August, 2019

• 7 August

  Oil plummets as central banks cut interest rates

  

  Bloomberg Oil plunged, re-entering bear-market territory, as central banks cut interest rates around the world, feeding into an increasingly dismal economic view. Futures in New York fell as much as 4.2% on Wednesday to the lowest in almost two months. Crude was swept up in a global meltdown of stock and commodity markets after rate cuts in New Zealand, India …

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• 7 August

  India’s Sterlite sees $35 billion energy storage opportunity

  

  Bloomberg Sterlite Power Grid Ventures Ltd., one of India’s biggest private transmission companies, sees a $35 billion investment opportunity into grid-connected energy storage projects in the country over the next decade to support government renewables targets. Chief Executive Officer Pratik Agarwal said he expects central and state governments to issue battery tenders totaling several gigawatts of capacity by no later …

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• 7 August

  Glencore halts cobalt mine as profit plunges

  Bloomberg Glencore Plc reported the weakest profit in three years and announced plans to halt about a fifth of the world’s cobalt production after prices for the battery metal plunged. Glencore will shutter Mutanda project in the Democratic Republic of Congo for about two years in a move to put a floor under cobalt market, which has seen prices fall …

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• 7 August

  US stocks rebound, bonds gain on dovish central-bank moves

  

  Bloomberg US equity futures extended a rebound and European stocks rallied as markets continued to recover from a brutal selloff at the start of the week. Caution was on display, however, as bonds gained while currencies were roiled by a series of dovish central-bank moves in Asia. Futures on all three major US benchmarks turned higher following a surge in …

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• 7 August

  Canadian stocks on worst streak in ‘a year’

  

  Bloomberg Canadian stocks played catch up with a global rout following August 5’s holiday, with the nation’s benchmark falling the most this year before paring losses. The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 0.8 percent, extending its slump for a sixth straight session — its longest losing streak since September 10. Energy stocks were the biggest decliners on the benchmark as the …

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• 7 August

  South Korea is world’s worst major equity market in ’19

  Bloomberg South Korean equities overtook those of Malaysia to become the world’s worst major equity market for the year as ongoing trade war with Japan and tensions between the US and China slashed the nation’s earnings outlook. The benchmark Kospi Index has dropped 6.1 percent year-to-date compared with 5.1 percent decline in the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index in Singapore. …

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• 7 August

  China’s central bank assures firms yuan won’t fall further

  

  Bloomberg Senior People’s Bank of China (PBOC) officials reassured foreign companies that the currency won’t continue to weaken significantly, a day after the yuan fell below 7 per dollar for the first time since 2008. The central bank held a meeting with a number of foreign exporters in Beijing, at which officials also said that companies’ ability to buy and …

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• 7 August

  HSBC’s Swiss unit to cough up $329mn to settle Belgian tax probe

  

  Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc’s Swiss private banking unit agreed to pay about 294 million euros ($329 million) to settle a Belgian criminal probe into allegations it helped wealthy clients dodge hundreds of millions of euros in taxes. The preliminary agreement in Belgium’s largest criminal settlement still needs to be approved by a judge at a hearing that should take place …

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• 7 August

  Bank of Thailand reduces interest rate to spur growth

  

  Bloomberg The Bank of Thailand unexpectedly cut its benchmark interest rate on Wednesday for the first time in more than four years to boost the economy, and said it sees more room to ease as global risks surge. The Monetary Policy Committee voted five to two to cut its key rate by a quarter-percentage point to 1.5%, the central bank …

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• 7 August

  India delivers rare interest rate cut to boost economy

  

  Bloomberg India’s central bank lowered its benchmark interest rate by an unconventional 35 basis points, its fourth reduction this year to support a slowing economy. The repurchase rate was reduced to 5.4%, the lowest since 2010, surprising most of the 40 economists surveyed by Bloomberg who had predicted a quarter-point cut. AasthaGudwani, an economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch …

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