Business

BLOOMBERG A gauge of New York state manufacturing activity slumped in May by the most in more than three years as orders and shipments shrank abruptly. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s general business conditions index dropped 42.6 points to minus 31.8 in May, data showed. Readings below zero indicate contraction and the gauge was weaker than all estimates ...

BLOOMBERG The European Commission raised its euro-zone inflation outlook and warned of “persistent challenges” even as it acknowledged the resilience of the region’s economy. Citing the strength of underlying pressures, European Union (EU) officials lifted their projections for consumer-price growth to 5.8% this year and 2.8% in 2024 from 5.6% and 2.5% respectively. Forecasts for economic expansion were also increased ...

NEW DELHI / WAM With an eye of markets in the Gulf, India is to expand the cultivation of dragon fruit by more than 16 times, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare here has announced. To help augment this effort, the ministry has authorised the setting up of a Centre of Excellence for dragon fruit cultivation in Bengaluru in ...

BLOOMBERG As the US and EU throw billions at building out the industry needed for the transition to a low-carbon economy, Norway is spooking investors by slapping taxes on wind farms. Norway’s Labour-Centre government is boosting taxes as the cost of pensions, health services and care for the elderly outpace mainland revenues. Salmon farmers, wind turbine owners and hydropower producers ...

BLOOMBERG UK companies are increasingly relying on short-term workers amid hiring freezes and economic uncertainty, a new survey showed. Permanent staff hiring declined at the sharpest pace in over two years in April, according to a report from KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC). At the same time, companies registered the quickest jump in billings from temporary staff ...

BLOOMBERG Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will ask President Joe Biden to scrap Trump-era duties on his country’s olives that have strained trade ties between the US and European Union (EU). In his first official visit to the White House since he took office in 2018, Sanchez will appeal to Biden to remove the tariffs and put an end to ...

BLOOMBERG Hungarian inflation, the European Union’s (EU’s) fastest, eased for a third month, bringing the central bank closer to cutting the bloc’s highest key interest rate. The inflation rate dropped to 24% in April from 25.2% the previous month, lower than the median estimate of 24.1% in a Bloomberg survey. Month-on-month prices increased 0.7%. Central bank officials will assess the ...

BLOOMBERG China is expected to roll out new policies to protect supply chains and boost its birth rate, after President Xi Jinping led a high-profile meeting that established these areas as top economic priorities. Economists at Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) say the government could announce new specific measures on how to address those challenges in ...

BLOOMBERG Asia remains in the grip of a blistering heat wave, chiming with predictions from climate scientists that 2023 could be the world’s hottest year. In an ominous sign ahead of the northern hemisphere summer, an emerging El Nino weather pattern is pushing the mercury to unprecedented levels in southern parts of the continent. Vietnam reported its highest ever temperature ...

BLOOMBERG The UK is proposing “significant changes to the listing rulebook” in a bid to make London more attractive as a financial centre with its moribund capital markets stoking fears about the city’s ability to compete with New York and Asian hubs. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) wants to replace its premium and standard listing categories with a single offering ...