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Trade war is tougher threat than COVID for emerging market cenbanks, IMF says

Trade war is tougher threat than COVID for emerging market cenbanks, IMF says

Yahooa day ago

(Reuters) -The shock from trade war brings differential effects for central banks in emerging markets, in contrast with the COVID pandemic, when they could quickly ease monetary policy, the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Gita Gopinath said.
In an interview with the Financial Times newspaper, the fund's first deputy managing director said the unpredictable impact of tariffs on developing economies and global markets would make the task of their central bankers harder.
"This time the challenge is going to be greater for them, compared to the pandemic," she said.

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ECB policymakers debate risk of inflation going too low
ECB policymakers debate risk of inflation going too low

Yahoo

time37 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

ECB policymakers debate risk of inflation going too low

By Balazs Koranyi and Francesco Canepa FRANKFURT (Reuters) -European Central Bank policymakers hailed victory over runaway inflation on Friday even as some warned that it was now at risk of going too low, rekindling memories of anaemic price growth in the pre-pandemic decade. The ECB cut interest rates on Thursday for the eighth time in the past year and signalled at least a pause in policy easing next month since inflation was now safely back at its 2% target after three years of overshooting. Part of the argument for the pause is that economic growth is better than feared, a premise underpinned by fresh data showing the euro zone economy grew by 0.6% in the first quarter, above the 0.3% estimated earlier, and retail sales were also robust. However, the strong growth figure is an anomaly, many economists say. It was driven by frontloaded exports to the United States before tariffs kicked in and data was especially distorted by Ireland, where growth is fuelled largely by activity among big foreign companies based there for tax reasons. Portuguese policymaker Mario Centeno, who has long warned about the risk of price growth going too low, said his colleagues should be alert inflation dipping too far below 2%. "The inflation rate (in the euro zone) is currently below 2% and this downward trend will worsen until the beginning of next year, when it will approach the dangerous level of 1%, or slightly above that," he said in Lisbon. "This is a scenario that should alert us," he said. Finland's Olli Rehn said there was a particular risk from the escalation of the trade war with the U.S. and the outlook was so complex, the ECB's adverse scenario could not take into account all outcomes. "For example, serious disruptions to supply chains and disruptions in financial markets have been excluded from the analysis," Rehn said in a blog post. Part of the reason inflation could go lower is that Germany, the bloc's biggest economy, will stagnate this year, marking the third year of zero or negative growth as its long-predicted recovery keeps getting pushed further and further out. While Germany's new government plans to sharply increase fiscal spending on defence and infrastructure, this will not significantly boost growth until the end of 2027, the Bundesbank said as it cut growth projections for this year and next. "Concerns about a persistent undershoot may soon resurface, especially if trade tensions escalate, weighing on demand," Oxford Economics said in a note. Others took a more benign view that was more in line with the ECB's view that inflation will rebound and hit the bank's 2% target. "The ECB's 2% inflation target has essentially been achieved," Estonian policymaker Madis Müller said. "The expected economic growth in the next couple of years is also likely to be quite moderate, which means that there is no reason to worry too much about price pressure related to the heating up of the economic environment." Latvia's Martins Kazaks said he was also comfortable with the outlook and made the case for the ECB to take a break in cutting rates, partly to preserve policy space and to await fresh data. "I don't think the market should expect the trajectory of cutting rates at every meeting to continue," he told Reuters. "There is no need and there is value in maintaining policy space."

UK to end ban on retail investors buying crypto exchange-traded notes
UK to end ban on retail investors buying crypto exchange-traded notes

