Bloomberg Berenberg, Germany’s oldest bank, has given up hope that US-China trade tensions will subside any time soon — with severe consequences for export-reliant nations. Economists slashed their 2020 growth forecasts for countries including Japan, Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom. They expect the euro area will expand by just 0.9%, down from 1.4% predicted only a few months …

Bloomberg South African banks are concerned that some of their customers will get away with not having to repay their debt. President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the National Credit Amendment Bill into law, setting the groundwork for over-indebted consumers to have payments suspended, in part or full, for as many as 24 months, or even scrapped if their financial situation has …

Bloomberg Bank of America Corp., (BofA) the biggest underwriter of state and local government debt, isn’t worried that municipal-bond yields will turn negative, even if they do in other parts of the US fixed-income markets. Bond yields have been plunging fast, making it seem possible that American investors could actually wind up paying governments to lend them money — as …