ECB's Holzmann Sees Disinflationary Impact From US Tariffs
The hawkish Austrian policymaker also said the lack of clarity over the situation means the ECB's next interest-rate decisions are 'completely open.'
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Newsweek
a day ago
- Newsweek
OPEC+ Countries Agree to Boost Oil Production: What to Know
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC+) on Sunday announced plans to increase oil production by over half a million barrels per day for September as concerns over supply disruptions persist. The eight members of OPEC+ held a virtual meeting in response to U.S. pressure on some nations—such as India—to halt all Russian oil purchases in an additional move aimed at pressuring Moscow to end its ongoing conflict in Ukraine. However, OPEC+ said it would increase output due to a healthy economy and low oil inventory, with oil prices remaining at a higher level even as output has increased from members. Newsweek reached out to the White House and Department of Energy (DOE) by email on Sunday outside of normal business hours for comment. Why It Matters President Donald Trump in last year's presidential campaign promised to tackle a number of major targets, including an end to the Russia-Ukraine war and lowering prices for Americans amid high inflation. Russian President Vladimir Putin's resistance to diplomatic efforts has frustrated Trump and forced the U.S. to seek more creative means to try and achieve an end to the war that began in February 2022. What To Know The U.S. has looked at imposing tariffs on Russia and convincing countries that still purchase Russian oil to switch to other sources. Some feared that these actions could drive up gas prices for Americans, as well. However, those fears appear to have been averted as OPEC+ agreed to increase production, providing a healthy alternative to Russian oil. OPEC+ includes Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman. It remains unclear how this could impact Russia's other sales and negotiations. OPEC+ has made voluntary production cuts since November 2023, with plans to phase those cuts out by September 2026, but the announcement means that the countries will increase output for the second time this year—following July's announcement of a similar increase in August—and effectively ending the program early. Prices have remained at the higher rate of around $70 a barrel for Brent crude despite the increased output, however, raising some doubts as to what impact the increased output might have on gas prices. An Austrian soldier stands outside of the building headquarters of OPEC (Organization of The Petroleum Exporting Countries) in Vienna, Austria on May 28. An Austrian soldier stands outside of the building headquarters of OPEC (Organization of The Petroleum Exporting Countries) in Vienna, Austria on May 28. Joe Klamar/AFP via Getty Images What People Are Saying President Donald Trump last week wrote on Truth Social, in part: "We have just concluded a Deal with the Country of Pakistan, whereby Pakistan and the United States will work together on developing their massive Oil Reserves. We are in the process of choosing the Oil Company that will lead this Partnership. Who knows, maybe they'll be selling Oil to India some day!" Mark Temnycky, a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank's Eurasia Center, previously told Newsweek: "If the U.S. follows with new restrictions or tariffs, Americans could see higher energy prices, especially at the gas pump and in sectors tied closely to fuel, like transportation and manufacturing." He added: "These cost increases may filter down to everyday goods as companies adjust for rising input expenses. In addition, inflation will be a concern for many American consumers and policymakers." What Happens Next? The members will meet again in September for further discussions and adjustments to production. This article includes reporting by the Associated Press.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
For US Companies, Europe Is Hard to Resist: Credit Weekly
(Bloomberg) -- Companies are increasingly looking to Europe to raise money cheaply, a shift that is turning out to be a near-term positive for US corporate debt. The World's Data Center Capital Has Residents Surrounded An Abandoned Art-Deco Landmark in Buffalo Awaits Revival We Should All Be Biking Along the Beach Seeking Relief From Heat and Smog, Cities Follow the Wind San Francisco in Talks With Vanderbilt for Downtown Campus Verizon Communications Inc. this week sold €2 billion ($2.31 billion) of debt, its first deal in the European market since early 2024. Earlier in July, FedEx Corp. and PepsiCo Inc. both sold debt in the common currency, their first offerings there since 2021. US companies have sold €116.3 billion ($134 billion) of debt in Europe this year, known as reverse yankee issuance, just €4.4 billion shy of an annual record with about five months left in the year. Some corporations, like FedEx and PepsiCo, are just refinancing euro debt that's maturing, but the aggregate figure is higher with good reason: the European Central Bank is in active rate cutting mode amid muted inflation pressures, while the US hasn't cut rates since December. 