Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business The value of announced M&A transactions in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) reached an all-time high of $112 billion in the first half of 2019, according to a report from financial data provider Refinitiv. The increase of 231 percent compared to the value recorded during 2018, was driven by Saudi Aramco’s $69.1 billion …

Bloomberg London house prices fell less than usual this month as sellers held back in a sign that the market may be stabilising, according to Rightmove. Home values in greater London slipped 0.2 percent, compared with an average 0.6 percent drop for July over the past five years, the property website said. From a year ago, prices slid 1.7 percent …

Bloomberg Treasuries climbed at the start of a busy week for economic data and Federal Reserve speakers. Stocks were mixed as traders assessed corporate earnings. After last week’s jump in yields, long-term Treasuries outperformed their shorter-tenor peers as investors bought bonds at cheaper prices. The S&P 500 Index fluctuated as banks fell after Citigroup Inc’s results, while Broadcom Inc rallied …

Bloomberg Australia’s ASX Ltd is testing its systems for the trading of negative interest-rate products, underscoring how markets are preparing for the potential introduction of quantitative easing in yet another Group-of-10 nation. The exchange has made available trial environments so market participants can test their processes for interest-rate futures prices that are greater than or equal to 100.00, according to …

Bloomberg Central bankers readying to fight another economic downturn are tossing hand grenades rather than firing bazookas. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi stand ready alongside many of their counterparts to cut interest rates to bolster the weakest growth in a decade and lackluster inflation. Yet they have little to work with and, perhaps …

Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG is predicting a big decline in India’s sovereign bond yields to levels last seen in 2009. The yield curve is pricing in a deeper trough on policy, with expectations of more rate cuts from the Reserve Bank of India and a change in the way the authority manages liquidity to help transmit lower borrowing costs through …

Bloomberg At Citigroup Inc, bean counting and boring banking are in ascendance. Trading, not so much. The lender cut costs deeper than analysts expected while its consumer division posted its strongest second-quarter since 2013. Together, that outshined the firm’s Wall Street operations, where dealmakers eked out a surprise increase in revenue from underwriting debt while traders struggled. “We have good …

Bloomberg The World Bank Group appointed Anshula Kant of the State Bank of India as chief financial officer, according to a statement in Washington. Kant is currently a managing director at SBI and previously served as its CFO, the World Bank said. It hasn’t yet announced when Kant will start the new job. Kant will report to World Bank President …

Bloomberg It’s long seemed that nothing could unite President Donald Trump and Democrats on Capitol Hill. Then Facebook decided to create a cryptocurrency. Washington’s bipartisan distrust of the social-networking giant will be on display as it defends the digital-money proposal in two congressional hearings. In a sign that the testimony is likely to be an ordeal for Facebook, Trump took …

Bloomberg Alitalia’s rescue by Italy’s state-owned railway and investors including US carrier Delta Air Lines Inc may still be weeks away despite a looming deadline for offers for the loss-plagued carrier, people familiar with the matter said. Ferrovie dello Stato SpA is set to tell the carrier that its rescue plan has attracted potential investors, including Delta and Atlantia SpA, …