January, 2022

• 22 January

  US charges Belarus officials with piracy in jet diversion

    Bloomberg US prosecutors charged four Belarus officials with airline piracy over the diversion of a Ryanair flight last year that resulted in the arrest of a dissident journalist. Ryanair 4978 was destined for Vilnius, Lithuania, on May 23 but was diverted to Minsk, the Belarusian capital, while in Belarus airspace. Belarusian authorities claimed the diversion was due to a ...

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• 22 January

  BofA job cuts offer road map for navigating higher costs

  

    Bloomberg The biggest US banks received a clear message in recent days: Runaway expenses won’t cut it. Lenders that reported higher-than-expected costs, including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and First Republic Bank, had their shares pummeled by investors. Bank of America Corp., (BofA) on the other hand, showed companies a different way to manage costs despite ...

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• 22 January

  JPMorgan raises CEO Jamie Dimon’s pay 10% to $34.5mn

  

    Bloomberg JPMorgan Chase & Co raised Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jamie Dimon’s total compensation 10% to $34.5 million for his work in 2021, the firm’s most profitable year on record. The package for Dimon — often the highest-paid CEO in US banking — includes $28 million of restricted stock tied to performance, an annual base salary of $1.5 million ...

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• 22 January

  PBOC’s pledge to open tool box puts focus on less-known options

  

    Bloomberg A pledge by China’s central bank to open its monetary policy tool box wider to spur an economy under strain has fueled debate over its next move. With the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) having already cut interest rates and the ratio of cash banks must hold in reserve, economists are betting authorities will turn to some of ...

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• 22 January

  Citi in talks with Fubon on $1.5bn China asset sale

  

    Bloomberg Citigroup Inc, which has been shedding some of its retail operations as part of a global revamp, is in advanced talks with Taiwan’s Fubon Financial Holding Co. for a sale of its mainland China consumer business, people familiar with the matter said. Taipei-based Fubon has emerged as the likeliest buyer after outbidding rivals, and the two lenders are ...

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• 21 January

  Malaysia holds interest rate at record low

  Bloomberg Malaysia kept its benchmark interest rate at a historic low, maintaining support for an economy hit in recent weeks by floods and the fast-spreading Omicron variant. Bank Negara Malaysia held the overnight policy rate at 1.75% at its first monetary policy meeting of the year, as predicted by all 25 economists in a Bloomberg survey. The central bank has ...

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• 21 January

  Banks in HK tighten work rules as virus cases spread

  

    Bloomberg Banks are ramping up or extending efforts to protect their staff and business continuity in Hong Kong as authorities struggle to contain a fifth wave of Covid infections in the city. At Morgan Stanley, non-critical staff in some groups have been told to work from home starting Monday, said a person familiar with decision, who asked not to ...

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• 21 January

  Futures mixed as frayed nerves rekindle bond bid

  

    Bloomberg US equity futures were mixed while European stocks fall as investors assessed shaky company earnings and the prospect of higher US borrowing costs. Bond yields dropped a second day. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index touched the lowest level in a month weighed by miners, travel and leisure and automakers. Nasdaq 100 contracts underperformed after the tech-heavy gauge entered ...

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• 21 January

  Chipmakers tumble again in biggest weekly drop since March 2020

  

    Bloomberg Shares of semiconductor companies fall, with the group participating in a widespread late selloff for technology stocks that pushed the Nasdaq 100 Index into correction territory. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index falls 3.3%, ending at its lowest since late October. The index has dropped more than 10% thus far this week, which would represent its biggest one-week ...

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• 21 January

  Gold trims weekly gain

    Bloomberg Gold trimmed a weekly gain as inflation-adjusted bond yields continued to advance, diminishing the appeal of the non-interest bearing asset. The bullion sunk to a key resistance level as market-based measures of inflation expectations rapidly dropped, raising the real return of Treasuries. A decline in the bond’s nominal yields from a two-year high had helped gold advance earlier ...

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