'From an issuer's point of view, it's less expensive to borrow in euros,' said Gordon Shannon, a portfolio manager at TwentyFour Asset Management. The outlook for US rates in the coming months is getting hazier. A report on Friday said job growth slowed sharply over the past three months and the unemployment rate rose, signaling the labor market is shifting into a lower gear and giving the Federal Reserve more leeway to cut rates. US Treasury yields dropped, but to levels seen in early July. Even with Friday's market moves, borrowing in Europe remains cheaper. For borrowers that hedge, that dynamic may change in the coming days. Even so, over time the shift is probably toward more company bond sales in Europe, according to Hans Mikkelsen, US credit strategist at Toronto-Dominion Bank's TD Securities. As the US continues to impose more tariffs on other countries, including fresh levies announced on Thursday, foreign investors may have a 'natural tendency' to buy less US corporate bonds in favor of Euro-denominated corporate debt, Mikkelsen said in an interview. That decrease in demand will lead companies to seek out investors where they are. 'It's a bit of a long-term structural development where you'll see more US companies ease into those other markets,' Mikkelsen said in an interview. 'There will be less demand for US corporate bonds and more demand for non-US corporate bonds. US companies will have the same issuance needs. So they have to realize that they have to fund themselves more in other currencies.' In addition to US companies looking to borrow in euros, European companies are increasingly shying away from borrowing in dollars. In July, reverse yankee issuance was about $9 billion, compared with $3 billion on average for the month over the prior three years, according to Mikkelsen. European companies, on the other hand, borrowed a little more than $2 billion in dollars in July, compared with $13 billion a month on average for the prior three years. Those shifts toward European issuance go a long way toward explaining why US dollar bond sales fell short of Wall Street dealers' forecasts last month, Mikkelsen wrote. Dealers had forecast sales of around $100 billion for July, while actual sales were closer to about $81 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News. In the near term, anything that reduces selling volume, known as a technical factor, could help keep spreads on US high-grade corporate bonds relatively tight. At the same time, demand, also a technical factor, remains strong globally, with cash gushing into credit funds. US company debt faces a series of pressures now, but valuations for much of the past week were at their strongest level of the year, with spreads at just 0.76 percentage point as of Thursday's close. 'If you take this overarching trend of net supply being down, banks issuing less because of regulatory reform expectations as was the case this past quarter and more US companies are issuing in Europe, all that does is further reinforce the positive technicals in the US market,' according to John Servidea, global co-head of investment-grade finance at JPMorgan Chase & Co. Week In Review US leveraged-loan issuance reached a fresh record in July, as junk-rated borrowers flocked to the market largely to reprice debt, saving companies millions in interest expenses. Deutsche Bank has seen its league table rankings drop in leveraged finance, to no. 8 from no. 1 in 2014. The bank has gotten tangled up in a series of difficult deals, and has faced internal and regulatory pressure to shrink the business, according to people familiar with the matter. Centerbridge Partners joined the ranks of many alternatives managers that see accessing 401(k) retirement funds as a logical next step for private credit firms. But while many are welcoming a future where 401(k) retirement vehicles have access to private investments, Sixth Street Partners' Co-Chief Investment Officer Josh Easterly is urging caution. Chinese developer Fantasia Holdings Group Co. plans to release a new restructuring plan in the coming weeks after previous attempts fizzled, underscoring the years-long struggle of builders to move past an unprecedented property crisis. In the US investment-grade bond market, Lazard Inc. sold $300 million of notes to refinance debt maturing in 2027, while Sherwin-Williams Co. sold $1.5 billion in three tranches. In Europe, UK utility Southern Water Ltd. sold the biggest sterling corporate bond in nearly 18 months as it seeks to shore up its finances, while General Motors Financial Co Inc. and Severn Trent sold impromptu euro debt offerings. Harley-Davidson Inc. said it plans to sell a nearly 10% stake in its finance unit along with more than $5 billion of retail loans to KKR & Co. and Pacific Investment Management Co. Bloomberg had previously reported that the firms