News

  Bloomberg Soaring gasoline prices are fanning inflation and causing a headache for governments and central banks worldwide. In countries with elections coming up, they’re an extra headwind for the incumbents. While the US mid-terms in November are the prime example of fuel prices feeding into the political sphere, upcoming votes in Asia may also be affected. Voting is already ...

  Bloomberg Almost a year after China’s property-market debt squeeze sparked the first in a wave of defaults by developers, the industry is fighting for survival. Home sales continue to plunge and elevated borrowing costs mean offshore refinancing is off the table for many developers. Global agencies are pulling their ratings on property bonds, while a string of auditor resignations ...

  Bloomberg China’s provincial governments are bracing for a tough year, predicting income growth from taxes will slow and land sale revenue will fall, putting them under severe fiscal pressure as they try to spend more to support a faltering economy. Some local authorities are predicting their general revenue this year will be significantly weaker than an expected national economic ...

Bloomberg Germany spent about 42 billion euros ($48 billion) on a program to secure jobs threatened by the coronavirus pandemic. A government program to pay most of an employee’s wages when they can’t work because of operational issues like lockdowns was worth the cost, Germany’s Labor Minister Hubertus Heil said in an interview with Tagespiegel. “The alternative — namely allowing ...

  Bloomberg US retail sales rebounded by more than forecast with the biggest gain since March, as Americans kept spending through a Covid-19 spike and hot inflation to help drive the economic recovery. The value of overall purchases rise 3.8% in January after a downwardly revised 2.5% drop in the prior month, Commerce Department figures showed. The median estimate in ...

  Bloomberg Norway’s economy expanded faster than expected at the end of last year, cementing the outlook for a string of interest rate hikes by Norges Bank from next month. Mainland gross domestic product, which adjusts for the oil-rich nation’s offshore industry, grows 1.4% in fourth quarter from previous three months, the statistics office said. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg and ...

  Bloomberg Tesla Inc faces a review in Germany over an Autopilot feature, as regulatory scrutiny intensifies into carmaker’s driver-assistance technology. Germany’s federal motor vehicle office KBA is investigating Tesla’s automated lane-change function and whether it’s approved for use in Europe, Bild am Sonntag newspaper reported. The KBA is also in contact with the Netherlands’ vehicle agency, which is responsible ...

  Bloomberg Prices charged for goods and services in the euro area jumped by a record amount in February as an easing of pandemic restrictions led to an unexpectedly strong rebound in economic activity. Both manufacturers and service providers saw output improve, according to purchasing managers indexes compiled by IHS Markit. Rising demand and a gradual easing of supply bottlenecks ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The United Arab Emirates has expressed its sincere condolences and solidarity with Brazil over the victims of floods and landslides that have hit the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro, killing scores of people, leaving tens of injured and missing, and triggering widespread damage. In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation expressed ...

  Bloomberg India has received proposals worth $20.5 billion from five companies to manufacture semiconductor fabs and display fabs locally, according to a government statement. Companies including Vedanta in joint venture with Foxconn, Singapore-based IGSS Ventures pte, and ISMC have proposed $13.6 billion investments for manufacturing the chips, which are used in a wide array of products ranging from 5G ...