By Elizabeth Howcroft LONDON (Reuters) – Reduced consumer spending, rising interest rates and trickier credit conditions spell trouble for Buy Now Pay Later lenders, raising the prospect of consolidation in the sector. Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) firms have created one of the fastest-growing segments in consumer finance, with transaction volumes hitting $120 billion in…
(Reuters) – Russia’s central bank cut its key interest rate to the pre-crisis level of 9.5% on Friday and said it would continue to explore the scope for more cuts as inflation slows from near 20-year highs and economic contraction looms. The bank had hiked its rate from 9.5% to 20% in the immediate aftermath…
By Byungwook Kim and Heekyong Yang ULSAN, South Korea (Reuters) – Defiant South Korean truckers embarked on broader and more aggressive strike action on Friday, threatening to severely curtail deliveries of raw materials for semiconductors and petrochemical products. Entering its fourth day, the strike protesting soaring fuel costs halved production at Hyundai Motor Co’s biggest…
(Reuters) – Spanish national consumer prices rose 8.7% year-on-year in May, up from 8.3% in April, with core inflation hitting its highest since 1995, official data showed on Friday. The National Statistics Institute data confirmed a preliminary report late last month. It showed fuel prices had increased 15% year-on-year, with prices of food and non-alcoholic…
(Reuters) – Russia’s central bank said on Friday it would study the legality of plans by some banks to impose fees on accounts in foreign currency, warning that lenders should not worsen conditions for existing clients. Banks may not impose commissions on already opened foreign currency accounts, the central bank said. (Reporting by Reuters)
(Reuters) – Sunday marks a new dawn for Russia’s fast-food lovers as former McDonald’s Corp restaurants reopen under new branding and ownership, more than three decades after the arrival of the hugely popular Western fast food chain. The relaunch will begin on Russia Day, a patriotic holiday celebrating the country’s independence, at the same flagship…
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street’s shuddering realization that inflation got worse last month, not better as hoped, sent markets reeling on Friday. The S&P 500 sank 2.9% to lock in its ninth losing week in the last 10, and tumbling bond prices sent Treasury yields to their highest levels in years. The Dow Jones…
By Koustav Samanta and Yuka Obayashi SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices slipped on Friday but remained within touching distance of three-month highs as fears over new COVID-19 lockdown measures in Shanghai outweighed solid demand for fuels in the United States, the world’s top consumer. Brent crude futures for August were down 33 cents, or 0.3%,…
(Reuters) – Russia’s Industry Ministry expects car sales to halve in 2022 as the country’s automobile industry grapples with supply issues, a senior official said. “We saw a sharp fall (in car sales) in April and May,” Tigran Parsadanyan, deputy head of the ministry’s automotive and railway engineering department, said on Thursday. “We expect that…
NUR-SULTAN (Reuters) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) may help Kazakhstan boost the capital of the local subsidiary of Russia’s Sberbank if the Central Asian nation buys it, EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso said. Renaud-Basso said the EBRD was aware of talks between Sberbank, which has been hit by Western sanctions, and Kazakh…