Yahoo

time43 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

UK to end ban on retail investors buying crypto exchange-traded notes

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain's financial regulator is to remove a ban on consumers buying crypto exchange-traded notes (ETNs), ditching its previous position of wanting to keep them out of the hands of retail investors. The Financial Conduct Authority said on Friday that allowing retail investors to buy ETNs would support growth and competitiveness, in the latest sign that the UK is shifting its approach to crypto as the government seeks to grow the economy and support a digital assets industry. Last year the FCA had approved the launch of crypto ETNs for professional traders but banned retail investors from access, calling the products "ill-suited" because of "the harm they pose". "We want to rebalance our approach to risk and lifting the ban would allow people to make the choice on whether such a high-risk investment is right for them given they could lose all their money," David Geale, executive director of payments and digital assets at the FCA, said in a statement on Friday. The proposal will now go out for consultation. Britain in April published draft laws for bringing cryptocurrencies under compulsory regulation for the first time, aligning it with the United States' approach, rather than the European Union, which has built rules tailored to the industry. To be sold to individual consumers, the ETNs will need to be traded on an FCA-approved investment exchange, the regulator said. A ban on retail investors trading cryptoasset derivatives would remain, the watchdog added.

Arketa Raises $15 Million To Power The Next Trip To Your Yoga Class
Arketa Raises $15 Million To Power The Next Trip To Your Yoga Class

Forbes

timean hour ago

  • Forbes

Arketa Raises $15 Million To Power The Next Trip To Your Yoga Class

Think this is nice? It's a version of the weekly Under 30 newsletter and would be even better in your inbox. courtesy of Arketa Years spent behind check-in desks at yoga studios across California taught Rachel Lea Fishman one thing: The industry was in need of a warm up. 'Part of working behind the desk is seeing all the softwares that you either love, or love to hate,' she said. Fishman found herself falling into the latter thanks to the archaic and fragmented tools to check clients in, charge them for classes, answer their FAQs, and market to new students. To make the process easier for studio owners and instructors alike, she cofounded Arketa, a software company that helps fitness studios better manage operations in 2020. This March, Arketa closed a $15 million Series A, led by Inspired Capital, bringing their total funding to nearly $23 million. But, like any fitness class, Arketa's journey had its fair share of tough positions. A month after she joined forces with her cofounder Josh Archer (both of whom made the 30 Under 30 list in 2024) to officially launch the software in February 2020, Covid hit. And in-person fitness studios—their primary user base—shut down. Instead of pausing operations, however, they pivoted to meet the changing demands of the industry. 'Covid took the chessboard that was the fitness industry and totally flipped it on its head,' she said. 'Instructors used to think, 'I have to work for a big box gym in order to teach,' and studio owners used to think 'I can only open up 10 studios in order to scale,' and 'If I switch from my dinosaur software, the whole world is going to go upside down.'' But in hindsight, Covid became a necessary push to change the way fitness instructors and studios operated, and Arketa began building technologies to support the new wave. They launched tools for digital teaching libraries, virtual classes, and more. From the beginning it was built as fully-white labeled software to accommodate for the variety of ways Covid-era studios connected with clients. And to this day, Arketa continues to support fitness studios and other wellness spaces—from cold plunges to cryotherapy treatment centers—regardless of what types of services they provide, or where. The fully-customizable features set them apart from competitors like MindBody (one of the biggest class booking platforms today), because studios can seamlessly integrate Arketa into their stack. 'You remember the makeup brand that was like, 'Maybe she's born with it. Maybe it's Mabelline?'' Fishman said. 'That's like Arketa. You don't know unless you know, because it is so white labeled.' To continue innovating, Arketa is now focused on implementing AI to make the processes even smoother. That's what much of their new funding is going to support. Fishman initially used AI to help the internal Arketa team be more productive across engineering and marketing. Now they're using AI for client-facing chatbots (that will answer FAQs like 'do you have showers' or 'what's the parking like' in 30 seconds or less), generating leads to their studios, and more. If a small business is 'not picking up on AI and capturing all these new technologies, they're just falling behind,' Fishman said. Her goal is to prevent that from happening. See you next week, Alex & Zoya Cody Pickens for Forbes Not unlike his The White Lotus character Saxon Ratliff, Patrick Schwarzenegger loves his protein. Along with starring in the hit HBO show set in Thailand, the son of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver is the cofounder of protein bar brand Mosh, which he launched with his mom. The bars are bringing in $20 million in annual revenue, he told Forbes. 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