Financial markets are turning their focus to when major central banks will start cutting interest rates, calling time on the most aggressive rate-hiking cycle in decades.
Global banking regulators proposed measures on Thursday to crack down on “unacceptable” attempts by the world’s biggest banks to game rules in a bid to avoid heavier capital requirements.
PKO BP reported a 60% drop in fourth-quarter net profit on Thursday as Poland’s largest bank was hit by a 1.99 billion zloty ($504 million) provision for foreign exchange mortgage loans, sending its shares lower.
Goldman Sachs expects U.S. share buybacks to exceed $1 trillion for the first time in 2025, driven by strong earnings growth from technology companies and looser financial conditions as the Federal Reserve looks to cut interest rates.
Aviva announced a 300 million pound ($382 million) share buyback on Thursday after strong performance in general and health insurance helped the British insurer to a 9% rise in 2023 operating profit, sending its shares higher.
Murmurs are growing that the Federal Reserve might resist cutting interest rates at all this year as corporate and household balance sheets look to have taken only a glancing hit from rate hikes to date.
Hapoalim , one of Israel’s two largest banks, reported a slight rise in quarterly profit helped by lower expenses and said it was well prepared to cope with the potential effects of Israel’s war against Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.
Italy’s Nexi forecast a rise in sales and core profit this year after hitting its 2023 goals, but said a low share price and tough market backdrop in the payments industry had prompted it write down its goodwill, yielding a net loss.
Troubled property lender Deutsche Pfandbriefbank on Thursday revealed it has billions of euros of loans outstanding for unfinished building sites in Germany as it halted lending in the U.S. and braced for a further drop in real estate prices.
