June, 2021

• 29 June

  India shifts 50,000 troops to China border in historic move

  

  Bloomberg India has redirected at least 50,000 additional troops to its border with China in a historic shift towards an offensive military posture against the world’s second-biggest economy. Although the two countries battled in the Himalayas in 1962, India’s strategic focus has primarily been Pakistan since the British left the subcontinent, with the long-time rivals fighting three wars over the ...

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• 29 June

  French regional poll leaves field open for presidential race

  

  Bloomberg The outcome of next year’s French presidential election looks increasingly uncertain after incumbent Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who lead national polls, registered dismal showings in a regional ballot. Macron’s LREM group, which upended France’s two-party system in 2017, is set to get just 6.7% of the nationwide vote to renew metropolitan councils, according to exit ...

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• 29 June

  UK faces food shortages as worker scarcity gets worse

  

  Bloomberg From abattoirs to restaurant kitchens, the UK food sector is facing a massive challenge this summer: there just aren’t enough workers. The food industry, already facing labour shortages because of Brexit and the pandemic, is now being stretched to capacity as the country reopens. Meat processors are cutting production and a “catastrophic” dearth of drivers is disrupting food deliveries ...

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• 29 June

  Financial crisis scars tie up $8.1 trillion in US home equity

  

  Bloomberg US homeowners spooked by the burgeoning pandemic last spring rushed to tap equity in their properties for a hit of ready cash — and equally wary banks tightened credit or halted lending in response. In the past year, monstrous demand for homes amid a scarcity of listings pushed up prices to the point of giving owners more collective equity ...

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• 29 June

  Portugal slaps new rules on UK arrivals as Merkel urges unity

  

  Bloomberg Portugal and Spain imposed new restrictions on UK visitors amid concern about the coronavirus delta variant as Germany pushed for a more coordinated European Union response to try to limit the strain taking hold in the bloc. The changes are a setback for Europe’s holiday destinations just as the summer tourism season should be kicking up a gear. The ...

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• 29 June

  Intel says chip shortage to hit bottom in H2

  Bloomberg Intel Corp Chief Executive Officer Pat Gelsinger predicted the shortage of semiconductors that’s hurting industries from automotive to consumer electronics will bottom out in the second half of this year before starting to improve. “I don’t expect chip industry is back to a healthy supply-demand situation until ’23,” he said in an interview. “For a variety of industries, I ...

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• 29 June

  Amazon, Google face UK consumer probe into fake reviews

  

  Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc. and Google are facing formal probes into possible violations of UK consumer protection rules over a failure to shield their users from an onslaught of fake reviews. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it has opened investigations to gather more information and decide whether the tech giants may have broken the law by not doing enough ...

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• 29 June

  European stocks slump as futures steady; oil declines

  

  Bloomberg European stocks slipped on Monday, with travel shares slumping amid restrictions prompted by coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19) strains, while US futures were little changed alongside Asian equities. The Stoxx 600 Index was led lower by the likes of Tui AG and EasyJet Plc, with the highly contagious Delta strain threatening to derail summer travel in Europe just as the northern ...

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• 29 June

  Virus lockdowns send Malaysia stocks falling to seven-month low

  

  Bloomberg Malaysian stocks tumbled to a seven-month low amid a selloff across much of southeast Asia’s equities markets, after the local government extended a nationwide lockdown due to elevated Covid-19 infections. The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index dropped as much as 1.3% on Monday, while Indonesia’s stock benchmark fell the most in six weeks. In Thailand, the key index sinks ...

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• 28 June

  Aramco bets on blue hydrogen exports ramping up from 2030

  

  Bloomberg Saudi Aramco outlined plans to invest in blue hydrogen as the world shifts away from dirtier forms of energy, but said it will take at least until the end of this decade before a global market for the fuel is developed. “We’re going to have a large share” of the market for blue hydrogen, Aramco’s chief technology officer, Ahmad ...

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