December, 2019

• 8 December

  HK protesters mount largest rally in six months

  Bloomberg Hundreds of thousands of protesters marched through Hong Kong to mark Human Rights Day and press for greater democracy in the city in the biggest rally in about six months. Protesters still clogged the main streets of the city hours after the masses began to leave the gathering point in Victoria Park in Causeway Bay and wind their way ...

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• 8 December

  US Pentagon chief wants to reallocate forces to Indo-Pacific to counter China

  

  Bloomberg The Pentagon chief wants to prioritise the deployment of US forces to the Asia-Pacific region from other areas, including Afghanistan, to confront a growing military competition with China. “What I want to do is reallocate forces” to the Indo-Pacific Command, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said at the Reagan National Defense Forum when asked about cutting troops in Afghanistan. “That’s ...

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• 8 December

  Johnson leads polls as election enters final days

  Bloomberg The UK is now in the final days of campaigning ahead of the December 12 general election. Polls in Sunday’s newspapers all give Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservatives a clear lead over Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party, though they differ by how much. Campaigners opposing Brexit are now urging voters who agree with them to vote “tactically” against the Tories— ...

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• 8 December

  Ukrainians are growing sick of Trump, impeachment

  

  Bloomberg Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy is getting used to being peppered with questions about Donald Trump. At a briefing during a recent tour of the Baltic region, he interrupted an interpreter relaying a question from a reporter. “Even without knowing your beautiful language, I understood,” he said. “We’re in Estonia now, but unfortunately everyone’s interested in what’s happening with Trump. ...

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• 8 December

  HSBC reshapes senior team ahead of next CEO’s arrival

  

  Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc has begun to reshape top management, laying the groundwork for a new direction under its next boss. The bank is expected to announce the retirement within days of Marc Moses, chief risk officer and board member, said people familiar with the situation, who asked not to be named as the details aren’t public. The qualified accountant ...

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• 8 December

  Ukraine seals $5.5b loan deal with IMF

  

  Bloomberg Ukraine sealed a preliminary $5.5 billion loan programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), giving President Volodymyr Zelenskiy a boost before peace talks with Russia. The staff-level agreement includes policies to be carried out by Ukraine’s government to underpin the three-year programme, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in a statement after a phone call with Zelenskiy. “The president ...

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• 8 December

  Banks may need political help to survive tech

  

  Bloomberg First there was the financial crisis of 2008. Then years of negative interest rates. Now, banks face what one financial regulator calls the “real game changer.” Jesper Berg, the head of the Financial Supervisory Authority in Denmark, says the next big threat for banks is the rapid spread of big tech into financial services. The competitive tool is personal ...

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• 8 December

  Goldman says case to diversify with gold ‘as strong as ever’

  

  Bloomberg Goldman Sachs Group Inc said investors should diversify their long-term bond holdings with gold, citing “fear-driven demand” for the precious metal. “Gold cannot fully replace government bonds in a portfolio, but the case to reallocate a portion of normal bond exposure to gold is as strong as ever,” Goldman analysts including Sabine Schels said. “We still see upside in ...

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• 8 December

  A prolonged rout looms for India’s bonds as RBI pulls support

  

  Bloomberg It’s starting to look like India’s sovereign bond market is on the brink of a prolonged rout. Traders have shied away from the long-end of the curve since July on concern the government will expand record bond sales. Sentiment towards the short-end, which closely tracks policy rates, turned negative after the central bank surprised by holding off on easing. ...

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• 8 December

  Eskom increases power cuts as more plants fail

  

  Bloomberg Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd expanded a schedule of rolling blackouts across South Africa after more of the state-owned utility’s generating units failed, spotlighting the fragility of the power supply system. The struggling state-owned company is cutting 4,000 megawatts from the grid, spokeswoman Dikatso Mothae said by phone. So-called stage-4 loadshedding, the highest degree that has been implemented thus far ...

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