Bloomberg Default risks for India’s banks have declined from six-year highs on expectations that recent policy support will help the lenders avoid worse damage from the coronavirus pandemic. Average credit-default swaps on five Indian lenders, including State Bank of India, have dropped sharply since the Reserve Bank of India unleashed a 3.74 trillion rupee ($49 billion) stimulus package on March ...

Bloomberg A disappearing spread between money-market rates and expected policy equivalents indicates the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) official cash rate may no longer serve as the floor for borrowing costs. The three-month bank-bill swap rate — a gauge of Australian borrowing costs — has continued to slide, with its spread over a similar-tenor overnight index now poised to fall ...

Bloomberg Citigroup Inc.’s bond traders just posted their best quarter in eight years — a feat that was no match for the tidal wave of souring loans that walloped the bank’s profits. The deadly pandemic that sent global markets swooning helped the firm’s fixed-income, currencies and commodities traders generate $4.79 billion, trouncing analysts’ estimates by more than $1 billion. But ...

Bloomberg Investor demand for Switzerland’s currency, already trading at a five-year high, will increase as the country’s economy will outperform others during the recession, strategists at UBS Group AG predict. “Switzerland enters this recession with excellent credit quality, and its pandemic health situation is under control,” UBS strategists Thomas Flury and Gaetan Peroux wrote in a note to clients. “Hence ...

Bloomberg The yen’s advance this week may be a sign of things to come, with strategists in Tokyo saying the currency could climb towards 100 against the dollar in the next few months. Citigroup Global Markets Japan Inc. says the yen stands to gain as the Federal Reserve’s massive monetary stimulus weighs on the greenback. MUFG Bank Ltd. sees the ...

Bloomberg China’s central bank has given the green light for some commercial lenders to run trials of its digital currency, according to people familiar with the matter, bringing it a step closer to becoming the world’s first major monetary authority to issue its own digital tender. State-owned Chinese banks are conducting internal, hypothetical-use tests of a People’s Bank of China ...

Bloomberg EasyJet Plc boosted its cash reserves to ride out the coronavirus pandemic, saying it now has sufficient resources to see it through the end of the year. The shares rose after Britain’s biggest discount airline said it had borrowed 400 million pounds ($500 million) against its jet fleet, and may raise 550 million pounds more from selling planes to ...

Bloomberg VietJet Aviation JSC said it has reached agreements with domestic and international lenders to delay repayments on about 80% of loans for its aircraft purchases after the budget carrier experienced a significant drop in passengers during the novel coronavirus outbreak. The lenders, which include HSBC Holdings PLC and Citibank NA, also agreed to delay repayments for three to 12 ...

Bloomberg Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd expects passenger numbers to stay below 1,000 a day this month compared with the usual 100,000 as it operates at just 3% of normal capacity. The Hong Kong-based airline said it is impossible to predict when demand will improve as the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic is intensifying. One day this week, Cathay and ...

Bloomberg Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd stock was suspended in Sydney as discussions over a potential financial restructuring for the airline continue. The shares, already halted from trading, will be suspended for as long as seven days so talks centred on financial help and alternative structures can go on, Virgin Australia said in a statement. “These discussions have continued over the ...