February, 2019

• 18 February

  India’s rupee goes from first to last

  

  Bloomberg India’s rupee has gone from being the best-performing Asian currency last quarter to the worst this year as rising crude prices and tensions over Kashmir weigh on sentiment. The currency has slumped 2.4 percent since the end of December, missing the rally in its regional peers on optimism over US-China trade talks. It slid to 71.515 per dollar on ...

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• 18 February

  Germany bans Wirecard short sales in unprecedented move

  

  Bloomberg Germany’s financial regulator took the unprecedented step of banning short sales of Wirecard AG shares for two months, saying recent price volatility risks undermining the broader stock market. The shares surged. Investors globally are prohibited with immediate effect from taking new short positions or increasing existing ones through April 18, according to watchdog BaFin. That’s the first time it ...

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• 18 February

  German carmakers at most risk of potential new US import tariffs

  

  Bloomberg European carmakers’ share rally this year might hit a roadblock as a US probe of auto imports raises the potential of new tariffs, with underperforming German manufacturers particularly at risk. US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross submitted a report to President Donald Trump on whether vehicles made abroad pose a national-security risk, according to a statement. Trump will have 90 ...

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• 18 February

  UK lawmakers recommend harsher penalties for tech firms

  

  Bloomberg A committee of senior lawmakers in the UK recommended the British government take tougher measures to keep technology companies like Facebook Inc. in check, following a year-long inquiry into fake news and its impact on elections. Damian Collins, the policy maker who spearheaded the inquiry, called for Parliament to create new laws to help a proposed regulator oversee the ...

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• 18 February

  UK private-sector pay set for biggest rise since 2012

  Bloomberg UK private-sector workers are set for their biggest wage increase in at least seven years as companies struggle to fill vacancies. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development said on Monday the expected median pay award has risen to 2.5 percent, the highest since it began the survey in 2012 and above the rate of inflation. Almost three quarters ...

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• 18 February

  Google, Salesforce invest in UK payments startup GoCardless

  

  Bloomberg The venture capital arms of Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Salesforce.com Inc. are investing in UK payments startup GoCardless, which has raised an additional $75 million to fund expansion. The financing is being led by Adams Street Partners, GV, formerly known as Google Ventures, and Salesforce Ventures, GoCardless said in a statement. Existing investors Accel Partners, Balderton Capital, Notion Capital ...

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• 18 February

  Japan frets over ‘nightmare scenario’ as Trump, Kim meet

  

  Bloomberg When US President Donald Trump sits down to talk peace with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un later this month, one of America’s closest allies— Japan — will be looking on with apprehension. Like the first time Trump met Kim in June, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has found himself on the outside peering in before their second summit set ...

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• 18 February

  Four Indian soldiers, two militants killed in Kashmir gun battle

  Bloomberg Four Indian soldiers and two militants were killed in a gun battle in Kashmir on Monday, days after a deadly attack in the disputed region heightened tensions with neighbour Pakistan. The soldiers were killed during a search operation in Pulwama district, near the summer state capital of Srinagar, an Indian Army spokesman said in New Delhi. The army also ...

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• 18 February

  Abe refuses to deny Trump Nobel Prize nomination

  Bloomberg Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declined to say whether he nominated Donald Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize, while praising the US President for “decisive” efforts to resolve the problems of a nuclear-armed North Korea. Abe, who has worked hard to build a personal rapport with Trump, walked a fine line during a parliamentary committee meeting on Monday when asked ...

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• 18 February

  Trump wanted Russia in memo firing Comey: Ex-FBI leader

  

  Bloomberg President Donald Trump wanted the Russia investigation cited in the memo firing FBI Director James Comey, and believed Russia’s president over his own intelligence agencies about North Korea’s missile capability, former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe said. McCabe said in a pre-recorded interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes” broadcast that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein didn’t want to include a ...

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