MONEY (MSM)

Fed's Lockhart still sees 2015 rate hike despite recent red flags

A U.S. interest rate hike is still probably coming in October or December despite some conflicting economic signals, a top Federal Reserve official said on Friday, reinforcing the central bank’s message over the last few weeks. Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart, a well-respected centrist and a voter on the Fed’s monetary policy committee this year, said an international slowdown and last month’s weak U.S. jobs report show there is “a

China Sept data likely to show further economic weakness

A deluge of data from China in coming weeks is likely to point to further weakness in the world’s second-largest economy, reinforcing expectations that Beijing will roll out more stimulus measures to ward off a sharper slowdown. September performance readings will be capped by third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) on Oct. 19, with many economists expecting growth to drop below 7 percent, the weakest since the global financial crisis. Some

StanChart CEO plans to cut about 1,000 top staff: memo

SINGAPORE/LONDON (Reuters) – Standard Chartered’s new Chief Executive Bill Winters plans to cut about 1,000 of the bank’s most senior staff to reduce costs, according to a memo sent to staff, as he battles to revive the bank following a sharp drop in profits. The cull shows the scale of the overhaul Winters is planning at the Asia-focused bank, which he has said needs to speed up decision-making on costs,