April, 2021

• 25 April

  World’s biggest coronavirus crisis threatens Modi’s grip on India

  

  Bloomberg As India recorded more than 234,000 new Covid-19 infections last Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held an election rally in the West Bengal town of Asansol and tweeted: “I’ve never seen such huge crowds.” The second wave of the coronavirus has since grown into a tsunami. India is now the global coronavirus hotspot, setting records for the world’s highest ...

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• 25 April

  Armenian PM Pashinyan resigns before new elections

  Bloomberg Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan resigned to trigger new parliamentary elections, following months of opposition protests and calls from top army officers to resign over defeat in last year’s war with neighboring Azerbaijan. The resignation of Pashinyan, 45, will begin the process of dissolving parliament ahead of elections announced for June 20. He earlier met with leaders of the ...

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• 25 April

  Citi retail units seen fetching $6 billion as sales kick off

  

  Bloomberg Citigroup Inc could fetch as much as $6 billion from the sale of retail banking assets in 13 markets across the Asia-Pacific region, Europe and the Middle East as the lender forges ahead with plans to fine-tune its global branch network, people familiar with the plan said. The sale process for Australia is the furthest along and the preliminary ...

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• 25 April

  ICICI Bank’s profit jumps over threefold on interest income

  

  Bloomberg ICICI Bank Ltd. posted a more than threefold rise in fourth-quarter profit, helped by strong earnings from its lending business even as it set aside a smaller pot of money to cushion the impact of more bad loans that could result from India’s deteriorating coronavirus situation. Net income at the nation’s second largest private lender stood at 44.03 billion ...

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• 25 April

  MUFG weighs cutting Americas office space in hybrid-work era

  

  Bloomberg Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc is considering ways to reduce its real estate footprint in the Americas while preparing for a post-pandemic world in which many workers come to the office just a few days a week. The lender anticipates that roughly 25% of workers in the region will be fully remote after the pandemic and another 25% will ...

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• 25 April

  BoC’s more hawkish tone is ‘prudent, says Vachon

  

  Bloomberg National Bank of Canada Chief Executive Officer Louis Vachon said the Bank of Canada (BoC) is being “prudent” in reducing government bond purchases and hinting it may raise interest rates earlier than expected. “We don’t know how this thing will evolve — we’re navigating in uncharted waters,” Vachon said in an interview after the bank’s annual meeting. “But by ...

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• 25 April

  India bars Amex, Diners from adding new clients

  Bloomberg The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) restricted American Express Banking Corp (Amex) and Diners Club International Ltd (Diners) from adding new local customers, citing non-compliance with data-storage rules. The order will take effect from May 1 and won’t impact existing customers, the RBI said in a statement. The firms are the first to be penalized under India’s data-storage rules ...

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• 25 April

  Russia surprises with 50-basis point rate hike, signals more

  

  Bloomberg The Bank of Russia unexpectedly raised its key interest rate by 50 basis points and signalled more tightening as ruble volatility contributed to inflation risks. The benchmark rate was raised to 5%, the Bank of Russia said in a statement. Thirteen economists out of 41 analysts forecast the move, while 28 expected a smaller cut, according to a Bloomberg ...

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• 25 April

  Chinese firms are listing in US at record-breaking pace

  

  Bloomberg Chinese companies are listing in the US at the fastest pace ever, brushing off tensions between the world’s two biggest economies and the continued risk of being kicked off American exchanges. Firms from the mainland and Hong Kong have raised $6.6 billion through initial public offerings (IPOs) in the US this year, a record start to a year and ...

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• 25 April

  Tesla’s stock-market devotees might get an earnings jolt

  

  Bloomberg Die-hard Tesla Inc investors might be forgiven for wondering why the thrill of owning iconic carmaker’s stock has seemingly disappeared. After all, since catapulting over 700% last year, the shares have barely eked out a 3.4% advance in 2021. Meme stocks like GameStop have pushed Tesla out of the limelight, while Bitcoin has attracted almost all the buzz. But ...

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