March, 2019

• 10 March

  Hong Kong’s small-cap IPO numbers down 45%

  

  Bloomberg Hong Kong’s stock market has seen price surges so wild that senior officials have said they feared for the city’s reputation as a global financial center. A subsequent crackdown appears to be working. Actions by the local exchange and securities regulator contributed to a 45 percent fall in initial public offering (IPO) applications for the city’s small-company venue last ...

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• 10 March

  Rupiah slips most in eight months

  

  Bloomberg The rupiah slid the most in eight months, leading losses among Asia’s emerging-market currencies, amid rising concern global growth is slowing. Indonesia’s central bank said it intervened to limit a sell-off in the currency and local bonds. The rupiah tumbled as much as 1.4 percent, the biggest intraday drop since June, to hit a two-month low of 14,335 per ...

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• 10 March

  A key source of funding for Indian founders is drying up

  

  Bloomberg India’s business titans are facing a worrying new development: in recent weeks, shadow lenders have been cutting them off from a key financing channel. Company founders have long fueled dreams to expand their business empires with loans they get by pledging stakes in their firms. But recent scares have prompted at least two major shadow banks to turn off ...

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• 10 March

  Murk around no-deal Brexit tariffs confounds business

  

  Bloomberg Confusion around which goods will be subjected to UK import tariffs in a no-deal Brexit is exasperating companies as they seek to finalise preparations for the split. The government will reveal details of the plan only if Prime Minister Theresa May’s deal to quit the European Union is rejected by Parliament next week, an official said, without providing a ...

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• 10 March

  Canadian job market is off to best start to a year since 1981

  

  Bloomberg Canada’s economy posted its second-straight surprise job surge, making the labour market a lone bright spot for an economy in the middle of a sharp slowdown. Employment increased by 55,900 in February, all full-time jobs, Statistics Canada said in Ottawa, building on a 66,800 gain in January. The two-month gain is the best start to a year since 1981. ...

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• 10 March

  Spotify, Google appeal ruling that boosted songwriter payments

  

  Bloomberg Spotify Technology SA and other technology giants appealed a ruling that increased the royalties they must pay to songwriters, a move that threatens to further damage the companies’ already-tenuous relationship with the music industry. Songwriters celebrated last year when the Copyright Royalty Board ruled that they will get at least a 15.1 percent share of streaming revenues over the ...

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• 10 March

  Global risks threaten to choke off Europe’s growth engine

  

  Bloomberg The command center at the Otto Junker GmbH metals plant stands in sharp contrast to the noisy and smelly factory floor, where until just a few weeks ago workers operated various machines individually. The new digs are quiet, there’s no oil stench, and there’s even room for a coffee maker. The downside? The control room boss may end up ...

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• 10 March

  Venezuelans protest Maduro again as impatience swells

  

  Bloomberg The fight for the future of Venezuela re-opened on the streets of its capital, with electricity flickering in-and-out around the country for most of the last three days. Juan Guaido, the challenger to President Nicolas Maduro, brought thousands of supporters to the streets of Caracas, though fewer showed up than in late January after the National Assembly he heads ...

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• 10 March

  Pakistan violated truce deal in Kashmir: India

  Bloomberg India said Pakistani forces violated a cease-fire agreement along the Line of Control in Kashmir, and accused its neighbour of failing to take credible action against terror groups. There was shelling with mortars and the firing of small arms by Pakistan in the early hours of Sunday, and India “retaliated befittingly,” according to an Indian defense official. The Indian ...

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• 10 March

  Algeria army, people share unified vision: Military chief

  Bloomberg Algeria’s people and the army share the same vision for the country’s future, the military chief of staff said on Sunday, in an apparent overture to thousands protesting the re-election bid of the country’s aging president.The military and the people “are partners in one destiny,” General Ahmed Gaid Salah said in his first comments since the biggest protests yet ...

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