NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya’s private sector activity fell in April as both the manufacturing and services sectors slowed, with inflation and political unrest leading to a drop in consumer demand and dampening the outlook, a survey showed on Thursday. The Stanbic Bank Kenya Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to 47.2 from 49.2 in March. Readings…
LONDON (Reuters) – Goldman Sachs said on Thursday it was “cautious” on Turkish banks heading into the May 14 election, with lenders more vulnerable than the country’s other stocks to a potential post-vote rate hike following years of unorthodox monetary policy. Polls show President Tayyip Erdogan risks losing the landmark election largely due to a…
By Lisa Richwine and Rollo Ross LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Striking film and television writers met with union leadership on Wednesday, the second day of a work stoppage that has thrown Hollywood into disarray as the industry deals with changes brought on by the streaming TV boom. Members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) turned…
(Reuters) – Growth in domestic client demand spurred increased activity in Russia’s services sector in April as new export business contracted, a business survey showed on Thursday, with firms’ confidence level rising to its highest since July. The S&P Global Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for Russian services dropped to 55.9 from a 2-1/2-year high of…
By Marine Strauss BRUSSELS (Reuters) -ArcelorMittal, the world’s second largest steelmaker, said it had a “good growth” in the beginning of the year as it reported higher than expected first-quarter earnings. ArcelorMittal said on Thursday global steel demand, excluding China, should grow in 2023 between 2% and 3%, and maintained its expectation that its own…
(Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised interest rates by a widely expected 25 basis points and dropped from its policy statement language saying that it “anticipates” further rate increases would be needed. The Fed Funds target rate now stands in the 5%-5.25% range, following 500 bps of hikes since March 2022. Money…
By Marwa Rashad LONDON (Reuters) – Global gas markets are gradually rebalancing but are expected to remain tight in 2023 amid lower Russian pipeline gas deliveries to Europe, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday. The European and global gas markets suffered a major supply shock in 2022 when Russia reduced its pipeline gas…
HANOI (Reuters) – Vietnam on Thursday raised its average retail electricity price by 3%, the government said, in a move that could put upward pressure on inflation. Annual inflation in the Southeast Asian country has been easing since the beginning of the year, with April consumer prices rising 2.81% from a year earlier. The government…
A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Vidya Ranganathan. The spotlight moves swiftly from the Fed’s “possible pause or pivot” message overnight to the European Central Bank, where the direction of rates is not in question. It will be a seventh rate rise for the ECB, the central bank for…
HONG KONG (Reuters) – HSBC will raise its Hong Kong dollar best lending rate from 5.625% to 5.75% with effect from Friday, the bank said in a statement on Thursday, following the territory’s central bank hiking its base rate by 25 basis points. (Reporting by Selena Li; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
