Bloomberg China’s chief envoy to Australia was heckled by several protesters in Sydney on Friday as he delivered a speech that attempted to go some way towards repairing relations between the trading partners. One shouted about the detention of members of the Uighur minority group in China, while another protester called ambassador Xiao Qian “a disgrace†as he addressed the ...
Read More »Xi’s Hong Kong trip in doubt as officials get Covid
Bloomberg President Xi Jinping’s rumored visit to Hong Kong to mark the city’s 25th anniversary of Chinese rule is in doubt after top officials in the city came down with Covid. Two senior members of incoming Chief Executive John Lee’s cabinet — including his No. 2 — have tested positive for the virus, the government revealed in a Thursday statement. ...
Read More »Bolsonaro, stuck in election race, plans cash handouts
Bloomberg President Jair Bolsonaro is considering increasing monthly stipends paid to about 18 million poor Brazilian families as opinion polls show his re-election campaign failing to close the gap with front-runner Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva less than four months before the vote. The idea is to boost payments made through a cash transfer program known as Auxilio Brasil ...
Read More »Boris Johnson’s Tory chair quits after double election blow
Bloomberg The chairman of Boris Johnson’s ruling Conservatives resigned after the party lost two key parliamentary seats in one night, raising fresh concerns about Johnson’s leadership and his faltering popularity with voters. The elections “are the latest in a run of very poor results for our party,†Oliver Dowden said in a letter to Johnson posted on Twitter. “We cannot ...
Read More »UK government spent $459b on Covid pandemic response
Bloomberg The coronavirus pandemic, marked by an ambitious vaccine rollout, has cost the UK government an estimated £376 billion ($459 billion). The figure released by the National Audit Office has increased by £6 billion over the last ten months, with much of the expense going to support train traffic even as the passenger numbers dwindled. The amount — more ...
Read More »Canada inflation rises to 7.7%, fastest since 1983
Bloomberg Consumer price inflation accelerated to a four-decade high, adding pressure on the Bank of Canada to deliver more aggressive interest rate hikes in the coming weeks. Annual inflation rose to 7.7% last month, up from 6.8% in April, Statistics Canada reported in Ottawa. That’s the highest since January 1983 and well above economist expectations for a 7.3% increase. ...
Read More »New York’s biggest mall avoids default with lender reprieve
Bloomberg New York’s biggest mall has reached a deal with lenders to avoid a default after the pandemic and years of retail turmoil left it deeply underwater on its mortgages. Destiny USA, a 2.4 million-square-foot (223,000-square-meter) shopping center in Syracuse, owed $430 million on two mortgage-backed securities that missed a June 6 repayment deadline. The mall’s owner, Pyramid Management ...
Read More »Euro area economy slows sharply
Bloomberg Euro area economic expansion slowed sharply as surging prices curbed the rebound from pandemic restrictions and factories continued to suffer from supply snarls. An indicator for economic activity by S&P Global falls to a 16-month low in June, driven by rampant inflation, concerns over energy and rising borrowing costs. While the overall gauge still signals modest expansion, manufacturing ...
Read More »German business confidence falls on Russia gas fear
Bloomberg German business confidence unexpectedly deteriorated on mounting fears over energy supplies from Russia that are raising the prospect of a recession in Europe’s biggest economy. A gauge of expectations by the Munich-based Ifo Institute fell to 85.8 in June from 86.9 in May, defying analyst predictions that two months of gains would continue. An index of current conditions edged ...
Read More »Global equity funds see their biggest outflows in 9 weeks
Bloomberg Global equity funds saw their biggest outflows in nine weeks as investors piled into cash amid fears that the US economy could be headed for a recession. About $16.8 billion exited global stock funds in the week through June 22, with US equities seeing their first outflow in seven weeks at $17.4 billion, Bank of America Corp (BofA) ...
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