November, 2021

• 17 November

  Explosions in Ugandan capital leave one dead

  Bloomberg At least one person died when two explosions hit the Ugandan capital, the fourth blast in Kampala in the past month. The blasts occurred outside an office of insurer Jubilee Holdings Ltd and near the city’s central police station, the Daily Monitor reported, citing eyewitnesses. Images posted on the newspaper’s Twitter handle showed cars on fire outside the Jubilee ...

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• 17 November

  Belarus border crisis turns violent as leader speaks of détente

  

  Bloomberg Poland used water cannon and tear gas to stop Belarus-backed migrants from crossing the European Union’s eastern frontier a day after the bloc approved new tools to punish those escalating the crisis. Under the threat of new sanctions and facing accusations of mounting a “hybrid attack” on the EU by ushering travellers to the border, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko ...

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• 17 November

  Johnson: It’d be ‘legitimate’ to scrap part of Brexit deal

  

  Bloomberg Boris Johnson said it would be “perfectly legitimate” for the UK to suspend part of the Brexit deal with the European Union (EU), though his government still wants to negotiate a solution to their escalating trade spat. The UK is demanding a major overhaul of the divorce agreement it signed with the bloc, arguing that its implementation is causing ...

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• 17 November

  Hong Kong banks need to fix $205 billion in Libor contracts

  

  Bloomberg Hong Kong banks have to renegotiate HK$1.6 trillion ($205 billion) in contracts linked to the London interbank offered rate (Libor) before the benchmark ceases as corporate customers have been slow in transitioning to alternatives, the city’s de-facto central bank said. At the end of September, Hong Kong lenders had HK$4.3 trillion of assets, HK$1.2 trillion of liabilities and HK$34.9 ...

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• 17 November

  Bank of England boss says he’s ‘very uneasy’ about surging inflation

  

  Bloomberg Bank of England (BOE) Governor Andrew Bailey told UK lawmakers he is “very uneasy about the inflation situation” amid mounting evidence that a shortage of workers will drive up wages. Bailey told the House of Commons Treasury Committee that the labour market is looking “tight” but that he wanted to see what happened after the furlough program ended before voting ...

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• 17 November

  RBA’s Lowe softens rate outlook, acknowledges faster inflation

  

  Bloomberg Australia’s central bank chief Philip Lowe opened the door to an interest-rate increase before 2024 as policy makers acknowledged quicker consumer-price gains last quarter had altered the inflation picture. Lowe said in a speech Tuesday that a rate hike in 2024 was “still plausible,” while adding that a quicker return to the bank’s inflation target could make the case ...

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• 17 November

  BOE’s Haskel signals caution in debate on raising UK rates

  

  Bloomberg Bank of England (BOE) policy maker Jonathan Haskel injected a note of caution into the debate about whether to raise interest rates in the UK. Speaking at a Resolution Foundation event, Haskel said the economy was “firing on two cylinders” and that it’s “too early to declare success” in getting those on furlough back into work. While Haskel said he ...

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• 17 November

  Afghanistan to sell $10mn as currency falls

  

  Bloomberg Da Afghanistan Bank, the country’s central bank, is selling $10 million dollars to support the currency which has been tumbling to record lows, the first such auction under the new Taliban regime. The central bank, in a statement, said qualified banks and currency exchangers can participate in the bidding, without providing any details on when the results of the ...

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• 17 November

  Ex-US Bancorp employee alleges racist lending practices

  

  Bloomberg A Black loan underwriter who said he was fired due to racism alleges that US Bancorp engaged in redlining — discriminating against people of colour when lending. John Span also claims in a lawsuit that he endured a “toxic and racially hostile work environment” during his time in the firm’s indirect auto-lending group. In the complaint, filed in Illinois ...

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• 17 November

  Asian stocks steady; yuan gains on Biden-Xi meeting

  

  Bloomberg Asian stocks were steady Tuesday and the yuan climbed as traders weighed the outcome of the first face-to-face virtual summit between US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Treasury yields dipped. MSCI Inc’s Asia-Pacific share gauge posted a modest advance, while US and European equity futures fluctuated after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 ended flat. Hong ...

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