News

Bloomberg South Korea warned its fragile economic recovery is under threat from the coronavirus that has spread dramatically across the country over the past week, and pledged action to minimise the fallout. The country’s currency and the main stock index plunged. The epidemic poses a “large concern that it will limit the trend of economic recovery started late last year,” ...

Bloomberg Hong Kong is being threatened by a “Tsunami-like” cataclysm, the city’s finance chief has warned, as the new coronavirus devastates businesses already hobbled by months of anti-government protests. The financial hub’s lack of a bankruptcy process will only exacerbate the pain. Unlike in the US, Australia and rival Singapore, businesses in Hong Kong don’t have recourse to any corporate ...

Bloomberg Bangkok’s condominium market, once a favourite of Chinese investors, faces a bleak year as the novel coronavirus outbreak keeps buyers away. Foreigners are set to account for as little as 10% of purchases in 2020, down from a fifth two years ago, consultancy Agency for Real Estate Affairs estimates. Chinese buyers used to provide the bulk of overseas interest ...

Bloomberg Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro will travel to the US next month for the fourth time in a year with a pro-business agenda that includes trying to convince electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Inc to set up a plant in the South American country. Bolsonaro’s visit will be on March 7-10 and his plans include attending a business seminar in Miami, ...

Bloomberg The mood among German business hasn’t being dramatically shaken by the coronavirus outbreak, suggesting they see a short-term impact that won’t overly disrupt a pickup in 2019. The closely watched IFO confidence index unexpected rose this month, as did a measure of expectations. The increase comes as executives wait to see if authorities can get the outbreak under control ...

Bloomberg UK retail sales jumped the most in almost two years in January, ending the worst run for British stores on record and adding to signs of an economic rebound after the December election created a Brexit breakthrough. Sales excluding auto fuel rose 1.6% from December, the biggest increase since May 2018. Economists were expecting a rise of 0.8%. Sales ...

Bloomberg Ivi.ru, Russia’s largest streaming platform, hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc to study options to fund the firm’s growth, according to the firm’s chief executive officer. “These could be private placement, strategic alliances or an IPO,” Oleg Tumanov, Ivi’s founder and CEO, said in an interview in Moscow. “We need funding to produce our own content and keep growing faster ...

Bloomberg Audi halted output of its E-Tron SUV to resolve production issues including battery-supply bottlenecks as it prepares to flank the model with a sportier variant, underscoring the struggles traditional automakers face to boost electric cars and challenge Tesla Inc. Manufacturing at Audi’s factory in Brussels stopped and the plant will remain idle until Tuesday, a company spokeswoman said. Audi ...

Bloomberg France warned British Prime Minister Boris Johnson not to use “blackmail” to secure a trade deal as European Union member states prepare to finalise their negotiating position, allowing talks between the two sides to begin next week. Ministers from the bloc’s 27 national governments will meet on Tuesday in Brussels, where they are expected to sign off on the ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The UAE’s overall real gross domestic product (GDP), is estimated to have grown by 2.9 percent in 2019, the central bank of the UAE revealed. According to the central bank’s quarterly review report’ for Q4 of 2019, this rise in GDP was driven by the growth in the non-hydrocarbon sector, estimated at 1.1 percent, as well ...