BEIRUT/PARIS (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday gave Lebanese politicians until the end of October to start delivering on reforms, saying financial aid would be withheld and sanctions imposed further down the line if corruption gets in the... More »
SINGAPORE/AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Low yields at home are sending some previously shy European investors into Asia’s credit markets, money managers say, lured by the promise of higher returns and a hope that rebounding economies can hold defaults at bay. Unlike i... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – The euro zone economy has experienced a strong recovery in the third quarter even though the most recent incoming data in August have been less robust, European Central Bank Vice President Luis de Guindos said on Tuesday. “In the third quart... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron marked Lebanon’s centenary on Tuesday by planting a cedar tree, the emblem of the Middle East country that is collapsing under the weight of a crippling economic crisis. In his second trip to Lebanon in less ... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – German manufacturers’ recovery from lockdown measures continued last month, with output growing at the fastest pace since February 2018, a survey showed on Tuesday. IHS Markit’s final Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for manufacturing, which... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Tuesday he was moderately optimistic about the country’s economic recovery from its worst downturn on record caused by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Sanchez reiterated that gross domesti... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese ruling party heavyweight Fumio Kishida, who has declared his candidacy for the party leadership, said on Tuesday he can show strength in the economic and foreign policy fields and he wants to be a leader who listens to the people. Ki... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – French companies will have around a week to adopt new, strict rules on the compulsory wearing of face masks in the workplace to curb the spread of COVID-19, employment minister Elisabeth Borne said on Tuesday. Borne told LCI TV that staff wor... More »
BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s official interest rates and the average cost of servicing its public debt have never been lower, but investors are becoming worried that the government could face a funding crisis next year. The premium that investors demand to le... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Whoever succeeds Shinzo Abe as Japan’s prime minister will be confronted with growing signs that the job market is deteriorating in an economy laid low by the coronavirus pandemic. Top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga is emerging as a fron... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s second-most populous state Victoria, the epicentre for COVID-19 infections in the country, on Tuesday reported its lowest rise in virus-related deaths in two weeks as a second-wave outbreak eases. Victoria said five people died f... More »
(Reuters) – New Jersey and California on Monday took a big step toward letting businesses resume their pre-pandemic lives, by allowing restaurants to begin limited indoor dining, as coronavirus cases abated nationwide even as some new hotspots emerged. Most st... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – Mainland China reported 10 new COVID-19 cases on Aug. 31, down from 17 reported a day earlier, the country’s health authority said on Tuesday. The National Health Commission said in a statement that all new cases were imported infections in... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration and Senate Republicans have been in regular contact over possible coronavirus relief measures and the Senate’s top Republican will “hopefully” unveil a new bill next week, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said o... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s $6.2 billion foray into Japan’s five largest trading houses may signal billionaire Warren Buffett’s expectation that inflation and a falling U.S. dollar may make international equities more attractive when economie... More »
GENEVA (Reuters) – Countries with significant active spread of coronavirus must prevent amplifying events, as opening up without the virus being under control would be a “recipe for disaster”, the World Health Organization said on Monday. WHO director-general ... More »
BENGALURU (Reuters) – Funds recommended equity holdings be trimmed to the lowest in over four years in August, despite record-breaking gains by world stocks, as the pandemic drags on and new data suggest the nascent economic rebound is stalling, Reuters polls ... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China said on Tuesday it agreed with the United States to continue pushing forward the implementation of the bilateral Phase 1 trade deal reached earlier this year during a call between the two countries’ top trade negotiators. Vice Premier... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan was hit by its biggest economic slump on record in the second quarter as the coronavirus pandemic emptied shopping malls and crushed demand for cars and other exports, bolstering the case for bolder policy action to prevent a deeper rec... More »
1/WALL STREET WATCHES WASHINGTON U.S. lawmakers negotiating a fresh dose of stimulus have reached an impasse. Trillions of dollars injected by the Federal Reserve and huge government spending increases have stemmed coronavirus-linked economic damage, fuelling ... More »
