#7 US dress rehearsal

The US issued a total of $96 billion of 2, 5 and 7 year-notes this week, the largest slate of fixed-rate coupon sales since 2014.

“This week is basically just a dress rehearsal to what is bound to be one of the more interesting Treasury refunding meetings we’ve had in recent years,” said Gennadiy Goldberg, senior U.S. rates strategist at TD Securities in a Bloomberg Markets article. “There’s a lot of supply coming, which is probably the understatement of the century."


#6 First $100 billion company for India in a decade

Ten years ago, the first Indian company to hit the $100 billion mark was Reliance Industries Ltd. This week, it was Tata Consultancy Services Ltd that hit this remarkable milestone. Bloomberg Technology reports that the company reached the $100 billion after a 4.6% increase on Monday following the better-than-expected earnings.


#5 Goldman’s first crypto hire

Goldman Sachs seems to be getting more serious about finding ways for its clients to invest in cryptocurrencies, CNBC reported earlier this week. The American investment bank recently welcomed its first crypto-hire with the appointment of Justin Schmidt as its head of digital asset markets.


#4 Britain’s surplus

There was not just good news for the UK on the royal baby front this week. On Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that Britain is in surplus on its day-to-day budget for the first fiscal year since the early 2000s.

According to Bloomberg, figures from the Office for National Statistics show that the UK’s revenue exceeded its spending by £112 million in the 12 months through March. This means that the country is now borrowing only to finance its capital investments.


#3 The world’s number one mobile banking area

Bloomberg Markets shared an interesting graph based on data from the World Bank Global Findex Database on Tuesday. The chart shows the number of people that use their mobile phones to bank. Unlike what you might expect, this number is the highest in sub-Saharan Africa.


#2 US T-Notes climb above 3%

On Wednesday, the 10-year US Treasury bond yield hit the 3% mark, something that happened last in 2014. Among other things, yields are rising because of the rising US inflation, the increasing oil price, and the Fed’s plans for three more interest rate hikes this year.

We wrote an article about the US Treasury bonds yield reaching 3% earlier this week.


#1 Swedish krona tumbles

The Swedish central bank - the Riksbank - pushed back its first interest rate increase once more this week, the Financial Times reported on Thursday. As a result, the Swedish currency, the krona, tumbled all the way back to its lowest level since the end of the 2009 crisis.
 
In the same FT article, Mr. Goltermann - economist at ING - says he is not overly optimistic that a Swedish rate increase is likely to happen in the near future.


# Bonus Tweet: Korean peace?

We mentioned a potential Korean breakthrough in last week’s trending financial Tweets and today said breakthrough seems to have become reality. Earlier this Friday, Bloomberg Politics reported that the two Koreas have agreed to end their decade-long war this year.

Pictures of a smiling Kim Jong Un and Moon-Jae shaking hands are going around the world and although this is just the beginning, it seems as if the Koreans are one step closer towards a long-awaited return of peace on their peninsula. Story to be continued...

 

That’s the last April round-up all done. Of course, we’ll keep on top of the latest Tweets and we’ll continue to bring you the most trending financial micro-messages from the web. See you back here next Friday.


Source:
www.scoopnest.com