By Joice Alves LONDON (Reuters) – A lack of clarity on Beijing’s planned stimulus measures will mean a mixed appetite for European stocks over the rest of 2023, investors say, with China the EU’s third biggest export market. From high-end cars to luxury watches, Europe’s consumer discretionary and staples, technology, industrials and materials sectors all…
By Andrew Gray and Niklas Pollard BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Sweden failed on Thursday to convince Turkey to lift its block on Stockholm’s path to NATO membership, and the issue will now go to a meeting of the Turkish and Swedish leaders next week. Speaking after talks with the Turkish and Swedish foreign ministers at the security…
MILAN (Reuters) – Generali has agreed to buy Connecticut-based asset manager Conning Holdings as part of a partnership with Cathay Life, a unit of Taiwan’s Cathay Financial Holding, the Italian insurer said on Thursday. The deal, structured as an exchange of assets without a cash consideration, realises Generali CEO Philippe Donnet’s ambition of expanding into…
By Jessie Pang and Joyce Zhou HONG KONG (Reuters) -Hong Kong’s legislature unanimously voted on Thursday to overhaul district-level elections by drastically reducing the number of directly elected seats, which critics said would further shrink democratic freedom in the Chinese-ruled city. Under the amendment, only 88 seats would be directly elected by the public, down…
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Pentagon holds a strategic U.S. stockpile for germanium but currently has no inventory reserves for gallium, a spokesperson said on Thursday, after China announced export restrictions on the two metals used in semiconductors. “The (Defense) Department is proactively taking steps using Defense Production Act Title III authorities to increase domestic mining…
NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India’s state-run banks are confident of withstanding any macroeconomic shocks and expect their outlook to improve, despite headwinds in the global banking sector, the finance ministry said on Thursday. The asset quality of India’s state-run banks has improved with gross non-performing assets – the measure of a bank’s bad loans – at…
By Alex Lawler and Dmitry Zhdannikov VIENNA (Reuters) – OPEC will likely maintain an upbeat view on oil demand growth for next year when it publishes its first outlook later this month, predicting a slowdown from this year but still an above-average increase, sources close to OPEC said. OPEC’s forecast for 2024 will likely be…
By Pratima Desai LONDON (Reuters) – China’s abrupt announcement this week that it will restrict exports of some germanium and gallium products from Aug. 1 is expected to disrupt global supply chains for semiconductors. For metals such as aluminium, copper and zinc traded on the London Metal Exchange, the price reaction to disruptions or the…
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Chinese battery maker CATL said on Thursday it has developed new materials for lithium-ion batteries that would sharply improve charging efficiency for electric vehicles, especially in extreme cold. Wu Kai, CATL’s chief scientist, told a forum in Shanghai that the company, the world’s largest battery supplier, had developed new electrolyte materials that…
By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis will travel to Mongolia at the end of August, the Vatican confirmed on Thursday, indicating that his health is improving well enough after surgery to be able to go to the remotest area he has ever visited. The Vatican issued a detailed schedule for the Aug….
