27 November 2018
Question: How many people over 60 in the U.S. have student loan debt?
Bitcoin loses three-quarters of value this year as investors face crisis of faith – Pg. 1
– Less than a year after it surged close to $20,000, bitcoin was down 12% at $3,720 by the end of the European day, after dropping below the $4,000 mark on Saturday…
– The fall comes in the wake of a broad cryptocurrency sell-off sparked by disagreements within the coin developer community, persistent concerns over regulatory scrutiny and growing doubts on whether cryptocurrencies will become a secure means of exchange
– Bitcoin is close to a “capitulation moment” when investors lose confidence and bail out,…
– The most recent collapse was sparked by a “hard fork” in bitcoin cash, as bitcoin developers argued over the direction of the cryptocurrency. That prompted a split this month into two separate coins, one called Cash and one called SV
ECB’s corporate exit leaves bond traders on edge – Pg. 19
– The ECB is widely expected to stop making additional purchases under its so-called corporate sector purchase programme, or CSPP, next year – instead, replacing only existing bonds when they mature
– The BoE bought small amounts of corporate bonds in the wake of the financial crisis and briefly resumed the scheme after the Brexit vote. But these purchases paled in comparison to the ECB’s quantitative easing programme, in which the central bank has snapped up a fifth of all eligible euro corporate bonds
– While the BoE steered completely clear of buying in the primary market – when companies are initially raising money – the ECB has actively supported new bond sales
– When placing orders for new bond sales, the ECB explicitly chose not to evaluate the credit quality of a given company, instead simply assessing whether the bond met its technical criteria – including a need to be rated investment grade
– While it tried not to set the price on a sale, the fact the central bank would match the tightest offers in a deal’s order book meant it naturally helped bankers limit the cost of debt for their corporate clients
– A lot of anxiety in the US has focused on the ballooning amount of triple B rated bonds, the lowest rung of the investment grade world
Answer: 2.8m