July, 2019

• 1 July

  Shiseido’s beauty app promises perfect skin — for $92 a month

  

  Bloomberg Shiseido Co is making it easier for customers to benefit from — and pay for — perfect skin. For 10,000 yen ($92) a month, subscribers will be able to access the Japanese cosmetics maker’s custom-designed skincare service, called Optune. Using a smartphone app that analyses skin and a dispenser with five serum-and-lotion cartridges, Shiseido says its product will deliver ...

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June, 2019

• 30 June

  DP World in talks to acquire Topaz Energy

  

  Bloomberg DP World Plc is in “very advanced” discussions to acquire Topaz Energy & Marine Plc in what would be the Dubai-based company’s first venture into the oil and gas sector. The world’s largest port operator also said in a statement that there is no certainty of a transaction. Sky News reported earlier that a $1.3 billion deal could be ...

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• 30 June

  US ‘winning’ trade war with China, says Trump

  

  Bloomberg President Donald Trump declared the US was “winning” the trade war a day after reaching a temporary truce with Chinese President Xi Jinping. On a visit to South Korea following the Group of 20 summit in Japan, Trump said at a news conference that the Federal Reserve “has not been of help to us at all” in his trade ...

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• 30 June

  Opec production falls as cartel moves to prolong output cuts

  

  Bloomberg The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (Opec’s) output fell for a seventh consecutive month as the group signalled it would keep supplies restrained at least until the end of the year. Crude production in June dropped to 30 million barrels a day as US sanctions further curtailed Iranian shipments and Saudi Arabia chose to pare back its output. The ...

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• 30 June

  Fed unleashes higher payouts for banks

  

  Bloomberg Titans of the US banking industry said they will pump out more cash to shareholders after all 18 lenders passed the Federal Reserve’s annual stress tests. The results were a particular win for Deutsche Bank AG after it repeatedly failed past exams. A dozen of the nation’s largest lenders said they will boost payouts through dividends and stock buybacks ...

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• 30 June

  RBI spells out concerns over India’s spreading shadow banking crisis

  

  Bloomberg India’s financial regulator has spelled out its concerns about the implications of the country’s spreading shadow banking crisis, saying any failure among the largest of the non-bank finance firms could cause losses comparable to a collapse among the major banks. In its latest Financial Stability Report released, the Reserve Bank of India said the potential losses in the event ...

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• 30 June

  Australia banks to rein in uninvited credit, charges

  

  Bloomberg Australian lenders including Commonwealth Bank of Australia pledged to rein in uninvited offers of credit and commission charges after an inquiry that unearthed a string of scandals in the financial sector. The new code of practice, in force from July 1, is designed to increase customer protection and introduces new penalties for breaches, the Australian Banking Association said in ...

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• 30 June

  JPMorgan eyes cash services boost with first Asia fintech investment

  

  Bloomberg JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s first investment in an Asian financial technology firm is a key plank in the US bank’s strategy to boost its cash management services in fast-growing regional markets such as India and China, according to a senior regional executive. Last month, JPMorgan announced it was taking a stake in Global PayEx, a Mumbai-based fintech firm which ...

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• 30 June

  Brazil cuts 2019 growth forecast by more than half

  

  Bloomberg Brazil’s central bank cut its 2019 growth forecast by more than half, blaming factors including falling confidence, a weaker than expected first quarter and a global slowdown. Latin America’s largest economy will expand 0.8 percent this year, down from previous estimate of 2 percent in March, according to the central bank’s quarterly inflation report published. Policy makers are more ...

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• 30 June

  Huawei reprieve is good and bad news for Asia tech stocks

  

  Bloomberg Many are expecting a relief rally after the world’s largest economies declared a truce in their trade war. In Asia, the sector that just won the biggest reprieve is tech stocks. President Donald Trump’s decision to allow US corporations to resume sales to Huawei Technologies Co, China’s largest telecommunications-equipment maker, will boost semiconductor stocks as concerns surrounding demand for ...

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