February, 2023

• 1 February

  Australia’s Wong warns regional conflict would be ‘catastrophic’

  

  Bloomberg Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong warned about the risk of conflict in the Indo-Pacific as she prepares to meet her British counterpart for defense talks that will likely focus on regional issues including China’s military expansion. Speaking on Tuesday before joining Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles for two days of annual bilateral talks with their British counterparts, Wong said ...

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• 1 February

  Czech parliament speaker to visit Taiwan amid row with china

    Bloomberg The speaker of Czech parliament said she will visit Taiwan, a day after China lashed out at the nation’s president elect for saying he favored a stronger partnership with Taiwan. Marketa Pekarova Adamova said she talked to Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu on Wednesday about her visit planned for March. Just a day earlier, China called comments made ...

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• 1 February

  Credit Suisse to move private funds group to First Boston unit

  

    Bloomberg Credit Suisse Group AG plans to shift an asset management business that helps buyout firms raise funds to its First Boston spinout as the firm works to reshape its investment bank after losses. Internal discussions are taking place on moving the Private Funds Group, co-headed by David Klein in the US and Michael Murphy in London, to First ...

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• 1 February

  UniCredit, UBS vow $12b bonanza for shareholders

  

    Bloomberg Europe’s largest banks kicked off earnings season with pledges to return more than $12 billion to shareholders, following an interest rate bonanza that’s bolstering lenders from Milan to Stockholm. UBS Group AG Chief Executive Officer Ralph Hamers vowed to return more than $6.7 billion to shareholders this year, after income from lending to wealthy clients surged in the ...

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• 1 February

  Citi poaches JPM’s Besseddik to head Europe health-care banking

  

    Bloomberg Citigroup Inc is hiring Cyril Besseddik from JPMorgan Chase & Co. to lead coverage of health-care companies in Europe, the Middle East and Africa for its investment bank. Besseddik is set to join Citigroup’s banking, capital markets advisory group in May and will be based in London, according to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg News. He was ...

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• 1 February

  PayPal to slash 2,000 jobs

    Bloomberg PayPal Holdings Inc. said it will cut 2,000 staffers as it contends with a macroeconomic slowdown that’s weighed on the firm’s business in recent quarters. The cuts, which will affect about 7% of employees, will take place in the coming weeks, Chief Executive Officer Dan Schulman told employees. “While we have made substantial progress in right-sizing our cost ...

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• 1 February

  Kenya keeps benchmark interest rate unchanged

    Bloomberg Kenya surprised most analysts by keeping its benchmark interest rate unchanged for the first time since July, as it sees inflation declining in the near term. The monetary policy committee held the rate at 8.75%, Governor Patrick Njoroge said in an emailed statement. Only two of five economists in a Bloomberg survey expected the rate to remain unchanged. ...

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• 1 February

  Brazil to hold rates steady

    Bloomberg Brazil’s central bank will likely hold its interest rate steady for the fourth straight meeting as inflation expectations rise further above target and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva questions the institution’s goals. All 32 economists in a Bloomberg survey expect board members to keep the benchmark Selic rate unchanged at 13.75%, when the central bank wraps up ...

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• 1 February

  Adani rout passes $80bn as stock sale fails to stems doubt

  

  Bloomberg The crisis of confidence plaguing Gautam Adani is deepening, with the selloff in the Adani group shares triggered by Hindenburg Research’s fraud allegations rapidly turning into a meltdown despite the completion of a key share sale. The declines accelerated in afternoon trading in Mumbai after Bloomberg reported Credit Suisse Group AG has stopped accepting bonds of Adani’s group of ...

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• 1 February

  European stocks edge higher, US futures slip

  

  Bloomberg Stocks in Europe edged higher while US equity futures slipped on a day abounding with risks including key economic data, company earnings and the Federal Reserve policy meeting. The Stoxx Europe 600 index held a modest advance after a report showed inflation in the euro area slowed more than economists’ expectations in January, suggesting heated debate to come at ...

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