When it comes to shrinking the state’s role in production, the priorities of the Bharatiya Janata Party government that’s ruled India since 2014 are very different from those of its predecessor, which left power a decade earlier. And that’s something that has annoyed investors no end. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the BJP prime minister between 1998 and 2004, gave a colleague ...

Bloomberg US equities fluctuated near record highs as investors searched for signs of progress in China’s comments about prospects for a “phase-one” trade deal. Treasuries and most European sovereign bonds rose. The S&P 500 swung between gains and losses, while European and Asian stocks were mixed after China said that Sino-American trade negotiators “reached consensus” on certain issues in a ...

Bloomberg Indian stocks slipped from a record on political uncertainty for prime minister Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the completion of a re-balancing of the MSCI ACWI index. The S&P BSE Sensex slipped 0.2% to 40,821.30 at the close in Mumbai and the NSE Nifty 50 Index fell 0.3%. Shares fell after a coalition government led by the BJP ...

Bloomberg The pound slipped as polls showed the ruling Conservative party’s lead narrowing into a December election, with tightening race raising investor fears about an inconclusive result. The UK currency weakened versus all of its Group-of-10 peers as the latest surveys of voting intention showed the opposition Labour party making up some ground following the release of its manifesto. The ...

Bloomberg Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell struck an upbeat tone in gauging the ability of policy makers to extend the record US economic expansion, while signalling interest rates would probably remain on hold. “At this point in the long expansion, I see the glass as much more than half full,” Powell said in Providence, Rhode Island. “With the right policies, ...

Bloomberg Brian Hartzer succumbed to the inevitable and resigned as Westpac Banking Corp chief executive officer, forced out by an investor backlash over allegations the lender committed the biggest breach of money-laundering laws in Australia’s history. The 52-year-old becomes the third of Australia’s big-four bank CEOs to be undone by scandal in the past two years. The laundering suit, including ...

Bloomberg Citigroup Inc hired two investment bankers from HSBC Holdings Plc in Asia, continuing a buildup to strengthen its Chinese real estate advisory business. The New York-based bank hired Kara Wang as managing director and co-head of real estate investment banking for Asia, according to an internal memo that was confirmed by James Griffiths, a Hong Kong-based spokesman. Dayday Zhou, ...

Bloomberg Thailand said its latest round of stimulus will spur more than 100 billion baht ($3.3 billion) of spending, as it steps up efforts to fight an economic slowdown caused by baht strength and the US-China trade war. “The measures are to help sustain the economy amid global uncertainty,” finance minister Uttama Savanayana said in a briefing in Bangkok, adding ...

Bloomberg The venture capital arm of PT Bank Mandiri thinks electronic payment platforms will only ever be profitable by serving as gateways to more lucrative services. Otherwise, they’re “just a cash-burning exercise,” said Eddi Danusaputro, chief executive officer of PT Mandiri Capital Indonesia. The race for customers in Indonesia is so intensive that e-payment providers have been willing to offer ...

Bloomberg Goldman Sachs Group Inc recommends buying the Chinese yuan on a bet the US will roll back some of its additional tariffs on the Asian nation. The investment bank also likes the Indonesian rupiah due to its relatively high interest rates, and sees further gains in Thailand’s baht given the country’s persistent current-account surplus, Zach Pandl, co-head of global ...