July, 2020

• 1 July

  Xi’s HK power play puts China ever more at odds with West

  

  Bloomberg Minutes after reports broke that China passed a sweeping national security law for Hong Kong, Carrie Lam stood in front of a backdrop of the city’s iconic skyline for a weekly press briefing. With legions of reporters clamouring to hear details of the law that could reshape the financial hub’s future, it quickly became clear that Hong Kong’s leader ...

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• 1 July

  Taiwan strengthens ties with Somaliland

  

  Bloomberg Taiwan is strengthening ties with the government of Somaliland in a bid to bolster its dwindling number of allies. While the move falls short of full diplomatic recognition, the last time Taiwan managed to persuade a country to establish ties with it rather than China was with the Caribbean island of St Lucia in 2007. China claims Taiwan as ...

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• 1 July

  Sweden to investigate coronavirus response

  

  Bloomberg Sweden’s government has initiated a commission to investigate its controversial approach to the Covid-19 pandemic. Sweden has taken a different path compared to most European countries by keeping much of society open and by recommending social distancing and self-isolation rather than imposing a blanket lockdown. That strategy has resulted in a much higher death rate than in neighboring countries, ...

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• 1 July

  PM Johnson’s economic task seen in UK’s housing malaise

  

  Bloomberg The scale of Boris Johnson’s challenge to revive the UK economy was laid bare on Wednesday as house prices posted their first annual decline since 2012 and firms reported a record slump in sales. The prime minister has unveiled part of his plan for boosting the UK’s recovery, reconfirming his commitment to long-term investment in some of the country’s ...

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• 1 July

  Unemployment in Germany surges

  

  Bloomberg German unemployment surged in June as one of country’s leading economic research institutes warned of a slower-than-expected economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Another sharp gain last month has taken the number of job losses in the second quarter to 678,000 and the total to just below 3 million, a threshold not broken since 2011. Yet more redundancies were ...

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• 1 July

  Wirecard debt hedges set to pay out $212mn to funds

  Bloomberg Hedge funds that bought credit insurance on Wirecard AG debt are among those in line for a windfall of as much as $212 million after the disgraced German payments company filed for insolvency last week. A committee of traders ruled that Wirecard has gone through a so-called bankruptcy credit event, triggering payouts to holders of credit-default swaps. These contracts ...

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• 1 July

  Manufacturing in euro area stems its drop with jobs at risk

  

  Bloomberg Factories across the euro area recorded a stronger performance than initially reported in June, with consumer-goods producers growing again. But despite countries easing restrictions and life slowly returning to normal, output continued to contract and demand — especially among exporters — remained weak. In a sign that the pandemic has been inflicting lasting damage on the economy, all of ...

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• 1 July

  EU’s move to keep Americans out signals long travel slump

  

  Bloomberg As the Eiffel Tower gradually reopens from an extended shutdown, an essential segment of the summer tourist trade will be missing: Americans touching down in Paris on lucrative trans-Atlantic flights. Voyagers from New York, Houston or Los Angeles will have to hold off on their overseas vacations after European Union governments extended a travel ban from Wednesday, deeming the ...

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• 1 July

  French car sales see 1.2% rise in June

  Bloomberg French car sales rose for the first time this year, sending a strong signal that government incentives are helping the sector claw back from a deep slump triggered by the coronavirus. Passenger car registrations increased by 1.2% to 233,818 in June compared with same month last year, according to figures published by industry group CCFA. It was the first ...

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• 1 July

  European stocks advance as quarter starts; bonds decline

  

  Bloomberg European stocks edged up in a muted start to third-quarter trading as investors mulled mixed economic data and fresh warnings about the spread of the coronavirus. Treasuries slipped alongside the US equity futures. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index opened modestly higher, led by oil and gas shares, with data showing German unemployment rose to the highest level in nearly ...

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