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand’s economy saw its biggest annual contraction in 22 years and a record quarterly fall in the April-June period, as the coronavirus pandemic and restriction measures hit tourism, exports and domestic activity, prompting an outlook do... More »
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand’s Finance Minister Grant Robertson said on Monday that the new wage subsidy scheme is forecast to cost about NZ$510 million ($333.80 million) and cover 470,000 jobs. The scheme was announced last week after New Zealand locked... More »
CAIRO (Reuters) – The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday it had appealed for $76 million in aid for Lebanon after last week’s massive explosion in Beirut destroyed or damaged hospitals, clinics and medical supplies. Lebanon was already strugglin... More »
BEDMINSTER, N.J. (Reuters) – President Donald Trump signed executive orders on Saturday partly restoring enhanced unemployment payments to the tens of millions of Americans who lost jobs in the coronavirus pandemic, as the United States marked a grim milestone... More »
(Reuters) – After failing to reach a deal with the U.S. Congress for a fresh round of coronavirus pandemic relief, President Donald Trump signed a series of executive orders aimed at pumping up America’s pandemic-hit economy. The orders are likely to face some... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Investor morale in the euro zone rose for a fourth consecutive month in August but the low reading suggests that the coronavirus-hit economy is still in recession in the third quarter, a survey showed on Monday. Sentix’s index for the euro z... More »
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – The former head of China’s securities regulator has raised concern about banks addressing funding shortages by ramping up issues of short-term interbank debt instruments that have in the past attracted regulatory scrutiny. Xiao Gang, forme... More »
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s government plans to promote the manufacturing of selected products, especially lines in which China enjoys a big share in the global market, as part of efforts to reduce imports and push exports, a cabinet minister said on Monday.... More »
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s annual urban consumer price inflation fell to 4.2% in July from 5.6% in June, the central statistics agency CAPMAS said on Monday. Month on month inflation increased to 0.4% in July from 0.1% in June mainly on the back of an increase ... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s factory deflation eased in July, driven by a rise in global oil prices and as industrial activity climbed back towards pre-coronavirus levels, adding to signs of recovery in the world’s second-largest economy. The producer price ind... More »
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s health ministry reported on Sunday 4,376 new confirmed coronavirus infections and 292 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 480,278 cases and 52,298 deaths. Officials have said the real number of infected ... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The United States should implement another support package to ensure workers can stay safely at home while the novel coronavirus continues to spread, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said in an interview with CBS News released on Sunday... More »
WASHINGTON/BEDMINSTER, N.J. (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to unilaterally suspend payroll taxes and extend expired coronavirus unemployment benefits after negotiations with congressional Democrats on a broad pandemic aid package collapsed on Fr... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The location of TikTok owner ByteDance’s headquarters is a commercial decision for the company to make, a spokesman for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday, responding to a report that the firm could move to London. “It would... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanese Foreign Minister Nassif Hitti resigned on Monday, blaming a lack of political will to enact reforms to halt a financial meltdown which he warned could turn Lebanon into a failed state. Foreign donors have made clear there will be no... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Irish peacemaker John Hume was a “political giant” who did so much to help bring an end to the Troubles in Northern Ireland, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday. Hume, a key Roman Catholic architect of Northern Ireland’s 1998... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s finance ministry said on Monday it would scrap an agreement with Cyprus aimed at avoiding double taxation after talks to modify the deal failed, and that legal changes would make it more profitable for people to transfer money back ... More »
FRANKFURT/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – – While millions of U.S. workers thrown into unemployment by the coronavirus pandemic fret about feeding their families, idled German airline purser Marco Todte is mainly concerned about his next vacation. Todte, 41, hasn’t fl... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – Spanish factory activity expanded in July, rebounding from its worst slowdown in almost 12 years as the economy revived after the government ended one of Europe’s strictest coronavirus lockdowns a month earlier, a survey showed on Monday. In... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s monetary policy will be more flexible and targeted in the second half of the year, the central bank said on Monday. China will actively and steadily push forward yuan internationalisation and capital account convertibility, the Peop... More »
JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia’s economy likely posted the biggest contraction in more than two decades in the second quarter, as measures taken to combat the coronavirus pandemic hit most sectors, a Reuters poll showed on Monday. The median forecast of 20 anal... More »
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Zoom Video Communications (ZM.O) will shift to a partner-only model in mainland China from Aug. 23, suspending direct sales to all customers in the region, the company said on Monday. Zoom customers in China received an email on Monday inf... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Senate Republicans on Monday are expected to unveil a $1 trillion coronavirus aid package hammered out with the White House, a starting point for negotiations with Democrats as unemployment benefits that have kept millions of Americ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Enhanced unemployment benefits that the U.S. Congress authorized early in the coronavirus pandemic are due to expire at the end of July and thus far lawmakers have been unable to agree on a measure to extend them. Economists warn that co... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Top aides to U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday they agreed in principle with Senate Republicans on a $1 trillion coronavirus relief package — the party’s opening offer in negotiations with Democrats less than a week before enhan... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Euro zone companies continued to tap bank credit at a brisk pace in June even as the economy reopened after three months of coronavirus-related lockdown, data from the European Central Bank showed on Monday. Lending to non-financial corpo... More »
CAIRO/LONDON/DUBAI (Reuters) – The threat of conflict in Libya, water security worries and a flatlining tourist sector risk upending a nascent rally in Egyptian bonds, bankers and economists say. The North African country has attracted a wave of foreign invest... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – Profits at China’s industrial firms rose for a second straight month and at the fastest pace in over a year, adding to signs the country’s economic recovery from the coronavirus crisis is gaining momentum. The statistics bureau said on Mond... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – The danger to the euro zone economy from the coronavirus pandemic is not yet over, European Central Bank board member Fabio Panetta told La Repubblica, adding that he saw no need to make any tweaks to the bank’s massive asset purchase progra... More »
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia is considering making face masks compulsory in public following the emergence of 13 new coronavirus clusters since the government relaxed broad curbs on movement and businesses last month, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said ... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Signs emerged that leaders of northern European Union countries were willing to compromise on a 1.8 trillion euro ($2 trillion) coronavirus stimulus plan on Monday as talks in Brussels extended to a fourth day. Divided and slow to respond ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – EU leaders reported some progress on Monday after three days of haggling over a coronavirus stimulus plan, sending the euro to a four-month high and Italy’s borrowing costs to lows not seen since March. An attempt to reach a compromise faile... More »
GDANSK/WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland’s industrial output PLIPY=ECI rose by 0.5% in June, better than the 6.9% decline forecast by analysts, who said the statistic office data suggest the economy may overcome the coronavirus crisis faster than initially expected. T... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The euro retreated after hitting a 19-week high of $1.1467 on Monday after EU summit chairman Charles Michel said a recovery fund to revive economies hit by the COVID-19 pandemic could contain 390 billion euros in grants. EU leaders have mad... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia faces an avalanche of business failures in its transport and hospitality sectors after government subsidies end in September, insolvency lawyers and economists say, while some argue that so-called ‘zombie’ firms should be allowed t... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – The German parliament’s financial committee will hold an extraordinary meeting on the Wirecard (WDIG.DE) scandal on Wednesday next week and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz is expected to be there, a Social Democrat (SPD) lawamker said on Monday... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – Spain does not reject the setting of conditions on the disbursement of European Union funds to help countries recover from the coronavirus pandemic, nor strong governance to oversee their distribution, Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya ... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China on Monday urged Britain to avoid making further steps down wrong path after reports that it was poised to suspend an extradition treaty for Chinese-ruled Hong Kong. Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin made the remark during a daily... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Major U.S. bank executives this week said they extended forbearance programs to millions of credit card, auto loan and mortgage customers who were financially hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic. While that is good news for customers who ... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The European Central Bank will use its stimulus firepower fully even as the euro zone economy shows some signs of rebounding from its pandemic-induced recession, ECB President Christine Lagarde said on Thursday. Tackling the biggest econo... