Bloomberg Thailand’s military-backed government extended the country’s state of emergency for a second time, to the end of June, despite opposition calls to scrap it after novel coronavirus cases dwindled. The step is needed to lower the risk of another wave of illness as a lockdown is eased, spokeswoman Narumon Pinyosinwat said after the cabinet backed the move. The emergency ...

Bloomberg In standing by Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson has tied his immediate future even closer to a maverick and one of the most divisive figures in British politics. The prime minister’s key aide is mired in a spiraling scandal where he’s accused of breaking the country’s lockdown rules, the same ones he helped craft. Everywhere in the country and on ...

Bloomberg One of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) key policy makers signalled that the institution is very likely to boost its emergency bond-buying program to fight the coronavirus. With inflation low, there is room to innovate and act “rapidly and powerfully,” Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau told a conference in Paris. He also signalled that he’d like ...

Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc is taking full control of its German business as Europe’s largest lender restructures its global operations. The bank will acquire an 18.66% stake in HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt AG from Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg, a regional lender in the south of Germany, according to statements by the banks. They didn’t disclose a price. HSBC is pivoting to Asia ...

Bloomberg People’s Bank of China (PBOC) Governor Yi Gang said the central bank will focus on five measures to support credit provision to the real economy, following the government’s announcement of more “direct” support in its annual policy blueprint released last week. In the near future officials plan to roll out more measures to enable small firms to delay repayment ...

Bloomberg Incoming Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem will face a combination of rising prices and stagnant growth as the economy struggles to recover from coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. That’s the forecast from Canadian economist David Rosenberg, who sees prices increasing as consumers feel comfortable shopping again and production costs rising even as the economy underperforms — an unusual combination known ...

Bloomberg UBS Group AG is setting aside hundreds of millions of dollars of its own money to invest in fintech companies, joining peers in financing startups that are upending traditional banking. The Swiss wealth manager is planning a corporate venture capital fund to make investments between $10 million and $20 million in dozens of companies, according to a person familiar ...

Bloomberg One of the Bank of England’s (BOE) key policy makers played down the possibility of an imminent cut in interest rates below zero, saying that “reviewing and doing are different things.” Andy Haldane, BOE’s chief economist who more than a week ago said officials were assessing negative rates, added that policy makers weren’t ruling any options out “as a matter ...

Bloomberg Oil traded near $33 a barrel as an escalating war of words between the US and China added to caution over the prospects for a global recovery in demand. China has warned that some in the US were pushing the countries towards a new Cold War, stoking concerns that deteriorating relations between Beijing and Washington could complicate the market’s ...

Bloomberg The Japanese government ended its nationwide state of emergency on Monday as cases tail off and announced a decision on funding for a new aid package to help a virus-battered economy. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told a news conference on Monday that reviving the economy was now the top priority, and his government will decide on a second extra ...