Bloomberg The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted the world economy will strengthen in 2020, albeit at a slightly slower pace than previously anticipated amid threats related to trade and tensions in the Middle East. Global growth will accelerate to 3.3% from 2.9% in 2019, marking the first pickup in three years, the fund said. Both figures are down compared with ...

Bloomberg The Bank of Japan (BOJ) took a brighter view of the economy and left its main policy settings unchanged on Tuesday, offering a further indication that it is unlikely to add to its stimulus. As had been widely expected, the BOJ raised its growth projections for the first time in a year, thanks to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s $120 ...

Bloomberg The pound advanced after the UK’s employment rate hit a record high, weakening the case for an imminent interest-rate cut. Sterling rose against all its Group-of-10 peers as the UK labour market figures ended a run of weak economic data. Money markets trimmed bets that the Bank of England (BOE) will lower borrowing costs on January 30 to around ...

Bloomberg Palladium’s extraordinary rally has the potential for prices to go on and test $3,000 an ounce, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc’s Jeffrey Currie, who twinned that outlook with a clear warning that such peaks wouldn’t last for long as the record levels would cut into demand. “The upside potential is significant as the market is now in a ...

Bloomberg UBS Group AG missed key targets for 2019 as investors pulled money late in the year, underscoring the challenge for new wealth management co-head Iqbal Khan as he seeks to turn around its most important business. The Swiss bank failed to meet several metrics set during a revamp of its goals just over a year ago, highlighting mounting headwinds ...

Bloomberg Citigroup Inc spends about $8.5 billion a year on technology, but the bank’s boss says that doesn’t mean branch workers will all be replaced by machines anytime soon. Modernising the bank’s app and digital-banking experience won’t necessarily result in Citigroup needing fewer people in its retail bank, Chief Executive Officer Michael Corbat said on Tuesday in a Bloomberg Television ...

Bloomberg BP Plc handed more power to a new generation of executives, announcing that Chief Financial Officer Brian Gilvary will join his boss Bob Dudley in retiring this year. Murray Auchincloss, currently the finance chief of BP’s oil and gas production division, will succeed Gilvary. The energy giant already announced last year that Bernard Looney, who runs that unit, will ...

Bloomberg Australia is set to add a record amount of renewable power in 2020, driven by growing corporate demand for clean electricity and to fill generation gaps created by the retirement of aging coal-fired plants. New markets are expected to unlock growth as pilot hydrogen projects start and oil, gas and mining projects invest in off-grid renewables generation, according to ...

Bloomberg The world needs a single carbon price to reach climate targets including Europe’s pledge to eliminate emissions by 2050, said the head of the region’s biggest utility. Such a level should be between 20 euros ($28) to 40 euros per ton of carbon dioxide for the coming years, then rising gradually to punish even the most efficient fossil-fuel plants, ...

Bloomberg US equity futures slipped on Tuesday, pointing to declines after the long weekend as investors grapple with worries about a deadly virus in China that sparked earlier declines across Asia and Europe. Treasuries rose. Contracts for all three of the main gauges were firmly in the red after a miserable session in Asia triggered by the outbreak of the ...