Markets advance on tariff relief | Calamatta Cuschieri

Rallies in the markets, Warren Buffet’s stake in Amazon and big banks fined for rigging Forex

U.S. stocks recovered from early morning losses Wednesday after reports that the Trump administration was taking steps to ratchet down trade tensions with the European Union, Canada and Mexico. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 116 points, or 0.5% to 25,648 while the S&P gained 0.6% or around 17 points higher to 2,851. The Nasdaq Composite index climbed 1.1%, or 88 points, to close the session at 7,822.

European markets also turned around and closed higher on the news that President Donald Trump plans to delay the implementation of auto tariffs on European car imports. The pan-European STOXX 600 closed up 0.39% as autos jumped 2.02 percent reversing their poor recent performance.

Maltese markets meanwhile slipped lower as the MSE Equity Total Return Index closed down 0.035% to 9,608.251 with RS2 Software Plc shares posting a 3.23% loss at €1.50. Trident Estates Plc led the gains with shares closing up 2.04% at €1.50 followed by International Hotels Investments which gained 1.27% to close at €0.80.

Berkshire Hathaway’s Amazon stake

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc said it owned $860.6 million of Amazon.com Inc shares at the end of March, after the billionaire admitted to underestimating the online retailer and its Chief Executive Jeff Bezos. Wednesday’s filing includes investments by Buffett and his portfolio managers Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, but does not say who bought and sold what.

The investment tightens the relationship between Buffett and fellow billionaire Bezos, whose companies teamed up last year with JPMorgan Chase & Co to create a venture, Haven, to reduce their employees’ healthcare costs. Investors monitor Berkshire’s quarterly filings for signs about how and where Buffett, Combs and Weschler see value, and stock prices often rise when Berkshire discloses new stakes.

Banks fined for Forex rigging

EU antitrust regulators on Thursday fined Barclays, Citigroup, JPMorgan, MUFG and Royal Bank of Scotland a total of 1.07 billion euros ($1.2 billion) for rigging the spot foreign exchange market for 11 currencies. Swiss bank UBS was exempted from a 285 million euro fine since it alerted the existence of two cartels to the European Commission. The financial industry has been hit with billion euro fines worldwide in the last decade for rigging key benchmarks.

The EU investigation that has been ongoing for the past six years revealed that some individual traders from various banks in charge of forex trading — a form of trading executed on an intra-day basis — exchanged sensitive information and trading plans through various online professional chat rooms.
 

This article was issued by Peter Petrov, junior trader at Calamatta Cuschieri. For more information visit, www.cc.com.mt. The information, view and opinions provided in this article are being provided solely for educational and informational purposes and should not be construed as investment advice, advice concerning particular investments or investment decisions, or tax or legal advice. Calamatta Cuschieri Investment Services Ltd has not verified and consequently neither warrants the accuracy nor the veracity of any information, views or opinions appearing on this website.