BERLIN (Reuters) -Volkswagen will not participate in a discount battle in China “at any price”, Chief Operating Officer Ralf Brandstaetter said in an interview released on Wednesday. The German carmaker is under growing pressure in its most important market from up-and-coming Chinese manufacturers who are more successful with electric cars than their Western rivals. “Volkswagen…
ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s economy rose 0.6% in the first quarter, boosted by strong domestic demand, national statistics bureau ISTAT said on Wednesday, lifting a preliminary estimate of a 0.5% rise in gross domestic product. On a year-on-year basis, GDP in the January-March period was revised up to 1.9% compared with the 1.8% printout in ISTAT’s flash…
PARIS (Reuters) – French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Wednesday he was sticking to a forecast of 1% economic growth this year despite numerous risks to the outlook while a fall in inflation this month offered consumers some relief. The European Commission and the International Monetary Fund are more cautious about the outlook,…
By Engen Tham, Summer Zhen and Selena Li HONG KONG/SHANGHAI (Reuters) -Credit Suisse has scrapped plans to set up a locally incorporated bank in China to sidestep a potential regulatory conflict arising from its merger with UBS, said two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Embattled Credit Suisse had been preparing for years to…
BERLIN (Reuters) – German authorities have arrested seven suspected supporters of the Islamic State terrorist group as part of an investigation into terrorist financing, prosecutors said on Wednesday. At the same time, authorities conducted 19 raids in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, as well as in one property in the Netherlands, the…
PARIS (Reuters) – French inflation cooled more than expected in May to its lowest level in a year as energy and food price increases moderated, according to preliminary official data on Wednesday. Consumer prices dipped 0.1% over one month, giving an annual inflation rate of 6.0% after 6.9% in April, EU-harmonised data from the INSEE…
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey’s broadcasting watchdog has launched an inquiry into six opposition TV channels for “insulting the public” with their coverage of Sunday’s presidential election runoff, it said on Tuesday, without detailing what the insults were. The Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTUK) said viewers had complained. President Tayyip Erdogan extended his two-decade rule…
By Valentina Za and Sara Rossi MILAN (Reuters) -Italy will launch a new bond aimed at retail investors next week, targeting cash held in low-yielding bank accounts as it finds ways to compensate for dwindling European Central Bank debt purchases. Market sources say the sale of new BTP Valore (“BTP Value”) bonds with a four-year…
A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Sonali Desai With the U.S. debt ceiling bill clearing an important procedural hurdle en route to a vote in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, markets are back in data-watching mode for now. Unfortunately, there’s little respite on that front given disappointing economic…
By Lewis Jackson SYDNEY (Reuters) -The Reserve Bank of Australia will not sign any new contracts with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Australia until a scandal over the firm’s misuse of confidential government tax plans is sorted out, the central bank’s governor said on Wednesday. The “big four” firm is on the defense after a former Australian tax…
