International News

Bloomberg The UK economy failed to grow in January, adding to the case for the Bank of England’s emergency rate cut on Wednesday. The figures suggest the pickup seen after Boris Johnson’s election win proved short-lived, with momentum waning even before fears about the coronavirus took hold in February. Gross domestic product was unchanged from December, when it grew 0.3%, ...

Bloomberg Coronavirus-fuelled market turmoil has led AEW SA, a real estate investment manager backed by Natixis SA, to push back a planned 900 million-euro ($1 billion) European property sale. The fund manager is trying to assess the impact of the outbreak on real estate markets before moving ahead, according to four people with knowledge of the matter. AEW had already ...

Bloomberg A diplomatic spat has erupted between Germany and neighbours Switzerland and Austria over a decision last week by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government to ban most exports of protective medical equipment. Switzerland has called in the German ambassador to complain about the decision to block a shipment of 240,000 face masks, while Austria’s economy minister demanded her German counterpart order ...

Bloomberg Bond buyers are spearheading the development of the green bond market, according to Toyota Motor Corp, which has been selling the debt through one of its units for years. “It’s really starting to be driven by investors,” said Adam Stam, director of capital markets at Toyota Motor Credit Corp, the finance arm of the Japanese car company. At a ...

Bloomberg Indian energy tycoon Mukesh Ambani is no longer Asia’s richest man, relinquishing the title to Jack Ma after oil prices collapsed along with global stocks. The rout, exacerbated by mounting fears that the spread of the novel coronavirus will thrust the world into a recession, erased $5.8 billion from Ambani’s net worth and pushed him to No. 2 on ...

Bloomberg The Philippines, with a population of more than 100 million, had only 2,000 novel coronavirus test kits available earlier this week as the number of infections jumped. Its government once had 4,500 kits in stock, but the number dwindled to 2,000 as the number of people who wanted to be diagnosed surged, Health Assistant Secretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said. ...

Bloomberg Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the coronavirus epicentre of Wuhan for the first time since the disease emerged, a trip intended to project confidence that his government has managed to stem its spread domestically. Xi arrived on Tuesday morning in the capital of Hubei province, the official Xinhua News Agency said. He visited Huoshenshan Hospital, one of the two ...

Bloomberg China’s economy is beginning to revive, as the government signals progress in battling the coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 3,100 people and sickened tens of thousands at home. Government controls and the fear of going outside have curtailed consumer spending, and many factories are still not working at full capacity due to clogged logistics systems, a lack ...

Bloomberg Two months after Japan confirmed its first case of the new coronavirus, PM Shinzo Abe is finally setting up a legal framework to let him declare a nationwide state of emergency if the outbreak worsens. Like many of Abe’s responses to the crisis — from restricting visitors from virus-hit areas to bolstering the local mask supply — the introduction ...

Bloomberg Aon Plc agreed to buy Willis Towers Watson Plc in an almost $30 billion, all-stock transaction announced a year after previous takeover talks fell apart. Under the terms of the agreement, Willis Towers Watson shareholders will receive 1.08 Aon shares for each of their shares, with existing Aon investors owning about 63% of the company once the deal is ...