International News

Phone giant Xiaomi jumps to two-year high after profit beat

Bloomberg Xiaomi Corp’s shares leapt 11.4% after inroads into the Chinese market for high-end smartphones and strong growth overseas helped the company report better-than-expected profit. The stock climbed its most in two years in Hong Kong, taking its 2020 gains to 98% last week. The Chinese smartphone maker more than doubled net income to 4.49 billion yuan ($716 million) in ...

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Malaysia extends measures to curb virus

Bloomberg Malaysia has decided to extend measures aimed at curbing the spread of coronavirus infections until the end of the year. The government continues to require the use of face masks in public spaces while places where social distancing is difficult to uphold, including theme parks, will remain shut, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said in a televised speech. Foreign tourists ...

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Singapore’s local hire push threatens coveted expat jobs

Bloomberg Singapore has long been the city of choice for Western expats wanting an easy entrée into Asia. Clean, efficient, with low tax rates, it’s often seen as rivaling Hong Kong, especially with that city hit by street protests and unrest over China’s new national security law. Yet just when Singapore should be a magnet for global talent, some recruiters ...

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Argentina vies for holdout-free debt deal as deadline nears

Bloomberg By almost every reckoning, Argentina’s $65 billion debt restructuring will be approved by a wide margin this weekend. But investors are on alert for the small risk that holdouts could make things complicated. While there’s little threat to the broad plan for most creditors to accept new bonds valued at an average of 55 cents on the dollar, some ...

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Trump announces cut to 2020 quota on steel imports from Brazil

Bloomberg President Donald Trump is cutting the cap on allowable steel shipments from Brazil, citing a slump in the US market. In a proclamation, Trump amended a previous decision under so-called Section 232 national security powers to lower the cap on allowable imports. The limits were set in 2018 as part of a deal between the nations to avoid tariffs ...

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NYC commercial-property sales fall 54% in H1 2020

Bloomberg Commercial real estate deals in New York City have taken a major hit as the pandemic continues to roil the local economy. Investment sales totalled $10.5 billion in first half of 2020, down 54% from a year earlier and a record low since the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) began reporting the data in 2015. “We continue to ...

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Justin Trudeau’s deficit balloons as income support smashes records

Bloomberg Canada’s budget deficit hit C$120.4 billion ($92 billion) in the three months through June, already more than double the largest yearly shortfall the country has ever run. Program expenses surged to C$167.9 billion, up 117% over the same time last year, as the government rolled out massive support for individuals and companies to mitigate the economic damage of the ...

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Uber gets boost in bid to keep London license

Bloomberg Regulators signalled they would take a neutral stance on a new London license for Uber Technologies, offering a route for the ride hailing firm to continue to operate in its biggest European market. The London transport authority plans to leave final decision to a judge, an attorney for Uber said. The decision essentially mirrors the process through which Uber ...

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IMF’s $6.5bn allows Ecuador to restructure bonds

Bloomberg The International Monetary Fund agreed to lend Ecuador $6.5 billion which will allow the nation to complete a bond restructuring plan and fund its 2020 budget. The deal will enable the exchange of $17.4 billion of debt to go ahead before the September 1 deadline. The country had agreed with bondholders that it would seek a new IMF deal, ...

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Germany earmarks $12 billion more to extend crisis job support

Bloomberg Germany extended a program that has kept millions of people from losing their jobs, allocating around 10 billion euros ($11.8 billion) more to help Europe’s biggest economy recover from the coronavirus crisis. At a meeting in Berlin, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition agreed to provide job-preserving subsidies until the end of 2021. The subsidies, known in German as “Kurzarbeit” and ...

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