Austria on Wednesday became the first euro zone country to price a public sale of debt below the European Central Bank’s deposit rate, as expectations of more ECB stimulus and worries over the global economy push yields in the bloc to new lows. Source: Reuters
Economics
Canada’s bank regulator, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, on Tuesday raised the capital requirement level for ‘systemically important’ banks in the country by 25 basis points, to 2%. Source: Reuters
- U.S. industrial production fell in April, dragged by a big drop in factory output as production of autos and auto parts continued to slide.
- The Federal Reserve says industrial output — reflecting total production at factories, utilities and mines — dropped 0.5% in April.
- Industrial production also fell 0.5% in February.
“The main installations have been completed, the shut-off valves have been installed, so we can assume that the project will be completed by the end of 2019,” said project spokesman Jens Müller. Source: The Local Deutschland
Russia’s state-owned gas giant Gazprom will start filling the Power of Siberia (Sila Sibiri) natural gas pipeline that connects Russia to China from September 1, Gazprom Transgaz Tomsk said in its corporate magazine on March 14, as cited by Prime. Source: Intellinews
Index provider MSCI Inc. said it would quadruple the contribution of mainland Chinese companies’ to its benchmarks, a move that makes shares in Shanghai and Shenzhen all but unignorable for many international investors. Source: MarketWatch
Japan’s industrial output contracted in November and partially reversed the previous month’s gain, while retail sales slowed sharply as increasing global risks drag on demand and threaten the country’s export-reliant economy. Source: Reuters
In just three days, more than 500 migrants crossed the Channel to the United Kingdom according to British authorities. Source France Blue
A first flight voluntarily returning economic migrants to their home country has departed from Greece, launching a European Union-funded scheme aimed at relieving pressure on the state where most new arrivals reach the bloc.
About 5,000 economic migrants will be offered incentives of 2,000 euros ($2,400) per person to return home. Source Al Jazeera
Eight Turkish military airplanes carried out a total of 33 violations of Greece’s national airspace over the course of one day on Wednesday, Greek military authorities have said. Source Ekathimerini
- Military source says around 200-strong force has been sent to the Pratas Islands following reports PLA was planning large-scale simulated invasion
- Mainland China has been steadily boosting its presence in the disputed waters, where a number of other countries have claims South China Morning Post
The death of a 12-year-old girl by a stray bullet in Sweden has sparked outrage and reignited debates over its handling of gang-related violence.
Details of what happened have not been officially confirmed, but local media outlets reported that the gunmen had been aiming at two members of a criminal gang, and had not intended to shoot the child. Source BBC
Police officers were attacked by dozens of individuals in Ris-Orangis (Essonne) on the night of Monday to Tuesday. An official received a stone on the face and was injured. Source Actu17
Another night of urban violence in the Yvelines, especially in Chanteloup-les-Vignes. An official was seriously injured by a pavement throw to the head. Three police crews, including one from the canine brigade, went to rue des Quertaines in Chanteloup-les-Vignes around 10:50 p.m. this Sunday evening, to secure the intervention of the firefighters who were taking action. charges a person causing discomfort in his home. Source Actu17
Leaders in education, politics and other areas gathered in suburban Evanston Sunday to ask that the Illinois State Board of Education change the history curriculum at schools statewide, and temporarily halt instruction until an alternative is decided upon. Source NBC
Nearly half of the roughly 11,000 migrants who landed in Italy last week had left Tunisia, and most of them were Tunisian citizens, according to official figures. The others had embarked, in their majority, from Libya. ” The EU must take up this issue immediately ” and distribute the new arrivals, ” especially during this phase of high health risk, ” Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said on his Facebook account on Wednesday. Source Le Figaro.
Food insecurity for U.S. households last week reached its highest reported level since the Census Bureau started tracking the data in May, with almost 30 million Americans reporting that they’d not had enough to eat at some point in the seven days through July 21. Source Bloomberg
On Thursday, the Ministry of National Defense of the People’s Republic of China has reported that the Chinese military is strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposed to the U.S. sending military personnel to Taiwan for exercises and exchanges. Source defence-blog
Russian gold and foreign currency holdings have risen by over $9 billion in one week. The international funds came closer to the previous peak at the end of last month, as they climbed to the highest point in 12 years to $591.8 billion, according to the latest figures from the Russian Central Bank. The data released on Friday shows that the holdings rose by $9.1 billion. The regulator said that the increase was driven by “positive revaluation” and gold’s rally. Source RT
The Italian Civil Aviation Authority (Enac) threatened on Wednesday to suspend Ryanair’s permit to fly in Italy due to non-compliance with coronavirus (Covid-19) related safety rules. Source Brussels time
Fitch Ratings, one of the world’s major credit-rating companies, revised its outlook on the U.S. credit score to negative from stable Friday “to reflect the ongoing deterioration in the U.S. public finances and the absence of a credible fiscal consolidation plan.” Source South Florida Times
French automaker Renault reported its biggest half-year loss ever on Thursday, with revenue slashed by a third as dealerships worldwide were emptied by the coronavirus crisis. The dire results underscored the challenges facing CEO Luca de Meo, who was brought in this month to revamp a company reeling from strategic missteps and the ousting of former boss Carlos Ghosn last year on financial misconduct charges. Source France24
The U.S. economy shrank at a dizzying 32.9% annual rate in the April-June quarter — by far the worst quarterly plunge ever — when the viral outbreak shut down businesses, throwing tens of millions out of work and sending unemployment surging to 14.7%, the government said Thursday. Source Franse24
China should prepare for potential U.S. sanctions by increasing use of its own financial messaging network for cross-border transactions in the mainland, Hong Kong and Macau, according to a report from the investment banking unit of Bank of China. Source Reuters
Schlumberger is cutting more than 21,000 jobs as the global coronavirus pandemic quashes demand for energy and oil prices are routed. The company will pay more than $1 billion in severance benefits. The job cuts announced Friday, about a quarter of its entire workforce, puts the number of people employed by the world’s largest oilfield services company close to where it was at the start of the oil and gas fracking boom that upended global energy markets and put the U.S. on top. Source Wag MTV
Baker Hughes BKR, -1.91% on Friday reported that the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil edged up by 1 to 181 this week. That marked the first increase since the week ended March 13. The total active U.S. rig count, meanwhile, fell by 2 to 251, according to Baker Hughes. Source Houston Chronicle
BJ Services Company, one of the pioneers of the fracing techniques behind America’s shale revolution, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday morning amid a severe downturn in oilfield services demand. The company had been in discussions to sell its cementing business, and a portion of its fracing operations. Source World Oil
Under a proposal submitted to European Union leaders on Monday afternoon, the EU’s economic recovery package to lift the bloc out of a Covid-19-induced recession includes 390 billion euros of grants and 360 billion euros of loans, a document showed. Source Ekathimerini
The US oil and gas rig count, an early indicator of future output, fell by five to an all-time low of 253 in the week to July 17, according to data on Friday from energy services firm Baker Hughes Co going back to 1940. Source Energy World
