April, 2020

• 22 April

  EU eyes 2.2tn recovery plan to tackle slump

  

  Bloomberg The European Union’s 27 leaders will be asked to consider a 2 trillion-euro ($2.2 trillion) plan for the region’s post-pandemic recovery on Thursday, according to reports. The compromise proposal has emerged from a north-south squabble over how to pay for the effects of coronavirus lockdowns that is set to play out on a video conference. The proposal would partially ...

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• 22 April

  Historic oil rout poised to bust shale

  

  Bloomberg A historic crash in crude prices is driving US shale into full-on retreat with operators halting new drilling and shutting in old wells, moves that could cut output by 20% for the world’s biggest producer of oil. For shale companies, the price of West Texas Intermediate crude went from hunker-down-and-ride-it-out mode to crisis mode in just a few days, ...

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• 22 April

  Chevron barred from producing oil in Venezuela

  

  Bloomberg Chevron Corp will be forced to effectively wind down its operations in Venezuela, dealing the Maduro regime’s crumbling oil industry another blow as US President Donald Trump maneuvers for regime change in the Latin American nation. The US Treasury Department will no longer allow the company to drill wells, sell and buy crude oil or oil products or transport ...

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• 22 April

  S’pore police probes Hin Leong after $800m oil losses

  

  Bloomberg The troubles facing Singaporean oil trading firm Hin Leong deepened as the city-state’s police have started investigating the company. The probe, which the Singapore Police Force confirmed by email, is the latest twist in the downfall of the company, which owes $3.85 billion to more than 20 banks and revealed in court filings that it hid about $800 million ...

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• 22 April

  Stocks surge with US equity futures; oil deepens decline

  

  Bloomberg Stocks rose on Wednesday with US equity futures as investors monitored continued volatility in energy markets and earnings reports that haven’t been uniformly negative. Oil prices renewed their slide. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index opened higher, with gains in tech and telecom shares countering declines in energy companies. Stocks slipped in Japan but climbed in most other major Asia ...

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• 22 April

  Top private bank asks wealthy clients to stop binging on India stocks

  

  Bloomberg The top investment adviser to rich Indians is asking its wealthy clients to desist from loading up on equities even as the nation’s stock indexes get back into bull territory. “We are maintaining the view that this is a very uncertain environment, and hence, investors must not make impulsive decisions,” Shobhit Mathur, a director at Kotak Investment Advisors Ltd., ...

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• 22 April

  Banks in China hit by bad loans despite $212b relief

  

  Bloomberg Bad debt at Chinese banks climbed in the first quarter even as lenders deferred payments on and rolled over a combined 1.5 trillion yuan ($212 billion) in loans after the coronavirus outbreak brought the world’s second-largest economy to a standstill. After allowing banks to take a more lenient approach on how they classify bad debt, regulators in Beijing on ...

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• 22 April

  Kotak Bank to sell 65m shares to raise capital

  

  Bloomberg Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. plans to issue as many as 65 million shares in a move that will strengthen its capital buffers and reduce the stake held by its wealthy founder. The Mumbai-based lender didn’t provide details of the pricing of the new shares in its filing on Wednesday. However, under a regulatory formula, they should be priced around ...

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• 22 April

  Land Bank distress adds to pressure on government

  

  Bloomberg The Land and Agricultural Development Bank of South Africa is in talks with lenders after missing a loan payment and triggering an event of default, leaving its government owner liable for about $302 million of guaranteed debt. The state-owned provider of finance to the farming sector is seeking a waiver after failing to pay what it owed under the ...

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• 22 April

  India’s central bank eases up on currency intervention

  

  Bloomberg India’s central bank may be reducing its intervention in the currency markets as volumes improve and volatility eases. The Reserve Bank of India likely sold a net $1.8 billion in the two weeks ended April 10, according to estimates by Bloomberg Economics. That follows likely sales of $7.7 billion in the spot forex market last month, which made the ...

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