August, 2022

• 16 August

  PBOC surprise suggests China’s outlook is dire

    China’s faltering economy requires a lifeline from the central bank, regardless of admonitions that inflation is creeping higher and needs to be contained. With growth struggling and demand for credit cratering, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has made clear that it’s the recovery first. Price increases might be worrying, but are a second order problem — for now. ...

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• 16 August

  Should Fed resist opting for quick and easy again?

    Over the last 18 months or so, the quick and easy interpretation of inflation data has turned out to be incorrect. Will it be different going forward? Markets sure hope so. Federal Reserve officials seem more cautious, and rightly so. The markets’ latest narrative pivot is not the right one for the world’s most powerful central bank. When the ...

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• 16 August

  China factory orders drop in dire sign for global outlook

  

    Bloomberg Investors wanting to gauge the health of global consumer sentiment should look no further than China’s factories right now. Makers of Christmas decorations to clothing and tents say orders from overseas customers are drying up, with some predicting the best they can aim for is flat demand versus last year, according to more than a dozen export managers ...

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• 16 August

  Lufax plans Hong Kong listing to hedge US risk

  

    Bloomberg Fintech firm Lufax Holding Ltd is planning to go public in Hong Kong, the latest in a wave of New York-traded Chinese companies seeking alternative listings to hedge against the risk of being banned from US markets. The Ping An Insurance Group Co-backed company aims to file for a listing in Hong Kong as soon as the second ...

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• 16 August

  India’s rice crop suffers setback over poor rains

    Bloomberg Rice output in India may suffer this year as poor rains in key growing areas shrink plantings, raising concerns that the top exporter could curb shipments after restricting wheat and sugar sales to safeguard food security. Total rice acreage in the South Asian nation, the world’s second-biggest grower, has fallen 12% so far this season, according to the ...

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• 16 August

  Ola’s founder plans to produce electric vehicles in India by 2024

  

    Bloomberg Bhavish Aggarwal, who founded India’s top ride-hailing startup and then moved into manufacturing electric scooters, is expanding his business empire again, unveiling plans to enter the electric-car market in competition with local giants like Tata Group and global automakers from Hyundai Motor to Tesla. The 36-year-old entrepreneur said that Ola aims to launch its first electric car in ...

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• 16 August

  Gold drops with China’s slowdown

    Bloomberg Gold dropped — following four straight weeks of gains — as investors assessed signs China’s economy is struggling to recover ahead of minutes from the Federal Reserve later in the week. Bullion fell 1.1%, after the longest run of weekly gains in almost a year, as it came under pressure from the stronger dollar. The precious metal has ...

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• 16 August

  Thailand tourism boom underpins outperforming baht

  

  Bloomberg Thailand’s baht rebounded so rapidly in the past few weeks on optimism about the country’s tourism-led growth that it’s already hit year-end analyst targets. The currency jumped 2.3% to about 35.45 per dollar this month, leading gains in Asia by a wide margin. In addition to rising forecasts for tourists arrivals, the advance is also being driven by a ...

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• 16 August

  China holds fresh patrols around Taiwan to protest senator’s visit

  

  Bloomberg China’s military said it held fresh patrols around Taiwan to “fight back” against another US congressional visit less than two weeks after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi traveled to Taipei. The patrols and exercises conducted in the “sea and air space around Taiwan” on Monday provided a “resolute response and stern deterrence to US-Taiwan collusion,” Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Senior ...

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• 16 August

  Putin vows to expand partnership with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un

  

  Bloomberg Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to expand relations with North Korea, reaching out to his neighbor as the Kremlin scours the globe for weapons for its war in Ukraine. Putin sent a congratulatory message to North Korea for its Liberation Day holiday on Monday marking the end of Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula. Although Putin regularly ...

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