India’s slowdown—recently confirmed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which sharply reduced its estimate of growth during the current financial year—has set off a couple of energetic and oddly contradictory responses from the government in New Delhi. On the one hand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has aggressively defended his record, comparing it positively to the stagnation presided over by the ...

Bloomberg The dollar strengthened and Treasuries fell after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen suggested gradual rate increases are warranted despite soft inflation. Gains in oil and copper drove a gauge of commodities to a six-month high. The S&P 500 Index rose less than 0.1 percent to a record, led by technology and media shares. Apple Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. ...

Reuters Saudi Arabia’s stock market rebounded on Monday as higher oil prices boosted petrochemical shares while banks rose in response to Alinma Bank’s better-than-expected earnings. The main Saudi index gained 0.6 percent as tensions between Baghdad and Iraqi Kurdistan lifted oil sharply. PetroRabigh rose 2.1 percent and Petrochem added 1.2 percent, while mining firm Ma’aden was up 2.1 percent. Alinma ...

Bloomberg Sagging economic growth in India is complicating efforts to clean up a mountain of bad debt at the nation’s banks. Loans worth Rs17,00,000 crore ($26 billion) have been withdrawn in total since the 2001 inception of the corporate debt restructuring (CDR) mechanism through to the end of August, according to the latest data from the agency that brokers agreements ...

Bloomberg Some European Central Bank (ECB) policy makers see room for little more than 200 billion euros ($235 billion) of purchases under the institution’s bond-buying programme next year, according to central-bank officials familiar with the matter. The ECB is likely to run out of available debt under current rules at just over 2.5 trillion euros, the officials said, asking not ...

Bloomberg Bitcoin bubble or just the beginning? Or both? Those are the questions being asked on Wall Street to Main Street after the digital currency breached $5,000 for the first time, pushing this year’s gains to more than fivefold. As recently as December, bitcoin was trading at less than $1,000. Since then, it has dodged everything from tightening regulations, feuding ...

Bloomberg Kenya’s central bank may slightly lower its 2017 economic growth forecast to reflect uncertainty from this month’s unexpected presidential election do-over, said Governor Patrick Njoroge. “The growth rate won’t be as strong as we expected, but I don’t think we can say that we’ve gone over the precipice,” Njoroge said in an interview in Washington on Saturday, where he ...

Bloomberg Mark Carney is heading into a crucial week in the countdown to a possible Bank of England (BOE) rate increase in early November. After the International Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings where most central bankers fretted about weak inflation even amid robust global growth, the governor returns to an economy that’s almost the mirror opposite. While Brexit is weighing on ...

Bloomberg Philippine central bank Governor Nestor Espenilla said contained inflation means there isn’t a need to increase interest rates in the near term. “Right now there is no need to move policy rates looking at the inflation outlook,” Espenilla said in Washington where he was attending the annual International Monetary Fund meetings. “It might be too much of an anticipation ...

Bloomberg Bombardier Inc. is seeking investors for its aerospace businesses and considering a sale of some operations, people familiar with the matter said, as a turnaround plan at the Canadian planemaker faces pressure from potentially crippling US tariffs on its marquee jetliner. The Montreal-based manufacturer is studying the disposal of assets including its Q400 turboprop and CRJ regional-jet unit, said ...