were in advanced talks. Wall Street has a familiar gripe about the bots that now handle a growing share of trading in the corporate bond market: they are there to buy and sell your bonds, right up until you really need them. In periods of severe market stress, these computer-driven programs have historically struggled to keep up, forcing traders to turn them off. But in April, the algos showed signs of learning to stay online even when volatility spikes. A UK carpet firm that once supplied the British royal family has been scrambling for months to manage its looming debt maturities. It found a solution in an unlikely place: US distressed debt funds. EchoStar Corp., the broadband company that's missed debt payments, is being pushed by federal regulators to sell some of its airwaves to address concerns it has failed to put valuable slices of wireless spectrum to use. Legal software provider Dye & Durham Ltd. launched a review of strategic options, including a potential sale, in a bid to maximize shareholder value after reaching a truce with one of its largest investors. On the Move Oliver Thym, a partner at Thoma Bravo, is leaving the firm after more than five years as its most senior credit executive. Thym, who oversaw Thoma Bravo's credit funds and strategic debt investments, will transition out of his role by the end of this year as the firm adds Jeff Levin and Kunal Soni who previously worked at Morgan Stanley. Oaktree Capital Management hired two executives from Bain Capital and Intermediate Capital Group as it builds out its Europe direct lending business. Alessandro Nuti, who worked at Bain for over seven years, is joining as a managing director, while Kieran Thind is joining from Intermediate Capital as a senior vice president. CoBank recruited Aimee Evans as syndicate head of sales, capital markets. Evans previously worked at BMO Capital Markets as a managing director, and spent about a decade at Bank of the West before it was acquired by BMO. Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.'s head of loan origination for East Asia, Hong Kong-based Wami Ha, is retiring after more than 30 years working in the banking sector. Separately, SMBC appointed former Morgan Stanley managing director Joy Kwek as head of capital markets and solutions for Asia Pacific — a newly created role based in Singapore. --With assistance from Tasos Vossos. How Podcast-Obsessed Tech Investors Made a New Media Industry Everyone Loves to Hate Wind Power. Scotland Found a Way to Make It Pay Off Russia Builds a New Web Around Kremlin's Handpicked Super App Cage-Free Eggs Are Booming in the US, Despite Cost and Trump's Efforts What's Really Behind Those Rosy GDP Numbers? ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
‘I've seen F1 go from a man's world to women at the front of the queue'
When race promoter Ariane Frank-Meulenbelt took over the running of the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2012, Formula One was very much still a man's world. Now, she sees the demographic of both the fans and those who work in motorsport changing. 'It's getting younger. It's getting way more female. I watch the opening of the gates at every grand prix and the thing that really struck me last year was that the first people at the gate were young women,' she says. 'The noses pressed up to the gate were all women.' Having held its inaugural race in 1986, the Hungarian GP was the first and only grand prix to ever be held behind the Iron Curtain. Celebrating its 40th year in 2025, it remains one of the longest running and most popular on the F1 calendar The Formula One Group (FWONK) has an estimated market cap of £24bn, and posted revenue of $3.41bn (£2.54bn) for 2024, up 5.9% annually. How F1 became the family business Frank-Meulenbelt's own entry into the F1 scene started at the age of 14, when the family business – set up by her father, uncle and mother – took over the promotion rights for the Hungarian GP in 1994. 'My father's English was notoriously bad, so he started dragging me with him around the world to help him translate in meetings and in contracts. So I started very young in this business.' Now splitting her time between Budapest and Vienna, Frank-Meulenbelt – officially the vice-president for international relations at the Hungaroring motorsport circuit – spent a stint working for Red Bull in London before returning home to the Austrian capital in 2007 knowing that at some point she was likely to take over the family firm. However, tragedy struck in 2012 with the sudden death of her father and she unexpectedly had to step up and take his place – just weeks before that year's Hungarian GP and with her one-year-old son in tow. 'That was a shock to the system. We all heavily relied on him as a family and also as a business. I mean, he was very much the heart and soul of the F1 business, especially. It was seven weeks before the grand prix and there was no handover,' she recalls. Her father, Tamas Frank, was very much an 'old-style' businessman – 'he was very much relationships, two mobile phones and not much documentation' – so there was very little to work with. But cancelling the event was never in question and she had strong support from then F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone. 