July, 2019

• 8 July

  US East Coast crude refining margins get boost, double

  

  Bloomberg US East Coast refining margins have more than doubled in the past month, helped by weakening physical crude markets and a fire that crippled the biggest facility in the region. Philadelphia Energy Solutions announced it plans to close after a fire in late June, it’s second that month, destroyed most of an alkylation unit, which makes high-octane gasoline. The ...

  Read More »
• 8 July

  ‘German recession seems to be inevitable’

  Bloomberg Investors consider an economic recession in Germany inevitable, according to Sentix. An index measuring current conditions and expectations for Europe’s largest economy fell to its lowest level in almost a decade, according to a survey. A similar gauge for the euro area dropped to lowest since 2014. The data suggest that de-escalating tensions between the US and China at ...

  Read More »
• 8 July

  US, Europe getting more anxious about batteries shortages for EV

  

  Bloomberg Automakers to trading houses from North America to Europe are becoming more concerned about future supply shortages of key materials needed for electric vehicle batteries as spending on new production soars, according to the developer of a $1.5 billion project in Australia. More than a dozen parties have now expressed interest in taking up as much as a 50 ...

  Read More »
• 8 July

  Milan’s real estate prices surge as billionaires buy in

  

  Bloomberg Real estate investors from Azerbaijan’s sovereign wealth fund to Blackstone Group Inc and UBS Group AG are cashing in on a surge in demand for prime Milan offices that’s pushing prices to new highs. A lack of development in Italy’s financial capital is driving up rents just as a scarcity of prime real estate in some western European cities ...

  Read More »
• 8 July

  Hong Kong police arrest five as new protest march turns tense

  

  Bloomberg Hong Kong police arrested five people while dispersing a protest in one of the financial hub’s busiest tourist districts, the latest demonstration triggered by a proposed law that would allow extraditions of criminals to mainland China for the first time. Thousands of marchers walked through the pedestrian-heavy Tsim Sha Tsui area towards the city’s new high-speed rail station to ...

  Read More »
• 8 July

  Iran to enrich uranium to 20% as tensions rise

  

  Bloomberg Iran may choose to enrich uranium at a higher purity level as its next step in a new policy that’s gradually undoing the restrictions imposed by the 2015 nuclear deal. It’s “among the options considered” as part of Iran cutting back on its commitments within the accord, official Islamic Republic News Agency reported, citing Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesman for ...

  Read More »
• 8 July

  Germany rejects sending ground troops to Syria

  Bloomberg Germany’s government ruled out dispatching ground troops to Syria to assist a US-led campaign against the IS, pushing back on a request from the US administration. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s chief spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said Germany’s contribution to the anti-ISIS mission will most likely be confined to existing measures, such as aerial surveillance and assistance to Iraqi Kurds. “When I ...

  Read More »
• 8 July

  Trump says UK envoy hasn’t served Britain ‘well’ after leak

  

  Bloomberg US President Donald Trump criticised the British ambassador to Washington following the leak of memos penned by the envoy describing his administration in unflattering terms. The Foreign Office is investigating the leak after the Mail newspaper reported that Kim Darroch, a career diplomat who’s been his country’s top representative in Washington since 2016, described Trump as “inept” and “incompetent” ...

  Read More »
• 8 July

  Russian nuke submarine’s crew prevented ‘planetary catastrophe’

  

  Bloomberg The 14 sailors who died during a fire on a nuclear-powered Russian military submarine prevented a “planetary catastrophe,” a top naval officer said at their funeral, according to media reports. Captain Sergei Pavlov, an aide to the commander of Russia’s navy, praised the heroism of the men, who died as they battled to stop the fire from spreading in ...

  Read More »
• 8 July

  Tories deploy new tool to prevent no-deal Brexit

  

  Bloomberg British Conservatives plotting to thwart a no-deal Brexit will make another attempt this week to stop the next prime minister from forcing a chaotic break with the European Union without parliament’s consent. Former Attorney General Dominic Grieve, a veteran anti-Brexit rebel in the Conservative Party, plans to amend a bill going to parliament. He wants to ensure the House ...

  Read More »