December, 2019

• 17 December

  Macron in reform gridlock as union protests continue

  Bloomberg The stalemate between Emmanuel Macron’s government and labor unions deepened as France headed into a third week of transport strikes over the president’s effort to reform the country’s pension system, threatening further turmoil during the busy holiday season. Negotiations between the unions and the government have been suspended. Complicating matters, Macron’s point man for pension reform resigned on Monday ...

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• 17 December

  Dems set up senate trial strategy ahead of impeachment vote

  

  Bloomberg House Democrats are nearing one of the most important decisions in their effort to impeach Donald Trump: Who will bear the historic duty of prosecuting the president in next year’s Senate trial. With the House planning to vote Wednesday on two articles of impeachment against the president, Democratic leaders including Speaker Nancy Pelosi must quickly settle on a team ...

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• 17 December

  Pound tumbles as Johnson revives ‘no deal’ Brexit risk

  

  Bloomberg The pound slumped more than 1% after UK prime minister Boris Johnson moved to change the law to guarantee the Brexit transition phase isn’t extended beyond the end of next year, reviving the threat of a no-deal split. Sterling dropped by the most since July as traders reacted to the news. Johnson’s planned legislation will include legal text to ...

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• 17 December

  Three UK bankers face trial in Germany over tax scandal

  

  Bloomberg A German court paved the way for the trial of six people including three former London-based investment bankers for their role in the nation’s Cum-Ex tax scandal. The ruling by a court in the city of Wiesbaden sets up a second trial in the country over the trading strategy that’s triggered multiple probes by German prosecutors involving about 500 ...

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• 17 December

  Nigeria’s inflation rate accelerates to 11.9%

  

  Bloomberg Nigeria’s inflation rate rose in November as food prices continued climbing following border closures. Consumer prices rose 11.9% from a year earlier compared with 11.6% in October, the Abuja-based National Bureau of Statistics said in a report published on Tuesday. The median of three economists’ estimates in a Bloomberg survey was 11.8%. Nigeria’s central bank held its benchmark rate ...

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• 17 December

  Fed’s repo action for year-end crunch date oversubscribed

  

  Bloomberg The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s operation to inject cash into the financial system over the end of the year was oversubscribed on Monday, an indication that demand for funding through the beginning of 2020 remains ravenous. Primary dealers submitted $54.25 billion in bids for the Fed’s 32-day term repo operation, which matures January 17. That was more ...

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• 17 December

  India to provide round-the-clock NEFT payment

  

  Bloomberg India this week joined a select club of countries offering fund transfers around the clock, a move that will give banks more flexibility to manage their liquidity requirements, the central bank said. The National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) sees transactions worth 800 billion rupees ($11.3 billion) daily and the round-the-clock service is expected to boost online transactions for customers ...

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• 17 December

  Credit Suisse spying cases multiply after espionage scandal

  

  Bloomberg The Credit Suisse Group AG spying incident surrounding the departure of former wealth management head Iqbal Khan might not be an isolated case. The bank may have spied on former Chief Human Resources Officer Peter Goerke, Swiss newspaper NZZ reported, citing documents it obtained as part of an investigation. A former Credit Suisse employee in the US also recently ...

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• 17 December

  China to grant regular tariff waivers for US farm imports

  

  Bloomberg China will provide retaliatory tariff waivers to buyers of US farm products on a more regular basis after the countries reached a phase one trade deal, according to people familiar with the situation. Waivers had previously been given in tranches but they’ll now be handed out more frequently, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the ...

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• 17 December

  HK economy limps into next year with fate tied to protests

  

  Bloomberg Hong Kong’s economy ends the year wounded, with the chances for stabilisation in 2020 hanging on whether future protests are peaceful or lapse back into violence. Economists forecast a 1.3% contraction for 2019 and predict year-on-year declines will continue in the first two quarters of 2020. Yet the unrest has tapered in recent weeks after an electoral win for ...

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