1 Vicious selloff in sovereign bonds (Straits Times)
Asian stocks stumbled on Wednesday in sympathy with weak US and European
markets as equities investors were spooked by a vicious selloff in sovereign
bonds globally.
The sudden spike in bond yields is being mirrored by
an equally rapid rally in resources to suggest investors are becoming less concerned
about the danger of deflation. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares
outside Japan was off 0.4 per cent in early trade, led by a 1.2 per cent
decline in Australia.
2 Profits halve at Murdoch’s News Corp (BBC) Rupert
Murdoch's News Corp, owner of The Times, The Sunday Times and The Wall Street
Journal newspapers, saw third quarter net profits fall 52%, compared with the
same period in 2014.
Declining advertising revenues and circulations for
print publications meant profits fell to $23m (£15.2m; €20.6m) for the quarter
ended 31 March. Revenues also slipped 1% to $2.06bn.
Chief executive Robert Thomson highlighted a strong
performance in its property listing business, Realtor.com. Revenues for the
online property division rose 67% to $170m for the quarter, after results from
its Move subsidiary were included.
Newspapers, on the other hand, continued to
struggle, with revenue in News Corp's news and information division falling 9%
overall, as ad revenue declined 12%, and circulation and subscription revenue
fell 6%. But revenue in News Corp's book publishing division, which includes
HarperCollins, rose 14% to $402m over the quarter.
3 UK growth to slow as construction industry
struggles (Katie Allen in The Guardian) Britain’s economy will grow at a slower
pace this year and faces serious risks from weak productivity and a troubled
eurozone, a leading thinktank has warned.
The National Institute of Economic and Social
Research (NIESR) has cut its forecast for growth this year to 2.5%, down from
2.9% pencilled in three months ago and below the 2.8% rate last year. The move
follows much weaker than expected official GDP figures for the first quarter,
which saw Britain’s growth rate halve to 0.3%.
“There are undoubtedly concerns that this quarter is
the harbinger of a pervasive slowdown. However, this is probably just a
temporary deceleration, partly related to a fall in construction output, a
sector that is particularly volatile,” said NIESR’s principal research fellow
Simon Kirby. The troubles of the construction industry were underlined in a
closely watched business survey suggesting that the second quarter kicked off
with a sharp slowdown in activity and new work.
Output and new orders for construction companies
rose at their slowest rates for almost two years, with many builders reporting
that clients were delaying spending decisions before the election. Construction
and manufacturing remain below their pre-crisis strength and NIESR, like other
forecasters, expects most of the momentum for growth this year to come from
consumer spending.
The biggest single uncertainty facing the UK economy
was how quickly productivity can be improved. Echoing warnings from other
economic commentators over the UK’s apparent, and little understood, failure to
raise output per hour worked, NIESR said productivity growth was crucial to
raising living standards. The puzzle remained unsolved, said Kirby.
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