February, 2022

• 11 February

  Australia ends QE with murky future for $465 billion of assets

  

    Bloomberg Australia concluded its quantitative easing (QE) program, leaving the Reserve Bank with more than 40% of government bonds on issue and raising questions about what it will do with the pile of assets. The RBA on Thursday conducted its final A$1.6 billion purchase of securities under a program that tripled its balance sheet to about A$650 billion ($465 ...

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• 11 February

  ABN Amro planning $571mn buyback as profit tops estimates

  

    Bloomberg ABN Amro Bank NV said it will start a 500 million-euro share buyback ($571 million) after fourth quarter profit jumped, joining European peers in pledging higher returns as the industry rebounds from the pandemic. Net income soared to 552 million euros in the period, exceeding the 426 million euros that analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had expected on average, ...

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• 11 February

  SocGen seals rebound in Q4 with record year in boost for Oudea

  

    Bloomberg Societe Generale SA rebounded with a record annual profit from its first losing year in decades, as all main businesses at the French lender beat analysts’ estimates in the fourth quarter. A resurgent equities trading unit and record earnings from financing and advisory were among the highlights as revenue jumped 13% in the final months of last year ...

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• 11 February

  US households ramp up spending on credit cards

  

    Bloomberg US credit-card bills jumped sharply last quarter as Americans returned to pre-pandemic spending habits. Credit-card balances increased every quarter in 2021 to end the year at $856 billion, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said. The fourth-quarter gain was the largest in figures dating back 22 years, and while the total amount is still below pre-Covid levels, ...

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• 11 February

  Zambia central bank explores digital currency

    Bloomberg Zambia’s central bank expects to complete research on forming a digital currency that could cut transaction costs and boost participation in the formal financial system by the fourth quarter. “The results of research will form part of the input in the policy considerations on whether to introduce a central bank digital currency in Zambia,” Nkatya Kabwe, acting assistant ...

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• 11 February

  Credit Suisse warns on pay, costs after $2.2 billion loss

  

    Bloomberg Credit Suisse Group AG warned that higher costs for pay and its restructuring will weigh on results in 2022, adding to the bank’s woes after it posted the biggest quarterly loss in about four years. The Zurich-based bank had a net loss of about 2 billion francs ($2.16 billion) in the three months through December, primarily driven by ...

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• 11 February

  Bonds rally in India as RBI surprises with dovish policy

  

    Bloomberg Bonds in India gained and the rupee falls after the central bank held back on a widely expected hike in a key rate, continuing with its benign policy stance amid a hawkish turn by most global central banks. The yield on five-year bonds fall 17 basis points to 6.20%, while that on 10-year note declined by ten points ...

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• 11 February

  European stocks waver, futures slip

  

    Bloomberg Stocks in Europe trimmed an advance on Thursday amid mixed corporate earnings, while US futures slipped as traders await key US inflation data that may shape views on how aggressively the Federal Reserve will tighten monetary policy. The Stoxx Europe 600 index was little changed after paring a gain of as much as 0.5%. Siemens AG jumped as ...

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• 10 February

  US solar company seeks tariff action against key Asian nations

  

    Bloomberg Auxin Solar Inc is asking the US Commerce Department to investigate possible efforts to circumvent tariffs with the imports of equipment from Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. The company alleges the solar imports use parts or components from China, and that producers are assembling equipment in the Southeast Asian nations as a way of skirting duties, according to ...

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• 10 February

  Europe needs 65 million EV chargers by 2035

  

    Bloomberg Europe will have 130 million electric vehicles (EVs) on the road by 2035, according to a joint report from Ernst & Young and the electricity industry trade association Eurelectric. The report’s projections show Europe’s EV fleet growing from its current base of less than 5 million to 65 million by 2030 and then doubling over the following five years. ...

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