Bloomberg Gold demand in the world’s second-biggest user will rebound this year after collapsing in 2020 as the rollout of vaccines pushes life back closer to normal, according to the World Gold Council (WGC). Some of the weddings and festive buying that had been postponed because of the pandemic will come back in 2021, and this pent-up demand will boost ...

Bloomberg Hong Kong’s unemployment rate for the three months ended December is likely to exceed the highest level in 16 years because of the impact of tightened coronavirus restrictions, Financial Secretary Paul Chan said on his blog on Sunday. The latest jobless rate is scheduled to be released on Tuesday. Unemployment stood at a high of 6.4% for the three ...

Bloomberg Nazara Technologies Ltd, the cricket games developer backed by billionaire Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, became the first Indian gaming technology company to seek a market debut as mobile entertainment takes off across the world’s No. 2 smartphone arena. The Mumbai-headquartered startup filed initial public offering documents with India’s market regulator. Its impending debut on the local exchanges could encourage other Indian ...

Bloomberg A Virginia man was arrested when he tried to enter a restricted area near the US Capitol with unauthorised credentials, a loaded handgun, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, according to police. Wesley Allen Beeler of Front Royal, Virginia, was stopped by US Capitol Police at about 6:30 pm, according to a police report. He had driven up to ...

Bloomberg US economist Nouriel Roubini fears Joe Biden’s presidency will be marked by unrest and cyber attacks, according to an interview he gave to Der Spiegel. There will be additional armed riots, especially from white nationalists, and Russia and China will orchestrate more cyber attacks against the US and spread false information, Roubini, a professor at the Stern School of ...

Bloomberg Mount Semeru volcano on Indonesia’s main Java island spewed hot ash as high as 4 kilometers (2.5 miles), prompting authorities to warn people to keep a distance. People shouldn’t carry out any activities within a radius of 1 kilometer from the crater, the country’s national disaster mitigation management in a statement. The volcano alert level was at “watch,” two ...

Bloomberg Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny plans to fly home from Berlin, where he’s been recovering from a poisoning attack he blames on the Kremlin, facing arrest on arrival and heralding fresh confrontation between Moscow and the West. Navalny, 44, whom Russian authorities have vowed to detain as soon as they can for violating the terms of a suspended jail ...

Bloomberg Surging house prices in the UK are making it more difficult for younger generations to follow the most common path for accumulating wealth, widening a gap between the rich and the poor. Homeowners are benefiting from the coronavirus crisis, with cheap borrowing and government tax cuts driving real estate prices to an all-time high last year. The cost of ...

Bloomberg Italy’s government expects debt to rise more than expected this year, as it gets ready to boost fiscal stimulus to support its battered economy. The Treasury, led by Finance Minister Roberto Gualtieri, expects Italy’s debt to rise to 158.5% of output in 2021, up from 155.6%, while the country’s budget deficit would be 8.8%. The new forecasts, first reported ...

Bloomberg American automakers are asking the US government to help solve a debilitating shortage of computer chips that is closing auto factories worldwide and could restrict production until the fall. The American Automotive Policy Council — a lobbying organisation for General Motors, Ford Motor and the US operations of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles — is agitating with the US Commerce Department ...