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The European Central Bank expects a pending European Union stimulus scheme to favour grants over loans in the funding mechanism it uses to help kick-start the bloc’s economies, bank president Christine Lagarde said on Thursday. Leaders of... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Euro zone industrial production rose in May, official estimates showed on Tuesday, but the recovery from lockdown-induced record declines March and April was lower than expected and far from offsetting past drops. Manufacturing output in t... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Euro zone banks maintained relatively easy access to credit for firms in the second quarter with the backing of government guarantees, but they will likely tighten credit standards in the following three months, the European Central Bank ... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The German economy is rebounding from a pandemic-induced slump after hitting bottom last month, a real-time indicator developed by the country’s central bank showed on Monday. Launched in the wake of coronavirus outbreak, the Bundesbank’s... More »
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s retail inflation picked up in June, pushed by price increases for some food and fuel items, but economists said the central bank could still ease rates because of concerns about economic slowdown caused by lockdown. Annual retail ... More »
TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisia has asked four countries to delay debt repayments, it said on Monday as it announced more pessimistic economic and budget forecasts for 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. It is negotiating with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, France and I... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – British minister Oliver Dowden will make a statement to parliament on Huawei some time after 1130 GMT on Tuesday, the opposition Labour Party said on Twitter. Britain is set to ban Huawei from Britain’s 5G network in a landmark decision that... More »
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Producer prices in Canada gained 0.4% in June from May, primarily on higher prices for energy and petroleum products, Statistics Canada said on Friday in a preliminary flash estimate. Energy and petroleum prices jumped 11.7%, the agency said... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain will place a “huge priority” on national security when considering Chinese telecoms firm Huawei’s role in the country’s 5G network, justice minister Robert Buckland said on Monday. “National security comes first … and I know that the... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – France will back Spanish Economy Minister Nadia Calvino for the presidency of the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Thursday, a stance echoed by France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Dri... More »
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Euro zone bond yields held their ground on Thursday with investors’ main focus expected to be any new developments on the European Union’s recovery fund, which aims to help the region’s economy recover from the coronavirus crisis. Hopes a... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The euro zone economy will drop deeper into recession this year and rebound less steeply in 2021 than previously thought, the European Commission forecast on Tuesday, with France, Italy and Spain struggling the most due to the COVID-19 pan... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – British new car registrations fell by an annual 35% in June, the smallest drop since February, as many dealerships reopened after coronavirus lockdown measures were lifted. A total of 145,377 new cars were registered in June, leaving year-to... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – Several dozen Paris tour guides wearing masks and holding Mona Lisa portraits protested outside the Louvre museum on Monday for more support from the government to help them ride out the coronavirus crisis and a dearth of tourists. They gathe... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – British finance minister Rishi Sunak will try to restart the country’s economy by giving homebuyers a tax break and cutting value-added tax for pubs, restaurants and other hospitality firms, The Times newspaper reported. Sunak is due to anno... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain hopes to permit outdoor and socially distanced performances at cultural venues, minister Oliver Dowden said on Monday, after announcing a nearly $2 billion investment in the arts. “I want all our cultural institutions to return to no... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Orders for German industrial goods rose by 10.4% in May, rebounding from their biggest drop since records began in 1991 the previous month, data showed on Monday, as demand picked up after lockdown measures to fight the coronavirus were lift... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Around one fifth of German companies (21%) believe their survival is threatened by the coronavirus crisis, Germany’s Ifo institute said on Monday, with travel agents, hotels and restaurants particularly concerned. “We could see a wave of ins... More »
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The risk of a deeper economic euro zone recession than predicted in the European Central Bank’s (ECB) baseline scenario has diminished, ECB governing council member Klaas Knot said on Friday. “Recent data solidifies the confidence in our ... More »
