August, 2022

• 3 August

  Russia balks at US prisoner swap offer, views it as unequal

  

  Bloomberg Moscow is leaning towards rejecting a prisoner swap unless it gets two Russians in return for the two Americans the US wants released, according to people familiar with the Kremlin’s thinking. The US has called on Russia to free WNBA player Brittney Griner and former US Marine Paul Whelan, offering to free convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout. Discussions have ...

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• 3 August

  China banks may face $350b in losses from property crisis

  

    Bloomberg China’s banks face mortgage losses of $350 billion in a worst-case scenario as confidence plunges in the nation’s property market and authorities struggle to contain deepening turmoil. A spiralling crisis of stalled projects has dented the confidence of hundreds of thousands of homebuyers, triggering a mortgage boycott across more than 90 cities and warnings of broader systemic risks. ...

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• 3 August

  Bank of England set for biggest interest rate rise in 27 years

  

  Bloomberg The Bank of England (BOE) this week is expected to push through the biggest interest-rate increase in 27 years and unveil its strategy for unwinding some of the £895 billion ($1.1 trillion) of stimulus it delivered over the past decade. The measures would accelerate a historic tightening of monetary policy to choke off the worst bout of inflation in ...

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• 3 August

  EU banks get $3.8 billion boost from end of negative rates era

  

    Bloomberg Banks’ core business of lending has finally turned more profitable again, as the era of negative interest rates in the euro area comes to an end. The EU’s five biggest banks that have reported results so far showed an increase in net interest income of 3.74 billion euros ($3.82 billion) on the same quarter last year, a jump ...

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• 3 August

  HSBC makes cost of living payment to UK employees

  

    Bloomberg HSBC Holdings’s UK arm is the latest bank to help staff cope with the rising cost of living by making an extra one-time payment. Lower-paid employees will receive the £1,500 ($1,836) boost in their August paychecks, according to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg News. All five of the UK’s largest retail banks have now pledged to pay ...

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• 3 August

  Indonesia keeps dovish tone on steady core CPI

  

    Bloomberg Indonesia’s central bank continued to build the case to keep its policy rate unchanged for longer, as it sees subsiding food costs and slower global monetary tightening. “Bank Indonesia will continue to normalise monetary policy, but there is no need to quickly raise interest rates like other countries,” Governor Perry Warjiyo said in a briefing. Core inflation is ...

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• 3 August

  Credit card spending soars as US consumers battle inflation

  

  Bloomberg Mastercard Inc. said spending on its network jumped 18% as US consumers battle once-in-a-generation levels of inflation. Payment volume soared to $1.65 trillion in the second quarter, topping the $1.64 trillion average of analyst estimates in a Bloomberg survey. The company boosted its forecast for revenue growth for the year after it reported a 58% surge in overseas payments ...

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• 2 August

  Stocks decline as US-China tension stirs haven demand

  

  Bloomberg Stocks and US equity futures slid on Tuesday amid escalating US-China tension over Taiwan and deepening worries about a global economic slowdown, driving investors into the safety of government bonds. The Stoxx Europe 600 falls 0.6%, with energy among the few industries bucking the trend after BP Plc hiked its dividend and accelerated share buybacks to the fastest pace ...

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• 2 August

  Goldman Sachs warns against being ‘too early’ in fading recession risk

  

  Bloomberg Investors may be getting overconfident in betting the Federal Reserve may cut interest rates sooner to bolster a flagging US economy, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. strategists. “Looking at the re-pricing of cyclical assets in the US and EU, we think the market might have been too complacent too soon in fading recession risks on expectations of a ...

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• 2 August

  Third auction of UAE’s treasury bonds oversubscribed 5.1 times

  

    ABU DHABI / WAM The United Arab Emirates, represented by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) as the issuer, in collaboration with the central bank of the UAE (CBUAE) as the issuing and paying agent, has announced the results of the third auction of the Treasury Bonds programme (T-Bonds), which is part of the AED9 billion T-Bond issuance programme for ...

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