BLOOMBERG Singapore should avoid an outright contraction in its economy this year, despite being battered by the effects of a global slowdown, the city state’s prime minister said. While the city-state’s economic growth will slow, inflation may moderate in the second half of this year, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in an e-mailed speech. The Monetary Authority of Singapore …

BLOOMBERG Pakistan said inflation in April was expected to accelerate to a record after increases in food and energy prices and a depreciation in the currency. Price gains may be in a range of 36%-38% year-on-year, from 34.8% in March, the finance ministry said in its monthly Economic Update and Outlook. A slow recovery in damages from last year’s floods …

BLOOMBERG  UBS Group AG Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sergio Ermotti selected one of the lender’s former executives, Tom Naratil, to be a key member of the new management team, according to a report by NZZ. Naratil will become the group’s chief financial officer (CFO) and lead the integration division that will oversee Credit Suisse merger, the newspaper said. Bloomberg had …

BLOOMBERG  Goldman Sachs and Bank of America (BofA) pushed back their call for when the next policy change from the Bank of Japan (BOJ) is likely to come, after Governor Kazuo Ueda continued with a largely dovish message at his first policy meeting. Economists at Goldman and BofA now have a base-case forecast for the central bank to adjust its …

BLOOMBERG  JPMorgan Chase & Co won the bidding to acquire First Republic Bank in an emergency government-led intervention after private rescue efforts failed to fill a hole on the troubled lender’s balance sheet and customers yanked their deposits. JPMorgan will take over First Republic’s assets, including about $173 billion of loans and $30 billion of securities, as well as $92 …

BLOOMBERG The biggest swings in bonds in more than a decade this year are a fresh challenge to the time-honoured 60/40 investment strategy. Holding 60% of portfolios in stocks and 40% in bonds, revered as reliable for decades, fell 17% last year, the worst performance since 2008. While it’s unlikely such a dismal result will be repeated this year, some …

BLOOMBERG Stock market investors holding on to hopes that the Federal Reserve will cut rates in the second half could be disappointed later this week, according to Morgan Stanley’s Michael Wilson — a staunch Wall Street bear. The US central bank is expected to hike interest rates on May 3, marking the 10th consecutive increase going back to March 2022. …

DUBAI / WAM His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has issued directives for the formation of a Board of Trustees for the “1 Billion Meals Endowment” initiative, which falls under the umbrella of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives. The move aims to ensure managing and …

ABU DHABI / WAM His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE Vice President, and Lt General Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, Chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council of Sudan, reviewed the cooperation ties between the two nations and the latest developments in Sudan. This came over a phone call HH Sheikh Mansour held with Al Burhan, wherein the …

ABU DHABI / WAM A second evacuation plane from Sudan, carrying 136 UAE citizens, along with diplomats and nationals from nine other countries, including vulnerable groups of the sick, children, the elderly and women, has arrived in the UAE. The evacuation operation aligns with the UAE’s commitment to humanitarian assistance and to its efforts to promote international solidarity and cooperation. …