'I remember Bernie calling me and saying, 'If you don't want to have the grand prix, let me know and we'll find a solution.' And that hadn't crossed my mind. It was clear we were going to carry on. And, you know, luckily it was a big team and a lot of them have been involved for many, many years, and we made it work.' Despite the tragic circumstances and ensuing challenges, the 2012 Hungarian GP did go ahead and was won by Lewis Hamilton. Not that she really remembers much; it was all an emotional blur. But the race went ahead and that's what mattered. F1 promoter in her own right Fast forward to 2025, and Frank-Meulenbelt has established herself as a race promoter in her own right. Last year alone, a record 300,000 spectators flocked to Budapest for the Hungarian Grand Prix, long deemed a classic on the F1 calendar. She also works closely with the Austrian GP, for which her company sells tickets. Meanwhile, at home, the toddler of 2012 is now a strapping teenager with a younger brother also in double digits. But while she at least had a year at home with her oldest child, the second time round was very different as she had little, if any maternity leave. 'He was in the office with me and I had a lot of help,' she explains. Read more: 'We were told being bald is bad — but our skincare gel hit 8,000 orders in one month' Indeed, Meulenbelt-Frank is the first to admit that juggling a successful career in motorsport with family life is a challenge – particularly with travelling frequently. 'I've got to be honest, it's hard. I can't say that I'm there for every school play or sports tournament. But I've got a very supportive husband and if I'm not there, he is.' They do carve out time as a family wherever possible, though, and the Hungarian GP still sees all family hands on deck. Her older son even had a small role at the 2024 event – just as she had started out with her father. 'That was a full circle moment for me,' she says. Her proudest professional moment, undoubtedly, is helping get Formula One back on the road through COVID, when many teams looked set to fail without sponsorship money. After the start of the 2020 season was cancelled, it came back to life behind closed doors – first in Austria, which held two races, and then Hungary, over three consecutive weekends in July. When first asked whether she could imagine holding a closed-door event in seven weeks' time, Meulenbelt-Frank thought 'have you lost it?'. 'But within about half an hour, we thought let's try and get together with our friends in Austria. We knew that we were going to find a way to get the sport back on the road.' Read more: A naval officer's submarine saga inspired me to become a leader 'Those seven weeks were like reinventing the wheel. Nobody knew how you put on an event with so few people, borders shut and at the height of COVID and testing. But we managed to pull off three successful events between us and that's what got F1 on the road and then other sports like football followed.' After over a decade managing the event herself, such achievements are very much her own. 'I've never thought of myself as 'oh, it's weird because I'm a woman'. For me, it was always strange because I was a daughter. I always thought, I wonder if they're still looking at me as a 14-year-old, or whether they're taking me seriously. 'And that's taken quite a lot of time to say, actually, I'm now known for my own achievements – you know, keeping the business going in COVID and growing the business, making new contracts and seeing the ticket sales for the Hungarian Grand Prix skyrocket. These are achievements I have to credit to myself; there's nobody else around to credit them to.' Times have definitely changed since Frank-Meulenbelt joined the top table in motorsport. Whereas once women in the sport tended to be hospitality and 'grid girls', they are now far more present at every level – from the C-suite down to the fans. Read more: I ditched waking up before 5am every day to grow my luxury bedding brand Much of this reflects wider societal changes, but it is also in large part down to Liberty Media's 2017 takeover of F1, which has seen the sport modernise its business model, expand its global reach and grow its fanbase. Under Liberty's leadership, F1 has also zoomed onto the screens of millions thanks to Netflix series Drive To Survive and thanks to the recently-released F1: The Movie, part of which was filmed at the Hungaroring. 'We'll see whether it's too much for the casual fan, but I think it'll give it the next big push,' she observes. 'The racing scenes are incredible.' As for the young women at the Hungaroring gates who may, one day, want to enter the F1 business… 'I think it's a great thing. And If they think I'm paving the way for them, that's great too.'Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
