June, 2023

• 19 June

  S&P 500 above 4,400 leaves no room for more gains: Citi

  

  BLOOMBERG The bull-market rally in US stocks is about to run out of steam, according to Citigroup. Strategists at the bank led by Scott Chronert reiterated their call for the S&P 500 Index to tumble to 4,000 by year-end, and initiated a new target of 4,400 by mid-2024, or just below June 16’s 4,410 close. A lack of concrete earnings ...

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• 19 June

  Customers buys $631 million in Signature loans at discount

  

  BLOOMBERG Customers Bancorp Inc purchased $631 million of loans that belonged to Signature Bank, the latest example of a financial firm snapping up at a steep discount assets associated with a failed US lender. The purchase from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) was at 85% of the portfolio’s book value, the West Reading, Pennsylvania-based bank said in a statement. ...

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• 19 June

  Nationwide, Atom Bank join UK lenders hiking mortgage prices

  

  BLOOMBERG Nationwide Building Society and Atom Bank Plc announced increases in mortgage rates, joining a flurry of UK lenders who are raising prices in response to inflation. Nationwide said in an email that it would raise fixed rates by as much as 0.7%, while Atom Bank announced increases from 0.25% to 0.6%  on certain products due that same day. “With ...

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• 19 June

  Bangladesh raises interest rates, allows free float of currency

  

  BLOOMBERG Bangladesh’s central bank raised interest rates and said it will allow the currency to float freely, pledging to keep monetary policy tight to rein in inflation at a decade high. The repurchase agreement rate will increase 50 basis points to 6.5%, Governor Abdur Rouf Talukder said at a briefing in Dhaka. The reverse repo rate was renamed the standing ...

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• 19 June

  Abdullah bin Zayed, Italian FM discuss promoting cooperation

  

  ABU DHABI / WAM H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Italy’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani, today discussed the prospects of further cementing cooperation following the two countries’ recent announcement to promote their relations to strategic partnerships. This came as the UAE top diplomat received his Italian counterpart in Abu Dhabi Sunday to ...

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• 18 June

  Failed North Korean rocket is  intelligence win for Kim’s foes

  

  BLOOMBERG A North Korean satellite launch that ended in failure will provide a trove of information about the secretive state’s rocket programme as South Korea salvages large sections from the bottom of the sea. South Korea released photos of a 14.5-metre (15-yard) portion of the North Korean rocket that failed in flight shortly after takeoff on May 31. South Korea’s ...

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• 18 June

  Taiwan expects UK satellite cover over island by year end

  

  BLOOMBERG Taiwan expects satellite service by UK provider OneWeb will cover the entire island by the end of this year, the Central News Agency (CNA) cited Minister of Digital Affairs Audrey Tang as saying in an interview. Tang said the service expansion will provide more options for Low Earth Orbit  (LEO) satellites to Taiwan, according to the report. Backed by ...

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• 18 June

  Violence in India’s Manipur continues

  

  BLOOMBERG Ethnic violence in India’s northeastern Manipur state has continued for more than a month, claiming over 100 lives and with mobs torching houses including those of the ruling party’s leaders. Mobs set ablaze junior foreign minister Rajkumar Ranjan Singh’s house in the state’s capital Imphal and targeted homes and offices of other leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, ...

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• 18 June

  Blinken meets Chinese counterpart to mend ties

  

  BLOOMBERG Secretary of State Antony Blinken met his Chinese counterpart in Beijing on Sunday as the Biden administration seeks to stabilise strained ties between the world’s two biggest economies. The top US diplomat, whose previous attempt to visit China in February was scrapped at the last minute when the US revealed an alleged Chinese spy balloon was floating over American ...

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• 18 June

  Biden 2024 kickoff counters Trump with focus on economy

  

  BLOOMBERG President Joe Biden called for new taxes on the wealthy and corporations and warned Republicans would roll back policies he argued had saved the US economy, setting out core themes as he kicked off his reelection campaign. Biden didn’t mention Donald Trump during a rally with union members in Philadelphia. Instead, the president contrasted his platform with his twice-indicted ...

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