LONDON/PARIS (Reuters) – Sixteen banks from Germany, France and three other euro zone countries on Thursday said a “truly European” payments system was expected to be up and running in 2022 to fully digitalise a region where half of all retail payments are sti... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The European Central Bank is lowering the bar for bank mergers in the euro zone, hoping to encourage an elusive wave of consolidation in a sector plagued by low profits and unresolved issues inherited from the last financial crisis. In a ... More »
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada’s real GDP is likely to grow 3% in May, bouncing back from a record decline in April, Statistics Canada said in a flash estimate on Friday, as businesses across the country began to reopen following coronavirus-linked shutdowns. Growt... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Louisa Sumagui and her family wanted a final momento of their 12 years in Dubai before returning to Australia after losing jobs in the tourism industry due to the coronavirus pandemic. The moment was captured for Sumagui, her husband and two ... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Tokyo on Tuesday said it will move away from numerical targets to contain COVID-19 and rely more on the advice of a committee of experts, to try to control the novel coronavirus and avoid another economic slowdown. The metropolis, with a popu... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s central bank governor said it was encouraging commercial banks to lend more to sustain businesses during the coronavirus crisis. Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) Governor Ahmed al-Kholifey was speaking at a virtual econo... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain urgently needs to see the legislation China passed regarding Hong Kong to determine whether it has breached the joint declaration and then will set out its next steps, a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday. “De... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong’s retail sales in May slumped 32.8% from a year earlier, falling for the 16th consecutive month as the virus pandemic slammed the brakes on tourism and spending in the city. Months of anti-government protest have also weighed on... More »
(Reuters) – The Federal Reserve’s promise in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic to flood the U.S. economy with trillions of dollars seemed like the proverbial central bank bazooka. It has been more of a trickle in practice, with activity outside the U.... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Oil prices slipped on Tuesday amid rising COVID-19 cases and a possible return of Libyan oil production, which has been down to a trickle since the start of the year. The more-active September contract for Brent LCOc2 fell 37 cents, or 0.88%... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – A fresh batch of grim economic data kept the euro and the pound under pressure on Tuesday as sentiment faltered amid fears new COVID-19 hot spots across the world might jeopardise the swift recovery from the pandemic investors are hoping for... More »
LEICESTER, England (Reuters) – Britain has imposed a stringent lockdown on the English city of Leicester following a local flare-up of the novel coronavirus, overshadowing Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s attempts to nudge the country back to normality. The Unit... More »
MUMBAI (Reuters) – The Indian government will extend a free foodgrain distribution scheme for 800 million people amid the ongoing pandemic until the end of November, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a national address on Tuesday. Modi said thousands of liv... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday that Britain needed to protect its critical national infrastructure from “hostile state vendors” when deciding what role China’s Huawei should play in the country’s 5G network. Britain is taking a... More »
BRUSSELS/MADRID (Reuters) – Finance ministers of Spain, Ireland and Luxembourg are in the running to chair meetings of the powerful Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers, with euro zone officials saying it is likely to be a close race between the Spanish an... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – A string of positive economic indicators in the euro zone confirm that a recovery is on its way but the bloc may still need years to reach pre-crisis levels of activity, European Central Bank policymaker Klaas Knot said on Thursday. “I wo... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Changes to the composition of Germany’s top court are likely to make it less confrontational towards the European Central Bank following a ruling about bond purchases that sent shockwaves around Europe, according to two sources close to the ... More »
WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Monday he expects the country’s economy to recover quickly from the damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic. “We have a chance for a V-shaped recovery,” Morawiecki told a conference. Poles... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – Emmanuel Macron will travel to the Netherlands on Tuesday to try to break Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s resistance to the European Union’s 750 billion euro aid package that the French president wants to see approved at an EU summit in Jul... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura on Monday discussed the importance of free trade for a world economic recovery with New Zealand’s Minister for Trade and Export Growth David Parker, Nishimura said. Parker and Nishimura also talked... More »
(Reuters) – White House adviser Kevin Hassett will leave the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump this summer, Axios reported on Monday, citing two officials. Hassett had returned as an adviser earlier this year to help the Trump administration tackle... More »
