January, 2021

• 3 January

  China averts cash squeeze that was wreaking havoc on bonds

  

  Bloomberg China’s central bank has pumped enough cash into the banking system to convince government bond investors that the worst is finally over. Over the past month, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has had to work especially hard to rein in borrowing costs after a surge in credit defaults damped commercial lenders’ enthusiasm to make loans. The central bank ...

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• 3 January

  Deutsche Bank should play key role in banking consolidation, says CEO

  

  Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Christian Sewing wants Germany’s largest lender to play an active role in a possible consolidation of Europe’s financial services industry, he told Welt am Sonntag in an interview. The performance of the Frankfurt-based bank has been steadily improving, and that’s why the company isn’t willing to be a junior partner if mergers ...

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• 3 January

  ECB closely monitoring strengthening of euro

  

  Bloomberg The European Central Bank (ECB) is closely monitoring the euro’s strengthening against the US dollar, Governing Council member Olli Rehn told Germany’s Boersen-Zeitung. While the ECB doesn’t target the exchange rate, “that does not mean that the appreciation is not important,” as it leads to a loss of competitiveness and affects the outlook for growth and inflation, Rehn, the ...

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• 3 January

  Bitcoin breaches $34,000 as rally extends into New Year

  

  Bloomberg Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, topped $34,000, just weeks after passing another major milestone. The currency gained as much as 7.8% to $34,182.75, before slipping to about $33,970 in Singapore. It advanced almost 50% in December, when it breached $20,000 for the first time. The latest gains top an eye-popping rally for the controversial digital asset in 2020, which ...

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• 3 January

  Sweden government explores moving to a digital currency

  

  Bloomberg Sweden’s government will start exploring the feasibility of having the country move to a digital currency, marking another step into the unknown for the world’s most cashless society. Per Bolund, financial markets minister, said a review is expected to be completed by the end of November in 2022. Anna Kinberg Batra, a former chairwoman of the parliament’s finance committee, ...

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• 3 January

  Hungary keeps rates unchanged

  Bloomberg Hungary left its monetary policy unchanged despite a slowdown in inflation and a rally in the forint, warning of continued risks to global investor sentiment amid a resurgence in coronavirus. The central bank kept the rate offered on required reserves at 0.6% and the overnight deposit rate at minus 0.05%, as forecast by all economists in a Bloomberg survey. ...

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• 3 January

  Unicaja to buy rival Liberbank in boost to Spanish deals

  

  Bloomberg Spain’s Unicaja Banco SA agreed to buy rival Liberbank SA in an all-share deal, adding to a flurry of deal-making in the nation’s finance industry. Unicaja will pay 1 new share for every 2.7705 of Liberbank shares, issuing as much as 1.08 billion euros of stock to fund the purchase, according to a statement. Unicaja shareholders will have 59.5% ...

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• 3 January

  NYSE to delist Chinese telco giants on US executive order

  

  Bloomberg The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) said it will delist three Chinese corporations to comply with a US executive order that imposed restrictions on companies identified as affiliated with the Chinese military. China Mobile Ltd., China Telecom Corp Ltd, China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd will be suspended from trading between January 7 and January 11, and proceedings to delist ...

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• 3 January

  UAE stocks rise most in Mideast, track global peers

  

  Bloomberg Benchmark indexes in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) climbed the most in the Middle East, tracking global stock rallies on optimism surrounding the rollout of coronavirus vaccines. Indexes in Oman and Israel also rise, while the main gauge in Egypt was unchanged. The Tadawul All Share Index in Riyadh dropped the most in the region, with 20 out of its ...

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• 3 January

  Opec+ emerges from chaos of 2020 to face balancing act

  

  Bloomberg As one of the most tumultuous years in oil’s history ends, a delicate task now lies ahead for Opec+. The alliance of producers led by Saudi Arabia and Russia must decide whether it can continue to restore crude supplies without disturbing the price recovery they spent most of 2020 working to achieve. Moscow believes that the group — which ...

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