A Bloomberg L.P. spokeswoman tweeted that the company had no desire to buy neither Dow Jones nor the Washington Post.
In a tweet that was reposted by the owner and billionaire Michael Bloomberg, spokesman Ty Trippet stated that there had been no discussions with anybody or either organisation regarding an acquisition.
A source familiar with Bloomberg’s thinking claimed the news website Axios reported on Friday that Bloomberg was considering buying either the parent company of the Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones, from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp (NWSA.O), in other words, the Washington Post, owned by Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com (AMZN.O).
It was claimed on Friday, citing sources, that Michael Bloomberg had throughout the years indicated a desire to acquire a well-known newspaper but had not contacted Rupert Murdoch to inquire about a prospective buyer of Dow Jones and its cornerstone publication the Journal.
The Washington Post, that Bezos purchased in 2013 for $250 million, was not up for sale, according to a spokeswoman on Friday.
Antitrust experts concurred that the merging of the Bloomberg and Dow Jones financial news divisions would be closely watched by American authorities, particularly given the Biden administration’s more aggressive enforcement of antitrust laws.
Meanwhile, in 2022, major central banks increased interest rates at the most rapid speed and largest scale in nearly two decades as decision-makers exerted every effort to rein in soaring inflation.
Calculations claimed 54 rate increases by central banks in charge of the 10 most widely traded currencies resulted in a tightening of 2,700 basis points (bps) during the previous year.
All major central banks save the Bank of Japan increased interest rates this year, but officials in Tokyo shocked the market in December with a surprising change to its yield goal, igniting speculation that a real rate increase could be coming soon.
Though against a background of significantly slowing growth, it was primarily the 225 basis point increases made by the U.S. Federal Reserve during the previous 12 months – and the possibility of additional increases in the future – that kept markets on edge.
According to Bank of America Global Research’s David Hauner, lead of developing markets cross-asset strategies and analytics, EMEA, the tightening in the U.S. is essentially one of the steepest in the past 20 years.
He continued by noting that, contrary to what is now believed to be the case, there typically is more than just a little recession when financial conditions are sharply tightened.
Monthly data recorded that seven out of the ten major central banks increased interest rates in December.
The benchmarks were hiked by a total of 300 basis points by the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Bank of Canada, Norway’s Norges Bank, and the Swiss National Bank. Despite the fact that not all central banks convene on a monthly basis, this contrasts with the monthly high of 550 bps in September.
Both the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and the Riksbank of Sweden did not meet to determine interest rates in December.
More signs emerged suggesting the cycle of tightening in developing markets was slowing.
Rate increases from five of the 18 central banks totalled 260 bps in December, lower from 400 bps in November and much below the 800-plus bps monthly totals in June and July.
The majority among these came from officials in Asia, which is lagging behind Latin America and rising Europe in the tightening cycle. Along with Colombia and Mexico, central banks in Indonesia, as well as in India, and the Philippines increased interest rates.
According to Charles-Henry Moncheau, a chief investment officer of Syz Group, a solid faction of emerging market central banks is almost done raising interest rates.
Calculations reveal that this year, emerging market central banks increased rates 93 times, tightening the market by a total of 7,425 basis points (bps)—nearly three times the 2,745 bps contraction in 2021.
Israel, South Africa, Thailand, Korea, South Africa, and South Africa did not organize rate-setting sessions in December.
