News

Bloomberg International companies operating in Asia are considering leaving Hong Kong out of legal contracts amid concerns about China’s growing control, the Financial Times reported, citing people it didn’t identify. Lawyers in the region have received a surge of queries from clients about excluding Hong Kong from governing law and arbitration clauses when conducting business there or entering into joint ...

Bloomberg Hong Kong insurance giant AIA Group and China Strategic Holdings, an investment firm backed by billionaire Henry Cheng, are among final bidders for Bank of East Asia (BEA)’s life insurance unit, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The companies have submitted binding bids for the asset, proceeding into the final stage of negotiations, the people said, asking ...

Bloomberg Factory activity across much of Asia continued to hold up in January even as China’s output showed signs of moderating. Taiwan’s IHS Markit January manufacturing purchasing mangers’ index rose to 60.2 from 59.4 in December, its highest reading since April 2010. South Korea’s rose to 53.2 from 52.9, the most since February 2011. Both were well above the 50 ...

Bloomberg China’s efforts to control a recent resurgence of Covid-19 are undercutting a recovery that’s been one of the bright spots in the global economy. Travel has collapsed ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays after recent lockdowns were imposed in northern China to curb outbreaks and the government took steps to discourage millions of people from making the annual ...

Bloomberg The European Union (EU) is seeking to overturn Apple Inc.’s victory in a 13 billion-euro ($15.8 billion) tax dispute, saying judges used “contradictory reasoning” when they found that the company’s Irish units weren’t liable for huge payments. A summary of the appeal published on Monday shows the EU’s determination to challenge the critical July court judgment. The decision was ...

Bloomberg President Joe Biden withdrew all the spending cuts proposed by former President Donald Trump during his final days in office. Biden said in a letter to Congress that he was reversing all 73 spending cuts that Trump had requested, which touched virtually every cabinet-level agency as well as federal programs such as the National Endowments of the Arts and ...

Bloomberg Argentina’s Salta province reached a deal with an ad-hoc creditors group for amendments to its foreign bonds due in 2024, the provincial government said in a statement. The bondholders group, represented by VR Advisory Services Ltd., holds roughly 40% of the notes. Salta owes $350 million of debt it issued in 2016, which trades at distressed levels with yields ...

Bloomberg US consumer sentiment edged lower in late January, adding to signs that consumers remain subdued about prospects for the economic recovery as the pandemic wears on. The University of Michigan’s final sentiment index falls to 79 from a preliminary reading of 79.2 earlier in the month and 80.7 in December, data showed. The figure fell below the 79.4 median ...

Bloomberg Italian manufacturing is picking up at the fastest pace in nearly three years, a bright spot in an economy that probably shrank close to 10% during the 2020 pandemic. Factories, mostly located in the country’s north, saw a sustained upturn in output in January, with orders expanding at a solid pace thanks to demand from Europe and North America, ...

DUBAI / WAM Dubai on Sunday launched the Vaccine Logistics Alliance to speed up distribution of Covid-19 vaccines around the world through the emirate. The move follows the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai. In support of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) COVAX initiative and its efforts to ...