A total of 120,000 Turkish construction companies are set to halt activities on June 9 to protest a skyrocketing rise in iron prices and a visible undersupply in the material. The protests are expected to last one month, according to sector representatives. Source Hurriyet Daily
Real Estate
A downturn in Greece’s property market deepened in the first quarter, as uncertainty over its bailout program and chronic weakness in its banking sector further eroded a traditional pillar of the country’s ailing economy. Source ekathimerini
Italy is giving away more than 100 historic castles, farmhouses and monasteries for free in an effort to breathe new life into its disused public buildings. Source CBS
U.S. homebuilding fell in March in February and manufacturing output dropped for the first time in seven months, further indications that economic growth braked sharply in the first quarter. The data last week showed the second monthly decline in retail sales in March as well a decrease in consumer prices. Source Reuters
China’s efforts to weed speculation out of the housing market seem futile as data show you ‘Can’t Beat the Real Thing’. Prices not only edged higher in more of the nation’s biggest cities during March, they did so at a faster pace too — a fearless challenge to government orders to stamp out speculation in red hot real estate markets. Source Asia Times
French politicians have cautioned construction-materials giant LafargeHolcim about the consequences of supplying cement for the 3000km wall that US President Donald Trump intends to build along the border with Mexico. Source Global Cement
China’s property sales surged in the first two months of the year despite government measures to cool the market, though growth in real estate investment showed signs of easing, according to official data on Tuesday. Property sales by area rose 25.1 percent year-on-year in January and February. Source: Reuters
Algerian football fans faced off with riot police across France after victory celebrations turned violent in Paris, Lyon, and Marseille. Dozens of people were arrested, with tear gas deployed to restore order.
Fans overcome with joy were out on the streets of three major French cities after Algeria knocked Nigeria out of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations tournament with a 2-1 victory in the semifinals on Sunday. Source RT
Anti-terrorism police in northern Italy have seized an air-to-air missile and other sophisticated weapons during raids on far-right extremist groups, police revealed on Monday. Source The Local
The entire Galileo system suffered an unexpected and hitherto unexplained signal outage, beginning on Thursday, July 11 at 1:00 pm Central European Time. At about that time, users noticed that all ephemeris stopped broadcasting, and then a Notice Advice to Galileo Users (NAGU) appeared:NAGU Subject: Service Degradation
Satellite Affected: ALL Source GPS World
The police station of Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis) was attacked with fireworks on the night of Saturday to Sunday, by thirty individuals. The police defended themselves by firing defensive bullets (LBD 40) and tear gas. Source Actu17
Iran called on Britain on Friday to immediately release an oil tanker that British Royal Marines seized last week on suspicion it was breaking European sanctions by taking oil to Syria, a foreign ministry spokesman told state news agency IRNA.
“This is a dangerous game and has consequences… the legal pretexts for the capture are not valid… the release of the tanker is in all countries’ interest,” the spokesman, Abbas Mousavi, said. Source Telegraph
China’s top diplomat Wang Yi warned the United States on Friday that it should “not play with fire” on the question of Taiwan, expressing anger about a planned U.S. arms sale. During a visit to Hungary, Wang said that no foreign force could stop the reunification of China and no foreign force should try to intervene. Source Reuters
Around 700 so-called “Black Vests” protesters have stormed Paris’ Pantheon building to denounce their conditions as undocumented workers in France. They demanded the French government legalise their status and provide them with housing, before being cleared out by police. Source RFI
The head of the Swedish car manufacturer Volvo has created quite a stir at home, saying that his company struggles to attract foreign specialists due to the lack of public security and may be considering moving elsewhere. Source RT
Libya’s internationally recognised government on Thursday demanded urgent answers after Paris conceded French missiles were found at a base used by strongman Khalifa Haftar, whose forces are fighting to take over the capital Tripoli. Source France24
Shops in central Paris were looted and a woman was killed in a high-speed car crash in southern France in what the government slammed Friday as “unacceptable” unrest following a key victory for Algeria’s national football team. Source France
Turkey received the first components of the Russian S-400 missile defense system on Friday, according to Turkish officials. The move will further strain ties with Ankara’s NATO allies in Washington.
“First batch of equipment of S-400 missile defense system, which is procured to meet Turkey’s air and missile defense need, has started to arrive at Murted Air Base in Ankara as of July 12, 2019,” Turkey’s Defense Ministry said on Twitter. Source Rudaw
German industrial activity is sluggish and recent data point to slower growth in the service sector, the German Economy Ministry said, adding this suggested Europe’s largest economy would experience a weak general economic trend in the second quarter. German industrial activity is sluggish and recent data point to slower growth in the service sector, the German Economy Ministry said, adding this suggested Europe’s largest economy would experience a weak general economic trend in the second quarter.
- China’s quarterly economic growth fell to 6.2%, the slowest pace of expansion since 1993.
- Analysts say a fierce trade dispute with the U.S. is adding to other factors weighing on the country’s expansion.
- President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed late last month to resume talks in hopes of clinching a trade deal.
Source CBS
NAB and ANZ have both cut their savings rates again in the wake of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision to reduce the interest rate to one per cent. NAB’s basic savings account now offer just 0.11 per cent interest, and ANZ’s just 0.15 per cent, after they today reduced interest rates by between 0.15 per cent and 0.25 per cent. Source 9 News
Italy wants France and Spain to support its campaign to change the European Union’s fiscal rules and focus them more on growth in the face of a regional and global economic slowdown, Economy Minister Giovanni Tria said in remarks published on Friday. Source Reuters
President Donald Trump complained on Thursday that China hasn’t yet begun purchasing US agricultural products — a sign that some of the commitments he believed were made with Chinese President Xi Jinping last month weren’t as solid as advertised. Source CNN
China could learn a lesson for its possible digital currency issuance from the Hong Kong monetary system that allows “commercial entities” to issue banknotes backed by their own private currency assets, former central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said.
Zhou, who served as the governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) for over 15 years until 2018, revealed new thinking about Beijing’s own digital currency plans as the government scrambles to respond to Facebook’s [1] proposed [2] new Libra [3] digital currency. Source South China Morning Post
- “The relationship between the slack in the economy or unemployment and inflation was a strong one fifty years ago … and has gone away,” Powell says.
- “At the end of the day, there has to be a connection because low employment will drive wages up and ultimately higher wages will drive inflation, but we haven’t reached that point. In many cases, that connection between the two is quote small these days,” the Fed chief says. Source CNBC
Dutch ABN AMRO will reduce the savings rate on a freely withdrawable savings account from 0.03 per cent to 0.02 per cent on 17 July. The bank says it will lower interest rates because of continuing negative interest rates in the financial markets. Source NU.nl
A deal to save ailing carrier Alitalia must be reached next Monday, Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Wednesday. “We must close on Monday 15th, with a consortium between all the actors interested in relaunching the new Alitalia”, Di Maio said in a video posted on Facebook. Source Reuters
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday strongly hinted at a potential rate cut later this month, citing unresolved trade tensions and worries over the weakness of the global outlook. Source CNN
German chemicals giant BASF (BASFn.DE) on Monday warned profit would fall well below forecasts for the second quarter and full year, blaming a global economic slowdown and trade war between the United States and China. Source Reuters
