BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s factory activity is expected to have contracted further this month, piling pressure on the economy as COVID restrictions hit production and exports fell despite a flurry of stimulus policies, a Reuters poll showed on Monday. The official manufacturing Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) was forecast at 49.0 in November from 49.2 in…
HONG KONG (AP) — With police out in force, there was no word of additional protests against strict government anti-pandemic measures Tuesday in Beijing, as temperatures fell well below freezing. Shanghai, Nanjing and other cities where online calls to gather had been issued were also reportedly quiet. Rallies against China’s unusually strict anti-virus measures spread…
By Scott Murdoch SYDNEY (Reuters) – Stocks and commodities prices slid sharply on Monday as rare protests in major Chinese cities against the country’s strict zero-COVID curbs raised investors’ concerns about the growth implications for the world’s second-largest economy. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 1.5% having slumped 2.2% at the…
By Byron Kaye and Lewis Jackson SYDNEY (Reuters) – When Melbourne barista Melinda Elliott had to cut back on casual work shifts this year, she asked her buy-now, pay-later (BNPL) provider, Afterpay, to lower her credit limit. She did not want debt she could not afford to repay. The Australian company, owned by Twitter founder…
TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mostly higher Tuesday as market jitters declined over protests in China set off by growing public anger over COVID-19 restrictions. Benchmarks rose in early trading in Australia, South Korea and China, while shares fell in Japan. Oil prices fell. Japanese government data released Tuesday showed that the unemployment rate…
By Xie Yu HONG KONG (Reuters) -Embattled property developer China Evergrande Group aims to win creditors’ support for its debt restructuring proposals by as early as the end of February, the company’s lawyers said on Monday. Once China’s top-selling developer, Evergrade is now at the centre of the country’s property sector crisis. Its $22.7 billion…
By Rae Wee SINGAPORE (Reuters) – The dollar climbed on Monday as protests against COVID restrictions in China rattled financial markets, sending the yuan sliding and pushing nervous investors toward the safe-haven greenback. The COVID protests have flared across China and spread to several cities in the wake of a deadly fire in Urumqi in…
By Scott Murdoch SYDNEY (Reuters) – Stocks and oil slid sharply on Monday as rare protests in major Chinese cities against the country’s strict zero-COVID curbs raised worries about management of the virus in the world’s second-largest economy. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slumped 2.2%, pulled lower by heavy selling in Chinese…
(Reuters) – Collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX remains the subject of “an active and ongoing investigation” by Bahamian authorities, Bahamian Attorney General Ryan Pinder said on Sunday, as he praised the Bahamas’ regulatory regime and swiftness with which it responded to the crisis. FTX, which had been among the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, is headquartered in…
By Rachel More and Mathieu Rosemain BERLIN/PARIS (Reuters) -Some workers at Amazon sites in Germany and France downed tools on Black Friday, as part of a move across the world to target the online retailer on one of the busiest shopping days of the year with calls for better pay. The Make Amazon Pay initiative,…
