BUSINESS
India’s economy shows spark on pent-up demand after reopenings
Five of the eight high-frequency indicators compiled by Bloomberg News showed improvement, pushing the needle on a dial measuring so-called ‘Animal Spirits’ to 6, from 5, for the first time since July and the first upward move in more than a year.
BUSINESS
Maruti Suzuki bets on hybrids over EVs in clean shift
India’s largest automaker reckons that vehicles powered by hybrid technology, natural gas and biofuels present a better path toward a cleaner future than electric cars considering the nation generates about 75% of its electricity from dirty coal, Chairman R.C. Bhargava said in an interview.
BUSINESS
Hyundai quietly climbs the EV sales charts and Elon Musk notices
Earlier this year, the South Korean carmakers rolled out two new battery-powered cars — the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and its sibling, the Kia EV6 — which promptly tore up the sales charts, passing the Nissan Leaf, Chevrolet Bolt and every other electric vehicle on the market not made by Tesla.
BUSINESS
Russia defaults on foreign debt for first time since 1918
For months, the country found paths around the penalties imposed after the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. But at the end of the day on Sunday, the grace period on about $100 million of snared interest payments due May 27 expired, a deadline considered an event of default if missed.
COMMODITIES
G-7 negotiators put Russia oil price cap on agenda for leaders
G-7 states are eager to find a way to limit the Kremlin’s energy revenue while mitigating the impact on their own economies from steps to quickly curb their reliance on oil and gas from Russia
MARKETS
Fear has gone missing in Wall Street’s slow-motion bear market
Virtually every corner of Wall Street is being rattled by worries that rising interest rates will drive the economy into a recession, spurring large price swings in everything from junk bonds to foreign currencies
BUSINESS
Zimbabwe plans to hike interest rate to 190% as inflation shoots past 191% in June
Persistence Gwanyanya, from the bank’s MPC, said the intention was to achieve a positive real interest rate to discourage speculative borrowing that undermines the local currency
CRYPTOCURRENCY
Crypto exchanges hunker down after crash in prices
With token prices plummeting, customers unable to transfer money to their accounts and a dreaded transaction tax on cryptocurrencies just around the corner, exchanges like Binance-backed WazirX have put expansion plans on the back burner
BUSINESS
Global commodity shock enters next phase with recession test
The second half will be about how consumers, businesses and governments cope with the shockwaves to commodity flows. Either the global economy can withstand the sky-high prices needed to maintain tight supplies -- especially for energy -- or soaring prices will be cured by recessions.
BUSINESS
Lufthansa scraps 2,200 flights as Europe travel chaos mounts
Germany’s flagship airline scrapped both domestic and European routes for July and August, a spokesman said. That follows 900 cancellations announced earlier this month.
BUSINESS
S&P 500 may have another 24% to fall, 150 years of market history shows
That’s according to Societe Generale, which calculates the benchmark gauge may need to tumble as much as 40% from its January peak in the next six months to hit bottom. That comes out to 2,900. The upper end of the range the firm gave is for the index to slump by roughly 34% from its top, to 3,150.
BUSINESS
Jerome Powell hammers home ‘unconditional’ commitment to cool inflation
Policymakers raised interest rates by 75 basis points last week and Powell signaled that another move of that size -- or a 50 basis-point increase -- was on the table when they meet again in late July.
WORLD
Germany Warns of Lehman-Like Contagion From Russian Gas Squeeze
With energy suppliers piling up losses by being forced to cover volumes at high prices, there risks a spillover effect for local utilities and their customers, including consumers and businesses, Economy Minister Robert Habeck said Thursday after raising the country’s gas risk level to the second-highest “alarm” phase.
BUSINESS
Bridgewater doubles bet against European stocks to $10.5 billion
Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Associates has built a $10.5 billion bet against European companies, almost doubling its wager in the past week to its most bearish stance against the region’s stocks in two years.
BUSINESS
Uber is said to have explored a sale of Indian ride-hailing arm
The US company began weighing alternatives and reached out to several interested parties after recognizing it had limited potential for profitable expansion in the country, the people said, asking not to be named as the information is not public.
COMPANIES
Uber is said to have explored a sale of Indian ride-hailing arm
India and Japan are the sole major remaining Asian markets for Uber
BUSINESS
Half of new US entrepreneurs are women, leading a creation boom
A survey found that almost half of 2021’s new entrepreneurs were women, a significant uptick from 28% in 2019. And the share of new Black business owners tripled to 9%, according to Gusto, a payroll and human-resource management business.
BUSINESS
GST council to consider sales tax on cryptocurrency next week
The panel, comprising federal and states’ finance ministers, is seeking to broaden the tax net to track dealings in virtual digital assets in a more effective manner, the people said, declining to be identified citing rules on speaking with media.
BUSINESS
BlackBerry investors oppose Prem Watsa’s re-election as a director
Watsa received just 50.7% support at the Canadian software company’s annual meeting on Wednesday. That means, excluding the 46.7 million shares controlled by Watsa’s Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd., shareholders representing a majority of the votes at the meeting opposed him.
BUSINESS
Junk bonds point to a 50% chance of a recession, Citi says
Spreads on US high-yield bonds are currently hovering around 500 basis points, while risk premiums on some of the lowest-rated corporate debt is closing in on 1,000 basis points, which is considered a distressed level.
CRYPTOCURRENCY
Bitcoin is leading indicator of stock-market Bottom, Mobius says
Worries about global recessionary risks have wiped out billions in Bitcoin’s market value, with the token crashing about 70% from its peak to trade near $20,000.
BUSINESS
Jack Ma’s Ant to apply for key license as soon as this month
The People’s Bank of China intends to accept Ant’s application to become a financial holding company once it’s submitted and will then start a review process, which could take months, said the people, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter.
BUSINESS
China Premier Li Keqiang’s trip to wheat farm shows food, inflation worries
Li Keqiang stressed the importance of the wheat harvest this year while touring a farm in Gaobeidian, a city in the northern province of Hebei, Xinhua said on Tuesday.
BUSINESS
US seeks to limit nicotine levels in cigarettes
The Food and Drug Administration will draft a rule that limits nicotine, according to a notice of a proposed rule posted on the US Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.
