January, 2023

• 4 January

  Spain imposes Covid-19 curbs on China arrivals

    Bloomberg Spain will require passengers arriving from China to provide a negative Covid test or a certificate proving full vaccination amid increasing concern about a renewed surge of the virus. The government in Madrid also wants a European Union crisis-response meeting at which the bloc should agree to demand evidence of full vaccination from Chinese arrivals, Health Minister Carolina ...

  Read More »
• 4 January

  Rolex gets more expensive in UK, US

    Bloomberg Rolex SA raised prices in the US and UK by an average of about 2.5%, the latest increases for the top Swiss watch brand, according to analysts at Barclays. The price of the most popular Rolex models rose between 1% and slightly more than 3% in both the UK and the US in the start of this year, ...

  Read More »
• 4 January

  Fear of global gas crisis eased by warm start to winter

  

    Bloomberg A warmer-than-expected start to winter across large parts of the world is rapidly easing fears of a natural gas crisis that had been predicted to trigger outages and add to pressure on power bills. Forecasts point to temperatures above seasonal norms for most of Europe in the next two weeks, while the US expects better weather through mid-January. ...

  Read More »
• 4 January

  Asia factories under pressure over slowing global demand

  

    Bloomberg Asia’s manufacturers remained under pressure in December as activity continued to contract under the weight of slowing global demand. Several purchasing managers indexes were in negative territory across the region. The S&P Global PMI reading for Vietnam fell to 46.4 from 47.4 in November, its lowest reading since September 2021. A reading above 50 indicates expansion from the ...

  Read More »
• 4 January

  Malaysia aims to finalise review of its 5G rollout

  

    Bloomberg Malaysia expects “some kind of finality” in its review of the 5G mobile services contract by this quarter, said Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil, amid fears that it would delay the rollout of the high-speed network. The government’s concerns with the 5G services range from the contracts signed to the speed that the network is being deployed, Fahmi said ...

  Read More »
• 4 January

  Singapore’s 2022 GDP growth beats amid lurking headwinds

  

    Bloomberg Singapore’s recovery held up in 2022, with a relatively strong year-end performance shoring up the economy ahead of an expected global slowdown this year. Gross domestic product grew 3.8% during the year, according to advance estimates from the Ministry of Trade and Industry. That’s a slight beat from the government’s projection for a 3.5% annual expansion. The better-than-forecast ...

  Read More »
• 4 January

  Hyundai misses full-year sales target

    Bloomberg Hyundai Motor Co sold 3.94 million vehicles last year, short of its 4.01 million target as the pandemic, supply disruptions, inflation and concerns of recession continued to strain the industry. Hyundai, which already cut its 2022 forecast from 4.32 million vehicles in October, expects global sales to reach 4.32 million units in 2023 — 3.54 million overseas and ...

  Read More »
• 4 January

  China’s economy ends 2022 in slump as Covid infections surge

  

    Bloomberg China’s economy ended the year in a major slump as business and consumer spending plunged in December, with more disruption likely in the first few months of the year as Covid infections surge across the country. Official data showed the decline in manufacturing worsened last month, while activity in the services sector plunged the most since February 2020. ...

  Read More »
• 4 January

  Germany open to seize Russian assets to help rebuild Ukraine

  

  Bloomberg Germany is open to using billions of euros in frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine rebuild as long as legal issues can be resolved and allies follow suit. Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government supports Ukraine’s demand for war reparations but hasn’t yet taken an official position on seizing assets from the Russian state. The issue is complex and some parts ...

  Read More »
• 4 January

  Marcos seeks to move China ties to ‘higher gear’

  

  Bloomberg Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said his government expects to sign more than 10 agreements with China during his visit there, as he seeks to shift the two nations’ ties to “higher gear.” “I will be opening a new chapter in our comprehensive strategic cooperation with China,” Marcos said in a speech before departing for Beijing. He added that ...

  Read More »