January, 2021

• 19 January

  Taliban call on Biden to honour Trump deal to remove US troops

  

  Bloomberg The Taliban has called on President-elect Joe Biden to honour a US agreement to withdraw all the American forces from Afghanistan by May in order to secure intra-Afghan peace talks and end two-decade-long war. “Steps must now be taken to end the war, not to prolong it, and the agreement was made for the purpose,” Mohammad Naeem, a senior ...

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• 19 January

  Kremlin rejects calls for Navalny release

  

  Bloomberg Russia vowed to ignore US and European calls to free jailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny after he urged Western governments to sanction key allies of President Vladimir Putin. Navalny, 44, identified eight people as potential targets for punitive measures, including billionaire Chelsea soccer club owner Roman Abramovich and tycoon Alisher Usmanov as well as top officials, in a list ...

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• 19 January

  Sudan quells latest clashes in Darfur

  Bloomberg Sudanese forces quelled latest inter-communal clashes in Darfur, a state governor said, as authorities grapple with violence that’s killed more than 100 people in broader region after peacekeepers began withdrawing. A joint military force managed to control fighting that erupted between Arab and non-Arab communities in South Darfur and left dozens dead and wounded, state-run news agency reported, citing ...

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• 19 January

  Europe’s firms face $724bn capital gap to fund rebound

  

  Bloomberg The European Union (EU) needs to find new ways to recapitalise businesses so that the hole on corporate balance sheets doesn’t derail the recovery, according to a financial-industry group. Companies face an equity shortfall of as much as $724 billion, as existing government programs and private funding won’t suffice to fully cover the roughly 1 trillion euros ($1.21 trillion) ...

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• 19 January

  UK firms tell Sunak they need urgent help to survive lockdown

  

  Bloomberg Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak can’t afford to wait for the budget on March 3 to provide extra support for hobbled UK firms, according to the UK’s biggest business lobby group. With Britain back in a severe lockdown, urgent action is needed to help companies survive, the Confederation of British Industry said in a letter to the Chancellor ...

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• 19 January

  Nordic businesses warn of ‘crazy’ outcome if EU relief misspent

  

  Bloomberg The European Union (EU) risks squandering the potential of its recovery fund unless spending is properly policed, according to the biggest business lobby groups in eight Nordic and Baltic countries. The 27-member bloc agreed on a 750 billion-euro ($907 billion) pandemic relief package in December to help end the worst recession on record. The money is also supposed to ...

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• 19 January

  Car sales in Europe suffer biggest drop in 2020

  

  Bloomberg European car sales plunged the most on record last year as relatively resilient demand in the second half did only so much to make up for the collapse during the initial outbreak of Covid-19. New-vehicle registrations fall 24%, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association said on Tuesday, the biggest annual drop since records began in 1990. A strong finish to ...

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• 19 January

  French bankruptcies hit 33-year low as state aid masks reality

  

  Bloomberg Call it the prop-up effect. As France lived through its worst economic slump since World War II, business failures paradoxically slid to the lowest in 33 years. The number of bankruptcies and firms seeking protection from creditors or entering receivership fall 38% in 2020, as government aid in the face of the coronavirus pandemic kept French companies afloat, according ...

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• 19 January

  HK stocks at 20-month high as record China cash floods in

  

  Bloomberg Hong Kong stocks closed at the highest level since May 2019 as mainland investors continue a record spending spree in the city. The benchmark Hang Seng Index rises 2.7% Tuesday, soaring past last year’s peak as stock turnover in the city rose to a record $38.9 billion. A rally since late December has been powered by Chinese investors, who ...

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• 19 January

  Stocks, Treasury yields rise before Yellen speech

  

  Bloomberg Global markets climbed ahead of a speech by Treasury Secretary nominee Janet Yellen in which she’s expected to call for expansive government action to bolster the US economy. The advance was broad across equities, with futures on the Russell 2000 Index of small-cap companies registering strong gains. Banks led the advance in Europe’s Stoxx 600 Index. Ten-year Treasury yields ...

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