February, 2023

• 7 February

  Australia, China trade ministers hold talks as relations thaw

  

  Bloomberg China and Australia’s top trade officials have met for the first time since 2019, in the latest sign of warming diplomatic relations between the two countries. Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and Trade Minister Don Farrell held virtual talks on Monday for more than 90 minutes, according to an Australian government statement that confirms a report by Bloomberg News. Both ...

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• 7 February

  UN peacekeeper killed in Congo after regional leaders meet

    Bloomberg A United Nations peacekeeper died and another was seriously wounded after their helicopter was shot at in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday, a day after East African Community leaders met to steady a flailing peace process. The helicopter was flying from Beni to the trading hub of Goma when it came under fire from unidentified assailants, ...

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• 7 February

  Venezuela condemns US for shooting down Chinese balloon

    Bloomberg Venezuela condemned what it called an “attack by the United States against an unmanned civilian aircraft of Chinese origin,” taking a clear side in the growing international dispute after a similar balloon was reported over Latin America. The US once again “resorts to the use of force” against a device that didn’t represent any military or physical threat ...

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• 7 February

  BNP reaps reward of $20b ESG fund call with new dominance

  

    Bloomberg As the dust settles on the wave of ESG fund downgrades that swept through Europe’s investment industry, BNP Paribas SA has managed to climb several notches up a controversial ladder. BNP Paribas Asset Management (AM) is now the second-biggest provider of the European Union’s top environmental, social and governance (ESG) fund class, known as Article 9. Its decision ...

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• 7 February

  Australia set to push rates to 10-year high

  

    Bloomberg Australia’s central bank (RBA) is all but certain to increase interest rates at its first meeting of the year, with some observers pointing to the risk of a resumption of outsized moves to counter a surprising surge in inflation. Most economists and traders see the Reserve Bank lifting its cash rate by a quarter-point on Tuesday to 3.35%, ...

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• 7 February

  HK dollar carry trade flares on widest yield gap since 2007

  

  Bloomberg The Hong Kong dollar is rapidly heading toward the weak end of its trading band against the greenback as traders sell the currency to buy higher-yielding US assets. The local exchange rate is one of the worst performers worldwide in the past two months with a 0.74% drop against the US dollar, and last traded at HK$7.8473. Depreciating past ...

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• 6 February

  ECB must ‘show its teeth’ to reach price goal: Holzmann

  

  Bloomberg The European Central Bank (ECB) should actively fight inflation until people feel price stability in their everyday lives, according to Governing Council member Robert Holzmann. “The risk of over-tightening seems dwarfed by the risk of doing too little,” Holzmann told a conference Monday in Budapest. “Monetary policy must continue to show its teeth until we see a credible convergence ...

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• 6 February

  Europe’s bond recovery drops

    Bloomberg All it took was a strong US jobs report to expose the fragility of last week’s bond rally in Europe. Within minutes of the print, German bonds had erased almost half of their day-before rally, which had been turbocharged by expectations central banks were nearing an end to their hiking cycles. Jubilation is giving way to fresh anxiety ...

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• 6 February

  Stocks, futures decline on Fed outlook; dollar rises

  

    Bloomberg European stocks and US equity futures slumped as an unexpectedly strong US jobs report raised the prospect of more rate hikes from the Federal Reserve. Concern over US-China geopolitical tensions also weighed on sentiment. The Stoxx Europe 600 index dropped more than 1% after closing on February 3 in a bull market, with the technology and real estate ...

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• 6 February

  Adani rout drags India’s weighting in EM Index

  

    Bloomberg India’s weighting in MSCI’s emerging-market benchmark dropped after the brutal selloff in Adani group’s stocks, giving away its second spot to Taiwan after a rally in the latter’s market. As of the end of January, Taiwan’s weighting in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index rose to 14.2%, behind leader China’s 31.2%, while India’s fell to the third spot with ...

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