Bloomberg Russia said it will continue to observe its moratorium on the deployment of intermediate-range missiles after the US tested a cruise missile following a pullout from a Cold War-era treaty that barred testing and developing the weapons. Russia saw the US move coming and it won’t let itself be dragged into a costly arms race, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei ...

Bloomberg China has detained an employee of the UK consulate in Hong Kong during a trip to the mainland, according to his friend, in a case that threatens to further strain ties between Beijing and London. Simon Cheng, 28, was reported missing after failing to return from a meeting in the adjacent city of Shenzhen. The Hong Kong police said ...

Bloomberg Hong Kong protesters rejected leader Carrie Lam’s attempt to meet one of their key demands, raising questions about whether a compromise can be reached even as both sides seek to lower tensions. Lam pledged to immediately establish a platform for dialogue, investigate complaints against police and institute a wide-ranging fact-finding study into the demonstrations. While details remained scarce, she ...

Bloomberg The European Union (EU) poured cold water on Boris Johnson’s attempt to renegotiate the Brexit deal, saying the so-called backstop to prevent a hard Irish border — which the British prime minister wants scrapped — was a vital part of the divorce agreement. It means that with just over two months to go until Johnson has said the UK ...

Bloomberg Matteo Salvini dangled the prospect of tax cuts and a boost in government spending for Italians in a final push to force new elections that could secure him the premiership. Salvini, who has called time on his alliance with the Five Star Movement and is seeking to cash in on strong poll ratings, promised in a radio interview that ...

What is striking about the latest bouts of financial turmoil — the recent wild swings in global stock and bond markets — is that they provide a sobering reminder of the potential hazards of economic instability. There are parallels between the present tumultuous situation and past episodes of economic disruption, including the Great Depression of the 1930s. Just for the ...

It’s hard not to see HSBC Holdings Plc’s exclusion from China’s interest-rate reform as a snub. Hong Kong’s biggest bank wasn’t included in a list of 18 lenders that will participate in pricing for a new loan prime rate that the People’s Bank of China will start releasing on Tuesday. The roster includes foreign lenders Standard Chartered Plc and Citigroup ...

Two 100-year bonds for countries that start with the letter A. Other than that, there’s pretty much zilch in common between the century maturity debt issued by Austria and Argentina, as we’ve seen over the past few weeks. Nothing illustrates the desperate hunt for yield among high-quality global issues better than Austria’s 100-year bond. The debt was issued at just ...

As the financial world’s movers and shakers hunker down at Jackson Hole this weekend, one pressing question will be who’s next to cut interest rates. The People’s Bank of China has already decided: It isn’t joining the global race to the bottom. Over the weekend, the PBOC took a long-awaited step in interest-rate reform, which aims to give markets more ...

Don’t you wish you had a dollar for every beleaguered official who cried “fiscal policy must do more”? Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo actually seems to mean it. Fresh from re-election, Jokowi, as he’s known, is aiming to cushion Southeast Asia’s largest economy from a slowdown and make much-needed investments in infrastructure like roads, ports and airports, and even a new ...