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What Is Ant Group? Ant Group is a large Chinese financial services and technology company that is closely affiliated with Alibaba, the giant Chinese ecommerce site. Ant was founded in 2004 and then spun off as a separate company in 2014. Alibaba still owns a 33% stake in Ant. Ant is the parent company of Alipay, China's largest mobile payments platform, which was created largely to facilitate spending on Alibaba.…
What Are Investment-grade Bonds? Investment-grade bonds—also known as "high-grade" bonds—are debt securities issued by corporations and municipal governments that are generally considered to have a low risk of default. Bonds in this category are generally rated Baa or better by Moody's Investors Services and BBB or higher by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings, the three main credit rating agencies. By contrast, bonds rated below these designations are called non-investment…
What Are Animal Spirits? "Animal spirits" is a term coined by the British economist John Maynard Keynes to describe emotional or "gut" instincts by investors and businesspeople to take risks rather than based on any empirical evidence. Writing in his 1936 classic, "The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money," during the Great Depression, Keynes described animal spirits as "a spontaneous urge to action rather than inaction, and not as…
A U.S. administration headed by former Vice President Joe Biden is likely to take a different turn from the outgoing President Donald Trump administration when it comes to financial and economic matters. Trump was distinctly more pro-business and market friendly, reversing or rolling back many of the regulations and laws enacted by President Barack Obama. However, Biden is likely to do the same to many of Trump's policies and revert…
Political uncertainty is a key forex market driver, stimulating participation, order flow and volatility. Whether it's a forced regime change or democratic election, politics can quickly sway currency valuations around the globe. Accordingly, one of the most important forex market fundamentals is a U.S. General Election. Held on Tuesday, 3 November 2020, the U.S. General Election will decide the American government's makeup for years to come. Seats in the Senate…
Throughout the U.S. electoral cycle of 2020, a collection of unique events drove a spirited race for the White House. Dubbed by political pundits as "the most important election of our time," Election 2020 featured incumbent Republican Donald Trump against Democratic challenger Joe Biden. Issues such as social welfare, homeland security, economic growth and the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic defined the contest. From an economic standpoint, the difference between Trump and…
The government and the Reserve Bank of Australia, like their counterparts in other major countries, have enacted several measures to protect and stimulate their economies in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Reserve Bank And Banking System On 3 March the Reserve Bank's board lowered its benchmark cash rate, which is the interest rate on unsecured overnight loans between banks, by 25 basis points to 0.50% and said it "is…
Reserve Bank of New Zealand On 16 March the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ), the country's central bank, lowered its Official Cash Rate from 1.0% to 0.25% and said it would remain at that level "for at least the next 12 months." The RBNZ announced that it would delay by 12 months the start date of increased capital requirements for banks until 1 July 2021, and said it would…
Canadian Government On 13 March the government announced the creation of a CA$10 billion Business Credit Availability Program (BCAP) to support financing in the private sector through the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) and Export Development Canada (EDC). Under this program, BDC and EDC will increase their cooperation with private sector lenders to coordinate financing and credit insurance solutions for Canadian businesses. The government also announced a series of…
United States Government As the world's largest economy, the U.S. has been at the forefront of taking the initiative to help its citizens and businesses survive financially during the shutdown and help them get back on their feet afterward. The main action taken by the government was the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, a more than US$2 trillion economic relief package that includes several important programs and…
From a financial historian's perspective, 2020 will go down as one of the most active years in the modern era. A number of events sent the capital markets into a state of flux, namely the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Amid the presence of COVID-19 and subsequent economic shutdown, the world's currency, commodity, debt and equity markets experienced unprecedented volatility. Governments and central banking authorities took dramatic steps to stem the tides…
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