October, 2022

• 22 October

  UK consumers rein in luxury spending

    Bloomberg British consumers are reining in unnecessary purchases after a leap in energy prices ate into their discretionary spending, forcing people to cut back on new clothes, evenings out and lunches out. Barclaycard, which manages about half of the nation’s credit and debit card transactions, said outlays on non-essential items in rose 1% from a year ago in September, ...

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• 22 October

  J&J sales grow, but strong dollar tugs at expectations

  

    Bloomberg Johnson & Johnson (J&J) reported third-quarter earnings that beat analyst estimates as revenue grew in its drugs and medical-device businesses despite pressure from the stronger dollar. The diversified health-care company, which is in the process of separating out its consumer division, reported sales results that were roughly in line with Wall Street’s estimates for the pharmaceutical and medical-device ...

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• 22 October

  Wannabe UK premiers face weekend of intense lobbying

  

  Bloomberg The race to be Britain’s next prime minister will be mostly conducted behind closed doors, as contenders embark on a frantic weekend of lobbying Conservative lawmakers to get onto Monday’s party ballot. Liz Truss’s dramatic resignation on Thursday triggered a leadership contest that, coming so soon after the bitter one that put her into 10 Downing Street, is likely ...

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• 22 October

  Pakistan’s Imran Khan disqualified from office for hiding assets

  

  Bloomberg Imran Khan, Pakistan’s former prime minister, was disqualified as a lawmaker and barred from holding public office after officials found him guilty of hiding his assets, the latest legal woe for the ousted leader as he pushes for early national elections in a bid to return to power. A five-member panel of the election commission issued its order on ...

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• 22 October

  Russia threatens flooding with mined dam, Zelenskiy tells EU

  

  Bloomberg Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told European leaders that Russian forces have mined a dam in the occupied south, threatening “hundreds of thousands” with flooding and endangering the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. Addressing a two-day summit of European Union leaders on Thursday, Zelenskiy said Kremlin forces had packed a dam with explosives at the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, more than 40 ...

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• 22 October

  US ban on Xinjiang imports is off to ‘good start’

  

    Bloomberg Four months into a sweeping ban on imports from China’s Xinjiang region, the top US customs official is signaling confidence that companies are observing the embargo. “There are going to be some rough spots along the way, but I think we’ve been off to a remarkably good start,” Chris Magnus, the commissioner of US Customs and Border Protection, ...

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• 22 October

  Erdogan open to talks with Swedish leader on Nato bid

    Bloomberg Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he is willing to meet Sweden’s leader to discuss the Nordic country’s bid to join Nato. Erdogan said he instructed his staff to respond positively to a request from Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson for talks. “We will discuss these topics with him in our country,” state-run Anadolu Agency cited Erdogan as ...

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• 22 October

  A $58.6bn jump in mortgage costs fuels risk for UK lenders

  

    Bloomberg A surge in bad loans awaits UK banks as higher interest rates saddle homeowners with an estimated £52 billion ($58.6 billion) of added mortgage payments over the next three years, an analyst warned as he downgraded his ratings on several lenders. The jump in costs will help push the personal debt service burden towards about 10% of post-tax ...

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• 22 October

  Bank of Japan announces unscheduled bond buying

  

  Bloomberg Japan’s benchmark yield climbed above the central bank’s policy ceiling and monetary authorities announced unscheduled bond purchases to rein it back in. The yield on the 10-year note briefly rises 0.5 basis points to 0.255% as the Bank of Japan (BOJ) held the first unscheduled bond buying operation this month. Global yields have continued to march higher as traders ...

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• 22 October

  Indonesia’s central bank wants to ‘control’ rupiah in tougher stance

  

    Bloomberg Indonesia’s central bank hardened its wording around its currency interventions, saying it would look to “control” the rupiah with the dollar expected to stay strong in the coming months. “What we will continue to do is to control the exchange rate,” Bank Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo said after the policy rate decision. “We don’t want the strengthening dollar ...

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