Bloomberg China’s move to halt Ant Group Co’s massive stock debut could reduce the fintech giant’s value by as much as $140 billion, according to analysts’ revised estimates. New regulations that could force Ant to raise more capital to back lending and seek national licenses to operate across the country may reduce the firm’s valuation by about half, according to ...

Bloomberg Chinese exports expanded faster than expected in October, providing support for the recovering economy and driving increasing demand for imports, which rose for a second straight month. Exports increased 11.4% in dollar terms in October from a year earlier, while imports gained 4.7%, the customs administration said. That left a trade surplus of $58.4 billion for the month. Economists ...

Bloomberg The Philippines aims to have at least 50 million coronavirus vaccine shots next year to inoculate about a fourth of the population, bulk of which will likely arrive by the end of 2021 or early 2022. A vaccine could be available to the Southeast Asian nation between May through July, said Carlito Galvez, vaccine czar and chief implementer of ...

Bloomberg Car sales continued to recover in China last month as the coronavirus pandemic eased in the country and electric vehicles won more users. Retail sales of cars, SUVs and multiple-purpose vehicles increased 8% from a year earlier to 2.02 million units in October, the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) said on Monday. Wholesales of new energy vehicles, which includes ...

Bloomberg Ethiopia’s prime minister said he expects conflict in the north of the country to end quickly, dismissing concerns that the fighting may escalate into a full-blown civil war. Federal soldiers continued to clash on Monday with fighters loyal to the Tigray region’s ruling party, six days after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered forces to respond to an alleged attack ...

Bloomberg President-elect Joe Biden announced a new coronavirus task force as his transition team seeks to fulfill a campaign promise to develop a dramatically different approach than President Donald Trump’s to contain the pandemic. The 13-member task force is composed largely of doctors and public health experts, who will work with Biden, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and the transition team ...

Bloomberg Myanmar’s ruling party led by Aung San Suu Kyi said it had won enough parliamentary seats to retain power in the country’s second election since the end of military rule almost a decade ago. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) is on course to win about 390 seats to the national assembly, according to Myo Nyunt, a member ...

Bloomberg Hungarian PM Viktor Orban announced sweeping measures to stem the spread of the coronavirus, in a policy reversal triggered by new cases threatening to overwhelm hospitals. The government will ban public gatherings, expand a curfew to between 8 pm and 5 am, shut restaurants except for take-away and switch secondary schools and universities to distance learning, Orban said on ...

Bloomberg New Zealand central bank (RBNZ) governor Adrian Orr is set to unveil a new monetary stimulus tool aimed at driving borrowing costs to fresh historic lows to spur economic growth. Orr is expected to lay out plans on November 11 to provide cheap loans to banks, giving them scope to further reduce lending rates. The Funding for Lending Program, ...

Bloomberg Bank of England (BOE) Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe said there is no clarity yet on allowing banks to pay dividends as there may “still be a case” for restrictions until their robustness is assessed, according to The Sunday Times. Policy makers need to study the economic outlook, bank capital and the impact of profitability and losses on the lenders ...