July, 2019

• 30 July

  Protest data breaches threaten Hong Kong’s data-centre hub goal

  

  Hong Kong’s ambitions to be an international data-center hub are a potential casualty of the city’s mass protests. Privacy brea-ches stemming from a summer of clashes between demonstrators and police threaten to erode confidence in the city as a base for foreign companies to set up storage facilities. To alleviate concerns, the government needs to improve security and regulation in ...

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• 30 July

  India’s dollar bond has made too many enemies

  

  An abrupt reshuffle at the top of India’s finance bureaucracy makes it unlikely that country’s inaugural issue of a controversial sovereign bond overseas will happen now. It’s just as well. Borrowing in a foreign currency, possibly dollars, would have set back New Delhi’s attempt to drum up more global interest in rupee debt. An unexpected meeting of minds for-med between ...

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• 30 July

  Citi plans to cut hundreds of trading jobs

  

  Bloomberg Citigroup Inc is preparing to cut hundreds of jobs in its trading division — stark new evidence that an industrywide slump in revenue this year may be more permanent than the tweets and policy moves rattling clients. The New York-based bank plans to slash jobs across its fixed-income and stock-trading operations over the course of 2019, according to people ...

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• 30 July

  Swedish economy shrinks in Q2 in blow to Riksbank

  

  Bloomberg Sweden’s economy unexpectedly shrank in the second quarter, casting further doubts on the Riksbank’s plans to continue to raise rates. Gross domestic product contracted 0.1 percent in the second quarter from the first, according to preliminary numbers from Statistics Sweden. Economists had predicted an expansion of 0.3 percent. Annual growth was 1.4 percent while economists and the Riksbank had ...

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• 30 July

  RBS approaches Whitbread chief for CEO role

  

  Bloomberg Whitbread Plc Chief Executive Officer Alison Brittain has been approached as a candidate to succeed Ross McEwan as boss of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Group Plc, adding to signs the lender is broadening its search as it seeks a new leader. Brittain, who has run the British hotel and restaurant operator for nearly four years, is one of ...

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• 30 July

  Kuroda: ‘More positive’ towards easing as global peers shift

  

  Bloomberg The Bank of Japan said it’s “more positive” about adding monetary stimulus as it eyes a global shift in which the Federal Reserve is set to cut interest rates on Wednesday for the first time since 2008. While Governor Haruhiko Kuroda kept policy unchanged despite trimming inflation forecasts, he added a phrase to the policy statement saying the BOJ ...

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• 30 July

  Lufthansa’s earnings deepen aviation gloom amid fare war

  

  Bloomberg Deutsche Lufthansa AG said threats to its financial outlook are mounting after a fare war and stuttering global economy dented second quarter-earnings, adding to the gloom surrounding Europe’s airline industry. Lufthansa warned that the fight for market share means business trends could deteriorate further in the second half, sending the stock down 7.4 percent even as the group stood ...

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• 30 July

  Ryanair CEO takes swipe at Boeing over Max jet delays

  

  Bloomberg Ryanair Holdings Plc Chief Executive Officer Michael O’Leary harangued Boeing Co over the grounding of the 737 Max jet, saying he’s concerned the Irish carrier will receive zero planes by summer 2020. Ryanair, Boeing’s biggest European customer for the Max, has already slashed its estimate for the number of aircraft likely to be available for next year’s peak season. ...

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• 30 July

  South Africa’s Shoprite rises most since 1997 after gains

  

  Bloomberg Shoprite Holdings Ltd rallied the most in 22 years after Africa’s largest food retailer said second-half sales climbed as it took market share. Sales in the second half rose 6.5 percent as its core South African business returned to full operational strength, the Cape Town-based supermarket operator said in a statement. The owner of chains including Checkers and U-Save ...

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• 30 July

  UK consumer credit increases over spending

  

  Bloomberg UK demand for unsecured debt stabilised last month while mortgage approvals increased, Bank of England figures show. While households have been tightening their belts this year as Brexit clouds the outlook, the June figures suggest consumers, the mainstay of economic growth, are still willing to spend. Retail sales unexpectedly surged after two months of declines, ONS figures showed. Mortgage ...

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