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.
BUSINESS
India to resist anti-US messaging at BRICS summit with Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin
The virtual event, which Beijing is hosting this week, is set to bring together Xi, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro.
BUSINESS
Oversupply of India bonds to drive yields to 8%, StanChart says
The lender estimates that excess supply of sovereign and state debt may total as much as 6.3 trillion rupees ($81 billion) this fiscal year. That’s likely to further upset a market that’s struggling to cope with rising interest rates and dwindling surplus liquidity, said Parul Mittal Sinha, head of India financial markets at the bank.
BUSINESS
Adults who love toys? The toy industry loves them, too
A cohort of shoppers like Dykstra—dubbed “kidults” by toy industry insiders—have helped US toy sales surge 37% over two years, to $28.6 billion in 2021, according to data tracker NPD Group.
BUSINESS
Elon Musk, Nouriel Roubini and Goldman warn of rising US recession risk
Their outlooks will stoke fears of a hard landing for the world’s biggest economy as the Federal Reserve jacks up interest rates to counter the fastest pace of inflation in decades.
BUSINESS
Joe Biden says US recession avoidable after call with Larry Summers
“I was talking to Larry Summers this morning, and there’s nothing inevitable about a recession,” Biden told reporters Monday at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. “I think we’re going to be able to get a change in Medicare and a reduction in the cost of insulin.”
BUSINESS
US sanctions helped China supercharge its chipmaking industry
Nineteen of the world’s 20 fastest-growing chip industry firms over the past four quarters, on average, hail from the world’s No. 2 economy, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
CRYPTOCURRENCY
Mounting crypto liquidations make DeFi go to extremes
The record-setting rout in cryptocurrencies has put a slew of decentralized-finance applications and their communities in a race to protect themselves against a cascade of liquidations -- sometimes by employing unprecedented measures.
WORLD
Once-Spurned Superjumbos Return to Skies as Travel Roars Back
Many airlines struggled to see a future for their enormous Airbus SE A380s when the pandemic grounded fleets in early 2020. Qantas Airways Ltd. parked its 12 double-deckers in the Californian desert, saying they wouldn’t be needed for at least three years, while Etihad Airways said it’s not clear if its 10 superjumbos will ever fly again.
BUSINESS
China's Realme cracks the smartphone market in India
The move paid off, boosting the four-year-old newcomer’s sales and helping it reach the No. 3 position in the fast-growing market with about 600 million smartphone users. Only Samsung Electronics Co. and Xiaomi Corp. sold more devices in India in the latest quarter, with Realme closing in.
BUSINESS
Janet Yellen says recession not inevitable but unacceptably high inflation locked in for 2022
“We’ve had high inflation so far this year, and that locks in higher inflation for the rest of the year,” she said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”
BUSINESS
Crypto market starting to see even old-timers ‘panic selling’
A measure called the spent output profit ratio, which tracks how much profit has been realized from market activity in digital currencies on a blockchain on any given day, has declined to its lowest level in a year, according to Glassnode data.
