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Bloomberg The European Central Bank (ECB) reported zero profit for 2022, deploying buffers it set aside in earlier years to dodge a loss linked to stimulus-driven bond-buying. Tapping those reserves became necessary after asset purchase-related interest payments to the euro area’s national central banks jumped to about €2 billion ($2.1 billion). That was due to borrowing costs being raised to ...

  Bloomberg Bank of Korea (BOK) Governor Rhee Chang-yong sought to keep the door open to resuming policy tightening to counter inflation after the board kept interest rates unchanged on Thursday for the first time in a year. Rhee told reporters that five of the six board members he polled were open to borrowing costs reaching a peak of 3.75% ...

  Bloomberg Profitability of local lenders in Bangladesh will likely come under strain from rising funding costs amid a liquidity squeeze in the banking system, according to Moody’s Investors Service. “A spike in imports, declines in remittance inflows and high inflation have drained liquidity,” analysts led by Chong Jun Wong said. The funding costs “have increased materially because demand has ...

  Bloomberg US equity-index futures rose as investors grew confident the Federal Reserve’s peak interest rate would be within levels already priced in by markets. Contracts on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 climbed at least 0.4% each after the underlying indexes avoided a selloff following the Fed’s minutes and remarks by officials. The dollar pared its losses and Treasuries ...

  Bloomberg Taiwan’s financial regulator has removed stock short-selling restrictions that were put in place to curb market declines during a turbulent period in the final quarter of 2022. Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission in October banned shorting stocks at a price lower than the previous close if shares drop more than 3.5% the day before. The ban will be lifted ...

  Bloomberg Techtronic Industries Co. slumped by the most since November 2008 after short-seller Jehoshaphat Research questioned the accounting methods of the Hong Kong power-tool maker. Shares of Techtronic fell as much as 19% before trading was halted in Hong Kong. The company has been “inflating its profits dramatically for over a decade with manipulative accounting,” Jehoshaphat alleged in a ...

Abu Dhabi / WAM The UAE’s Joint Operations Command has announced that the “Chivalrous Knight / 2” operation has entered the recovery and rehabilitation stage to support those affected by the earthquake in Syria and Türkiye. The Joint Operations Command — through maritime aid corridor — will mobilise humanitarian, food, and medical assistance while continuing the operations through the existing ...

  Abu Dhabi / WAM Preliminary data from the Federal Center for Competitiveness and Statistics indicates that non-oil trade exchange between the UAE and Saudi Arabia in 2022 experienced a growth rate of 9%, reaching AED136.09 billion, compared to AED124.6 billion at the end of 2021. Over the period of 2013-2022, non-oil trade between the two countries increased by 70%, ...

  Abu Dhabi / WAM President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, have sent congratulatory messages to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia, on the Founding Day of ...

  Abu Dhabi / WAM Tawazun Council signed nine deals, worth AED5.7 billion, with local and international companies on behalf of the Ministry of Defense, and two deals worth AED134 million on behalf of Abu Dhabi Police on the third day of the International Defence Exhibition (Idex) and the Naval Defence Exhibition (Navdex) 2023, bringing the total number contracts signed ...