After 45 years in business, the underwriter of homes for millions of Indians is moving in with its 28-year-old banker offspring. The joint-family arrangement makes sense for both Housing Development Finance Corp and HDFC Bank Ltd. Mortgages will get more competitive as lenders come under pressure to peg interest rates to benchmarks not in their control, such as the ...

China’s strict Covid-zero policy is getting costlier by day. As the infectious omicron variant spreads, the government is resorting to widespread lockdowns. Shanghai, a city of 25 million people, is at a standstill, and cities accounting for a quarter of China’s gross domestic product are under some form of restrictions on movement, estimates Goldman Sachs Group. Politics is an often-cited ...

  Howard Schultz’s coffee has already gone cold with investors. Just three weeks ago, Starbucks Corp said that the architect of its transformation from boutique coffee house to global juggernaut would return as chief executive officer, sending shares up 5%. They fell by almost as much, after Schultz said he would immediately suspend the group’s share buybacks in order to ...

Could the re-election campaign of France’s President Emmanuel Macron be any less inspiring? As French voters go to the polls on April 10 for the first of two voting rounds, gone is the enthusiasm or interest in the election of 2017, when Macron came to power as the youngest leader since Napoleon Bonaparte, with a new party promising to sweep ...

  Bloomberg Zimbabwe’s central bank lifted its key interest rate to a record high, to halt a decline in its currency and rein in surging inflation amid food and fuel price pressures that have been exacerbated by the war in Ukraine. The monetary policy committee (MPC) hiked the rate to 80% from 60%, Governor John Mangudya said in a statement. ...

  Bloomberg Australia’s largest bank removed secrecy clauses on salaries in its contracts, just days after a similar move by its rival. Commonwealth Bank of Australia told employees they would be free to discuss their pay starting April 11 to boost pay equity, though they shouldn’t pressure co-workers to discuss the topic, the Australian Financial Review (AFR) reported. “As part ...

  Bloomberg Oil held its earlier gains as the European Union (EU) was said to plan a phaseout of Russian coal imports but steer clear of sanctioning the country’s oil and gas for now. West Texas Intermediate was up 1.2% after earlier advancing as much as 2.2%. EU nations are deeply split over the next steps to take against Russia, ...

  ABU DHABI / WAM The Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Ports Security has announced the suspension of the issuance of the residence sticker for foreigners residing in the UAE as of April 11. The goal is to develop services provided to customers and enhance their happiness. The Emirates ID card issued to foreigners residing in the UAE ...

  DUBAI / WAM The Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange (DGCX) recorded a monthly Average Open Interest (AOI) of 134,154 contracts during the month of March, and registered trading volume with a total value of $15.74 billion. In response to further inflation, policy decisions and continued geo-political conflict around the globe, there was a surge in demand for DGCX’s G6 ...

Bloomberg The World Bank has lowered its growth forecasts for East Asia and the Pacific to 5% from 5.4% forecast in October, and warned growth could slow to 4% if conditions weaken further. The latest outlook reflects a hit to the region from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, rising interest rates in the US and slowing growth in China. Ongoing supply ...