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Bloomberg Interest rate cuts are supporting Australia’s economy and housing market, Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe said. “The economy has been through a very soft patch over the past year but it is actually gradually improving, the lower interest rates are working,” Lowe said during a panel event at the International Monetary Fund’s annual meetings in Washington. Highlighting an upswing ...

Bloomberg Incoming European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde said central banks best operate in a regime of independence and President Donald Trump shouldn’t interfere with the US Federal Reserve. “Market stability should not be the subject of a tweet here or a tweet there,” Lagarde said in an interview with CBS ‘60 Minutes’ correspondent John Dickerson. It requires thought ...

Bloomberg Autopista Regis Bittencourt SA, a Brazilian toll road operator ultimately controlled by Italy’s Benetton family, has mandated three banks to sell as much as 1.7 billion reais ($408 million) of bonds in the local market. Banco BTG Pactual SA, Banco Itau Unibanco Holding SA and Banco do Brasil SA have been selected by the Registro, Sao Paulo state-based company ...

Bloomberg The Bank of Thailand is considering imposing additional measures to rein in the currency amid further gains in the baht to a six-year high and worries about economic growth. The economy could be more sensitive to greater currency appreciation, the Bank of Thailand said in minutes of the September 25 monetary policy committee meeting. This would be an “additional ...

Bloomberg India’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) was unanimous in its view that a deepening economic slowdown is worrying enough to keep interest rates low for longer, the minutes of its latest meeting show. The concern explains Governor Shaktikanta Das’s statement that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) would keep its policy stance accommodative for as long as it is necessary ...

Bloomberg UBS Group AG’s Singapore investment banking chief Oi Yee Choo is set to join iSTOX, a trading platform backed by Temasek Holdings Pte. Choo will join iSTOX in January as its chief commercial officer and will help drive business growth by building its network of investors and issuers, according to a statement from the company, confirming an earlier Bloomberg ...

Since the beginning of the trade war between China and the US, most economists have warned that rising protectionism would trigger an economic slowdown. A few years into this conflict, the evidence suggests that a deceleration is indeed taking place. This week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that global growth will fall to 3% this year, the lowest rate ...

Stick a pickle fork in Boeing Co.’s hopes of getting past its 737 drama anytime soon. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has required urgent inspections of certain 737 Next Generation planes — the predecessor to the troubled 737 Max — after Boeing reported cracks in a part called the “pickle fork” on jets being overhauled in China. The pickle fork ...

Arriving in the midst of hurricane season, Puerto Rico’s new debt restructuring plan is a small ray of sunshine. But even if the proposal prevails in court — a big “if” — the territory’s prospects aren’t bright. With its obligations reduced, Puerto Rico will still outstrip every US state in per capita debt. Hopes for a lasting recovery will continue ...

Do economic sanctions serve US policy objectives? An important new report from the Government Accountability Office raises the question, but supplies an unsatisfactory answer: Although the departments of Treasury, State and Commerce all pay close attention to the impact of specific sanctions on their targets, there’s no reliable way to assess whether — or even to what extent — broader ...