Bloomberg Hong Kong equity investors must be looking enviously across the border this year. The city’s two main benchmarks are hardly doing badly, but gauges on the mainland — after a grim 2018 — are eclipsing them and just about every other worldwide. The ChiNext in Shenzhen has led the charge with a 35 percent rally. While onshore shares slid …

Bloomberg India’s stocks advanced with the benchmark equity index rising to its highest level in six months, led by financial services companies. The S&P BSE Sensex climbed for a third session, increasing 0.6 percent to 37,752.17 in Mumbai, bringing its gain for this year to 4.7 percent. The NSE Nifty 50 Index increased 0.4 percent. Both indexes are headed for …

Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG faces stiff resistance from some supervisory board members to a merger with German competitor Commerzbank AG as the deal raises the prospect of tens of thousands of job cuts. Jan Duscheck and Stephan Szukalski, two key labour representatives on Deutsche Bank’s highest oversight body, oppose the merger, saying a combination would fail to achieve the goal …

Bloomberg Strategists are telling investors to prepare for both the best and the worst outcomes as risk assets around the world reach a crossroads. Global markets are facing a number of positive catalysts in 2019. The Federal Reserve’s in a wait-and-see mode, and the European Central Bank has begun upping its stimulus. Economies around the world are growing and the …

Bloomberg The bottom line is that the top line stinks. That’s the challenge facing South Africa’s biggest banks as they fight to contain costs that are accelerating faster than revenue. The reasons are pretty much the same: South Africa’s economy hasn’t expanded at more than 2 percent a year since 2013 and unemployment is at 27 percent. In addition, consumers …

Bloomberg As an activist investor targets Barclays Plc for taking on too much risk, the London-based lender has disclosed how its internal models failed to predict a series of trading losses at its investment bank. Barclays issued a so-called amber alert last year after the issues with its trading arm’s value-at-risk modeling, according to a recent filing. Tests of its …

Bloomberg BNP Paribas, France’s biggest lender, plans to expand China operations to include brokerage, futures trading and wealth-management ventures, as the bank anticipates further foreign investment flows into world’s second-biggest economy. CG Lai, CEO of BNP Paribas China, said his firm was one of many international players establishing and expanding their presence in the country. The moves come as index …

Bloomberg The second fatal crash of a Boeing Co. 737 Max aircraft in less than five months is creating a new hierarchy in aviation safety. Thrusting to the top: China. Three days after an Ethiopian Airlines jet crashed, killing all 157 people on board, country after country ignored assessments by the US Federal Aviation Administration that the plane is safe …

Bloomberg A pilot shortage for one. A cash crunch for another. And now the Boeing Max crisis. As Indian airlines ground plane after plane, passengers can expect to pay a lot more. Airfares for domestic travel may rise by 20 percent heading into the annual school break, a prime time for families to travel, according to an online booking firm. …

Bloomberg Inditex SA fell the most in 2019 after the Spanish owner of the Zara apparel chain reported the weakest earnings growth in five years, showing it’s not immune to the retail malaise that has burdened rival Hennes & Mauritz AB. Even a more generous dividend policy unveiled on Wednesday failed to stem the decline. The shares fell as much …