Aurelia Butler

Here are some excerpts from their interviews at the Reuters NEXT conference in New York:BRIAN MOYNIHAN, CEO AT BANK OF AMERICA * SOFT LANDING EXPECTATIONS”Our research team is the best in the business. They have moved to the soft landing category. They have a slowdown in the economy in the middle of next year.” * RATE HIKE EXPECTATIONS”You’re seeing a precipitous slowdown in consumer spending… Financial conditions have tightened. Loans are more expensive so people aren’t borrowing as much. Mortgage rates have moved up and the housing market has slowed down.””We have one more rate increase, whether that happens or not. And then starting to bring them down in the second half of next year.” * ON INFLATION COMING BACK TO 2% RANGE”It takes to the end of ’25 to get inflation down to the low twos level.” * ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL AND GOVERNANCE (ESG) ISSUES”On a given day, we are criticized for being a large lender to energy companies. On the same day, we are criticized for being a large renewable lender. So you gotta have it right if everybody doesn’t like you.” * ON SUCCESSION”We have a succession planning exercise … nothing is left to chance here, when I decide or the board decides that my time is up we will activate that plan.” * ON DEALING WITH POTENTIAL CYBERSECURITY THREATS”You keep dedicating more resources. You cooperate heavily among the industry and with the government.””The real value is, over the last 10 years, the administration cooperation with the private sector has been much increased. That’s helpful because the information can flow faster and we can defend ourselves better.”HOLLY O’NEILL, PRESIDENT, RETAIL BANKING AT BANK OF AMERICA * CONSUMER SPENDING”There’s a lot of uncertainty across the globe, for sure, and I think that weighs on them but when you look at the actual health of the consumer, it is very strong.” * CAPITAL RULES”The biggest risk is the disruption from regulation and the impact that will have on the system and then the downstream impact on the consumer.”JIM ESPOSITO, CO-HEAD OF GLOBAL BANKING AND MARKETS AT GOLDMAN SACHS * TRADING AND INVESTMENT BANKING”We’re sitting on what is one of the more interesting trading environments in my career. For the medium term, the dealmaking environment will indeed be a little bit less robust.” * BOND MARKETS”There is a little bit of a supply-demand imbalance in government bond markets.”SOLITA MARCELLI, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER AMERICAS FOR UBS GLOBAL WEALTH MANAGEMENT * INVESTMENT TRENDS”Clients are slowly moving out of cash” into fixed income, “we really caution them to not go that much longer out on the curve because the longer end is more susceptible to technical factors like supply.” To view the live broadcast of the World Stage go to the Reuters NEXT news page: https://www.reuters.com/world/reuters-next/ More

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A key reform proposed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to boost the use of central clearing in the Treasury market would need to be implemented over an extended period to avoid disruptions at a time of already turbulent market dynamics, BNY Mellon (NYSE:BK) said on Wednesday.The SEC central clearing rule, first proposed in September last year, would apply to the cash Treasury and repurchase agreements (repo) markets, where banks and other players such as hedge funds borrow short-term loans backed by Treasuries and other securities.Under the rule, more trades would be sent to a clearing house, requiring counterparties to put up cash to guarantee execution in the event of defaults.The regulator is expected to finalize the rule soon, but it is unclear how much time the industry would have to implement it. Some market participants worry that the higher trading costs linked to central clearing could discourage certain investors from trading, undermining the rule’s objective to improve liquidity and resilience in the world’s biggest bond market.”We’re in a period when the Treasury market needs to be relied upon for its safety and liquidity,” Nate Wuerffel, head of market structure at BNY Mellon, said in an interview.”And if on top of that you’re trying to implement very rapidly a fundamental reassembly of the Treasury market, that’s when you run the risk of having market functioning deteriorate.”Liquidity crunches in recent years have raised regulatory concerns about the Treasury market’s ability to function during times of stress. Notably, in March 2020 the market seized up as pandemic fears gripped investors, prompting the Federal Reserve to buy Treasuries to support the market.The rule would likely be implemented at a crucial time for bond investors. The Federal Reserve is reducing its Treasury security holdings as part of quantitative tightening, the Treasury plans to issue more debt to fund rising fiscal deficits, and investors are adjusting to the fastest increase in interest rates in at least 40 years.”An extended implementation timeline in the final rule could substantially lower the risk that the transition itself could worsen market functioning,” Wuerffel said in a note on Wednesday. More

(Reuters) -Lyft reported third-quarter revenue and profit surpassing estimates on Wednesday, but gross bookings growth was lower than larger rival Uber (NYSE:UBER)’s ride-hailing business.Gross bookings, which is a metric Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) started disclosing in the third quarter measuring total transaction value on its platform, grew 15% from a year earlier, compared with a 31% jump in Uber’s mobility business.Shares of Lyft fell nearly 4% in extended trading.While analysts and investors believe Lyft will maintain its position as the second-largest ride-hailing platform, they said it is more susceptible to economic uncertainty.”Softening macro conditions will likely impact Lyft more than its larger peer, Uber,” said Angelo Zino, senior equity analyst at CFRA Research.Lyft commands 29% of the ride-hailing market as of September, slightly higher than the 27% market share it had at the start of the year, according to YipitData, after it said it will price its rides competitively rival Uber.”While operating from a more efficient cost structure is certainly part of our formula, it is by no means the only part of the margin expansion equation,” Chief Financial Officer Erin Brewer told Reuters.Brewer added that an improved mix of airport rides, scheduled rides and priority pickups also helped margin expansion.Lyft forecast current-quarter adjusted core profit, a key profitability metric closely watched by investors, of $50 million-$60 million, higher than expectations of $48.8 million, according to LSEG data.Adjusted profit in the third quarter stood at 24 cents per share, compared with estimates of 13 cents.Lower prices helped Lyft serve 22.4 million active riders, which jumped 10% compared with a year earlier.Lyft said it expects fourth-quarter revenue to grow in mid-single-digits sequentially, compared with market expectation of 4.6% growth, according to Reuters calculations.Revenue grew 10% to $1.16 billion in the quarter ended Sept. 30, surpassing analysts’ average estimate of $1.14 billion. Lyft’s adjusted core earnings of $92 million in the third quarter topped expectations of $82.6 million. More

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