January, 2019

• 2 January

  Oil sands rebound hinges on rail, output cuts, pipeline woes

  

  Bloomberg The Canadian oil industry could be in for another turbulent year in 2019, depending on how some pivotal events pan out. Government-mandated production cuts and the potential startup of a key crude pipeline are among key developments to watch for this year. While the announcement of production curtailments by Premier Rachel Notley has succeeded in lifting Canadian crude prices ...

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• 2 January

  India floats tender for Kashmir solar power projects

  

  Bloomberg India issued a tender to build 7.5-gigawatt of solar power projects in Jammu and Kashmir, state-run Solar Energy Corp of India said on its website. The request is part of a larger plan to build 23 gigawatts of solar capacity in Ladakh, a region in the country’s extreme north bordering China. The capacity is offered in as many as ...

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• 2 January

  China talks with India to push ‘trade pact’

  

  Bloomberg China has sought talks with India to allay concerns on a regional free trade pact it is spearheading, two people familiar with the matter said, as Beijing seeks newer markets amid the ongoing trade war with the US. The 16-country Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has been in the works for a while and China is keen to conclude ...

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• 2 January

  Tropical cyclone hits far north Australia near Rio Tinto mine

  

  Bloomberg Tropical Cyclone Penny slammed into the far north coast of Australia’s Queensland state near Rio Tinto Group’s Weipa bauxite mine, triggering warnings of flash flooding and damaging winds. The category 1 cyclone, with wind gusts of up to 100 kilometers per hour, is expected to weaken into a tropical low later Tuesday evening as it crosses Cape York Peninsula, ...

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• 2 January

  Sydney’s housing slump to deepen as prices drop

  

  Bloomberg The downturn in Sydney’s property market is set to deepen this year as tighter lending standards and the worst slump in values since the late 1980s cause nervous buyers to sit on the sidelines. Average Sydney home values have fallen 11.1 percent since their 2017 peak, according to CoreLogic Inc. data — surpassing the 9.6 percent top-to-bottom decline when ...

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• 2 January

  After $46bn drop, China drugmakers face pressure

  

  Bloomberg Even after a plunge last month that wiped $46 billion off Chinese health-care stocks, domestic drugmakers may be far from their floor as a Beijing-led policy shift gathers pace. China’s plan to drive down generic drug prices through a centralised bulk procurement programme is set to redraw the industry by forcing its thousands of small generic drugmakers to streamline ...

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• 2 January

  Coal’s $100 heyday fades in Europe as curbs tighten

  

  Bloomberg Coal’s three-year run of blistering gains in Europe is set to end, clobbered by a combination of weakening demand and energy polices aimed at phasing out the dirtiest fossil fuel. After prices more than doubled since 2016 as Asian importers drove demand, coal is expected to fall more than 10 percent to $76.50 a tonne this year in Europe, ...

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• 2 January

  UK manufacturing sector grows to six-month high

  

  Bloomberg UK manufacturing growth unexpectedly improved to a six-month high in December 2018, as companies built up inventories and boosted new orders in preparation for a potentially disruptive Brexit. IHS Markit’s Purchasing Managers Index for the industry rose to 54.2, more than the 52.5 expected by economists. Still, the average reading for the final three months of 2018 was the ...

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• 2 January

  Canadian consumer confidence dips heading into election year

  

  Bloomberg Canadians enter 2019 far less optimistic about the economy than a year earlier. The Bloomberg Nanos Canadian Confidence Index, based on weekly telephone polling, ended 2018 at 55.1, down from 62.2 at the close of 2017. The change was driven more by Canadians’ views of the overall outlook than of their own finances — 39.6 percent expect the domestic ...

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• 2 January

  Humming US factories end 2018 on sour note amid trade war

  

  Bloomberg Five Federal Reserve indexes of regional manufacturing all slumped in December 2018, the first time they’ve fallen in unison since May 2016 and the latest evidence that a pillar of the US economy has started to wobble heading into 2019. The Dallas Fed’s factory index unexpectedly contracted, falling to a two-year low of minus 5.1 from 17.6 in November, ...

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