decision will be effective from the 1st of October, 2016.

Where Japan's economy is moving and should we expect another Quantitative Easing Wave in 2016? - Dec 10, 2015
At the end of November the new economic data was released in Japan. After the recession in the Japan’s economy in the middle of the year the figures suggest that the market is starting to recover. There are five key indicators to discuss.

What has the "trough train" brought? - Nov 29, 2015
One year ago China entered a new stage of its liberalization path. At this time the stock connection between Hong Kong and Shanghai began to function, enabling a two-way portfolio investment flows

Dali Food goes public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange - Nov 20, 2015
Significant volatility is persistently characterizing Asian capital markets since this summer’s fears concerning a hypothetic economic slowdown of the Chinese economy.

The impact of China's Central Bank action - Oct 24, 2015
On Friday 23 China’s Central Bank cut benchmark interest rates for the sixth time in the current year to support the Chinese economy which growth expectation is the slowest in 25 years

OPINIONS

The new solutions of the Asset Management industry to negative yields - Mar 16, 2017
On Thursday 9th March, Bocconi Students Capital Markets had the great honour to host at our university as guest speakers Michele Cervone (MD at JP Morgan Asset Management) and Fabio Caiani (MD at Nordea Bank).

Asset Managers: CEOs’ watchdogs or guardian angels? - Feb 28, 2017
On the eve of Enron’s scandal’s fifteenth anniversary, the “Common sense Principles of Corporate Governance”
for U.S. public companies urge further discussion on Corporate Governance issues worldwide.

The controversial return of OPEC - Jan 15, 2017
In what can be defined a historical event, on the 30th of November, after a meeting in Vienna, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries announced a deal to cut oil production by 1.2m barrels a day from 2017.

Can CAT Bonds prevent insurance companies’ bankruptcy due to natural disasters? - Dec 14, 2016
Over the last 20 years the insurance industry has experienced many bankruptcies due to natural disasters.
Indeed, estimating natural disasters’ occurrence probability is highly complicated.

The Implementation Shortfall: Where Paper Trading Meets Real Trading - Nov 1, 2016
This article is intended to shed some light on the main differences between trading on paper and trading in real financial markets, leveraging on some crucial insights provided by André F. Perold in his Implementation Shortfall paper.

Heavyweights keep pace in the robo-advice gold rush - Oct 19, 2016
With the announcement of the UBS robo-advice service’s launch next month, the world of fintech has been buzzing around this topic more than ever.

A new emerging market arises: Cybersecurity! - Oct 1, 2016
Technology and Internet have become part of our life since ‘90s. We have exploited their numerous and incredible advantages so far, however, in recent days, technology and internet have been threating by a great increase in numbers of cyberattacks.

Oil & Oil: endless history - Apr 16, 2016
Saudi Arabia Prince, Mohammed bin Salaman said in a recent interview that the world’s biggest oil exporter could increase daily output of 1ML barrels, reaching a daily production of 11.5 ML barrels.

From the Bazooka to the Helicopter: the war against economic stagnation continues - Apr 14, 2016
With the world economy slowing structurally, driven by the forces for “secular stagnation”, there is a constant debate about what policies to implement in order to tackle the lack of demand that is the very source of the problem.

Apple, still a strong buy - Mar 26, 2016
Apple, the most valuable company in the world, just last week held its famous Keynote, releasing the iPhone SE and the new iPad Pro. Before the Keynote Apple stocks were trading at $106 and now, while I am writing they are trading at around $105.

Negative Interest Rates - Mar 19, 2016
Recently central banks enacted negative interest rates. The main goal for central bankers is to stimulate consumption and investment. According to policy makers, the reduction will push down rates for lending, while not having a negative impact for banks.