“Ethical Markets applauds some of Bloomberg’s plan to rein in Wall Street, particularly the financial transactions tax, which we have advocated for decades, as well as strengthening the Consumers Financial Protection Bureau! A good start, but we hope Bloomberg will go much further to shift financial markets from their obsession with fossilized assets to investing in the global green circular economies worldwide. Let’s also push to correct fraudulent accounting ,both at the corporate and national levels by outlawing the use of “externalities“ to avoid internalizing the social and environmental costs, see our “Ending Externalities: Full-Spectrum Accounting Clarifies Transition Management” (2016). Sound as if Bloomberg agrees with many of Senator Elizabeth Warren’s plans! Stay tuned!
~Hazel Henderson, Editor”
Mike Bloomberg Jeff Kowalsky/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Bloomberg leans left and takes aim at Wall Street |
| Exclusive: We’re the first to report Mike Bloomberg’s proposals for changing how the financial industry is regulated, which he is planning to announce this morning. The plan features ideas that wouldn’t be out of place for Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. |
| Among Mr. Bloomberg’s proposals: |
| • A financial transactions tax of 0.1 percent |
| • Toughening banking regulations like the Volcker Rule and forcing lenders to hold more in reserve against losses |
| • Having the Justice Department create a dedicated team to fight corporate crime and “encouraging prosecutors to pursue individuals, not only corporations, for infractions” |
| • Merging Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac |
| • Strengthening the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and “expanding its jurisdiction to include auto lending and credit reporting” |
| • Automatically enrolling borrowers of student loans into income-based repayment schemes and capping payments |
| Many of the proposals are a reversal from Mr. Bloomberg’s previous stance on financial regulation. In 2011, he complained that Democrats were taking “punitive actions” against Wall Street that could harm the economy. And comments he made in 2015 linking the financial crisis to the end of banks’ so-called redlining practices have drawn fierce criticism in recent days. |
| It’s a sign of how far left Democratic presidential hopefuls feel they need to go to succeed in this year’s primary — even with a multibillion-dollar war chest. Mr. Bloomberg’s financial transactions tax plan is remarkably similar to one that has the backing of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. |
| Progressive critics are likely to argue that it doesn’t go far enough. Many Democrats have also proposed some sort of wealth tax, while Ms. Warren has called for a complete overhaul of the private equity industry and Mr. Sanders wants to break up the big banks. |
| Bloomberg’s campaign insists he isn’t flip-flopping: On the Volcker Rule, for instance, a spokeswoman said: “When it was introduced, as now, Mike was skeptical of regulators’ ability to divine traders’ intent.” His new plan would focus “on the outcome of speculative trading — big gains and losses — rather than on traders’ intent.” |
| We’ll have more soon on nytimes.com/dealbook. |
| Breaking: This morning, Mr. Bloomberg qualified for the Democratic debate in Las Vegas on Wednesday night, the first time he will appear onstage with his rivals for the nomination. |
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| Today’s DealBook Briefing was written by Andrew Ross Sorkin in New York, and Michael J. de la Merced and Jason Karaian in London. |
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An Apple store in Beijing. Greg Baker/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
| Apple cuts sales guidance over coronavirus |
| The iPhone maker was one of the first big companies to reveal how the coronavirus outbreak was affecting its business. The company said yesterday that “a slower return to normal conditions than we had anticipated” forced it to scrap its guidance for revenue this quarter. |
| There is more to come. China’s central position in global supply chains — and as a huge market in itself — means that the outbreak could ripple through company’s financials for months. |
| Good luck, analysts! The virus outbreak’s negative but uncertain effects are coming up often in earnings calls: “Coronavirus” has been cited in 170 investor presentations by S&P 500 companies in the past month, according to a search of transcripts in S&P Capital IQ. Apple’s forecast for future profits was already more vague than usual “due to the greater uncertainty,” Tim Cook, its C.E.O., said last month. |
| Taking a different approach, Walmart said this morning that its forecast for the current financial year didn’t take into account any potential effects of the virus outbreak. |
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Toby Melville/Reuters |
| HSBC makes ‘ruthless’ cuts in U.S. and Europe |
| The London-based bank said this morning that it planned to cut about 35,000 jobs over the next three years as it retreats from the West to focus more on Asia. |
| “We are intending to exit a lot of domestically focused customers in Europe and the U.S. on the global banking side,” Ewen Stevenson, the bank’s C.F.O., told Bloomberg Television. He said the lender would make “surgical and ruthless” cuts to underperforming businesses. |
| The plan is to accelerate investment in its Asian and Middle Eastern businesses, which already generate nearly half of its revenue. That’s the strategy that Standard Chartered, another London-based, Asia-focused bank, has followed. |
| The initiative may not be enough. Shares in HSBC dropped 3 percent this morning. Alan Higgins, the chief investment officer of Coutts & Company, told Bloomberg that the strategy was “on the conservative side.” |