Bloomberg Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga was elected leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party by an overwhelming majority, ushering in the country’s first change of prime minister in almost eight years. The party, which has ruled mostly uninterrupted since 1955, was set to use its parliamentary majority to install Suga as prime minister in a separate vote on ...

Bloomberg The Philippine central bank is prepared to lend more to the government, helping to boost state funding to counter the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, Governor Benjamin Diokno said on Monday. The comments come days after President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law a measure providing 165.5 billion pesos ($3.4 billion) for pandemic relief. The law allows Bangko Sentral ng ...

Bloomberg Sweden’s central bank will make good on its promise to enter the corporate bond market, as it begins buying 10 billion kronor ($1.1 billion) worth of securities. But the move, which the Riksbank says will rein in funding costs for businesses and help contain credit supply shocks, has courted controversy ever since it was announced in July. Some investors ...

Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG plans to boost lending to commodity traders in the Middle East to help double the size of its regional business. The German lender, which on Monday appointed Loic Voide and Kees Hoving as co-chief executive officers for the Middle East and Africa, is also targeting bond markets for growth in the region. “In the next five ...

Bloomberg After a blistering rally of 34% from this year’s record low against the dollar, Norway’s krone may be running low on steam. The Scandinavian currency completed a second weekly loss versus both the greenback and euro, in step with declines in the price of oil — Norway’s top export. Furthermore, krone gains in recent months were fuelled in part ...

Bloomberg President Christine Lagarde said the recent appreciation of the euro has partly offset the positive impact that the European Central Bank’s (ECB) stimulus had in boosting inflation and reiterated that policy makers stand ready to adjust all of their instruments if needed. The Governing Council will carefully assess all the information coming from the euro-area economy, including developments in ...

Bloomberg The chairmen of UBS Group AG and Credit Suisse Group AG are exploring a potential merger to create one of Europe’s largest banks, Inside Paradeplatz reported. The project, nicknamed Signal, is driven by UBS Chairman Axel Weber, who is working on it with his counterpart at Credit Suisse, Urs Rohner, the blog said. Weber has discussed the idea with ...

Bloomberg Global stocks climbed after a two-week slump and US futures rallied amid a flurry of deal activity and signs of progress towards a virus vaccine. Travel stocks led gains in the Stoxx Europe 600 Index, while contracts on the Nasdaq 100 Index added 1.4%. The dollar edged lower, gold climbed and Treasuries were little changed ahead of this week’s ...

Bloomberg SoftBank Group Corp. will raise about 1.2 trillion yen ($10.4 billion) from selling about a third of its domestic wireless arm, marking Japan’s biggest secondary share sale in a decade. The Japanese firm said it will sell SoftBank Corp. shares at 1,204.50 yen apiece. Including an over-allotment option, the group will raise about $11.6 billion in total from the ...

Bloomberg South Africa’s main stock index gains 0.4% by 9:49 am in Johannesburg, advancing for the sixth consecutive day, the longest streak of gains since January, as signs of progress toward a virus vaccine lifts risk appetite, driving markets higher. More than 50% of the listed South African companies climb, with the four biggest stocks — Naspers Ltd., Anglo American ...