Bloomberg UK consumer spending jumped the most since 2016 last month, led by a surge in Internet purchases as bars and restaurants continued to suffer. On-line demand surged 16.2% in July compared with a year earlier, according to a monthly index by Visa and IHS Markit. Total spending rose 2.4%, while hotels, bars and restaurants say an 18% drop. Household ...

Bloomberg Home Depot Inc reported sales growth that was more than double the already brisk rate analysts had been expecting, sending shares higher in early trading. Same-store sales rose 23.4%, sharply beating the estimate for an 11.4% gain from Consensus Metrix. Revenue of $38.1 billion also surpassed expectations. Home Depot Chief Executive Officer Craig Menear called the sales performance “record-breaking.” ...

Bloomberg Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko warned the European Union not to interfere in the country’s post-election crisis, as his opponent appealed to the bloc for support. “There’s no need to point at Belarus today to divert attention from the problems that exist in France, the US, Germany and so on,” Lukashenko told his security council on Wednesday, according to the ...

Bloomberg Taiwan accused Chinese hackers of infiltrating government agencies in an effort to glean citizens’ sensitive information, part of ongoing attempts to influence the democratic society. Groups, likely backed by Beijing, infiltrated the systems of Taiwanese companies that provide information services to government bodies, the deputy director of the Taiwan Investigation Bureau’s cybersecurity unit, Liu Chia-zung, said at a briefing ...

Bloomberg Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita resigned after being detained by a military junta that pledged to shepherd a democratic transition. The coup capped weeks of protests demanding that he step down. Keita, 75, has faced opposition criticism for alleged corruption and nepotism within his administration, and the mishandling of an escalating extremist insurgency in the West African nation. Keita ...

Bloomberg Thailand is clamping down on its growing anti-government protest movement that’s calling for an end to the military-backed government and limits on the monarchy’s power. A Thai court has issued arrest warrants for six protest leaders on charges of sedition, computer crimes and disease control breaches, Pathum Thani Police Chief Chayut Marayat said. The six had organised a demonstration ...

Bloomberg Last summer Hong Kong’s protesters called for a revolution as they occupied the city’s international airport, marched in the millions and mocked Chinese President Xi Jinping as a “Game of Thrones” villain. This year’s different. A sweeping national security law imposed by China in June and Covid-19 restrictions have rendered the pro-democracy movement’s tactics illegal, from public gatherings to ...

Bloomberg Indonesia’s central bank left its key interest rate unchanged on Wednesday to shore up support for the sagging currency, and called for close coordination with government to revive Southeast Asia’s largest economy. After 100 basis points of easing so far this year, Bank Indonesia kept the seven-day reverse repurchase rate at 4% Wednesday, as expected by 20 of 25 ...

Bloomberg It took unprecedented stimulus and a rally that’s pushed equities near record highs, but fund managers overseeing $489 billion finally believe that this stock market recovery has legs. Among investors surveyed by Bank of America Corp. (BofA) in the week through August 13, 46% described equities as being in a bull market, up from 40% in July. The share ...

Bloomberg Singapore’s financial regulator will step up efforts to urge banks to hire more citizens and develop a strong local leadership pipeline, according to its chief. “Protecting and growing Singaporean jobs, especially in current economic conditions, is a top priority,” the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) Managing Director Ravi Menon wrote in a letter in the Straits Times. The MAS ...