DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

The interior ministry called for calm after at least 31 were arrested in overnight riots, mainly in the Paris suburb of Nanterre where the victim lived, with youths burning cars and shooting fireworks at police, who sprayed people with tear gas. "We have an adolescent that was killed, it is unexplainable and inexcusable," Macron told reporters in Marseille. Paris Saint-Germain footballer Kylian Mpabbe in a Tweet about the shooting said: "I'm hurting for my France." [1/5]A car, burnt during clashes between youths and police, is seen in a street the day after the death of a 17-year-old teenager killed by a French police officer during a traffic stop, in Nanterre, Paris suburb, France, June 28, 2023. In the wake of the overnight unrest, the interior ministry said 2,000 police have been mobilised in the Paris region.

Persons: Emmanuel Macron, Macron, Mercedes, Germain, Kylian, Antony Paone Tuesday's, FRANK Macron's, Fatima, Layli Foroudi, Dominique Vidalon, Juliette Jabkhiro, Richard Lough, Conor Humphries Organizations: Prosecutors, Reuters, Mercedes AMG, Paris Saint, REUTERS, of Interior, Thomson Locations: Paris, PARIS, Nanterre, Marseille, France, Paris suburb

☆ Israel tech fundraising suffers 65% annual slump in second quarter
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Steven Scheer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Classiq/Handout via REUTERS/File PhotoJERUSALEM, June 28 (Reuters) - Fundraising by Israeli technology firms slumped 65% in the second quarter compared to the same period last year, data showed on Wednesday, as political turmoil in the country exacerbated a global slowdown in the sector. Israeli tech companies raised nearly $16 billion in 2022. But that was mainly in the first half, before the global economic slowdown, higher interest rates and weak stock markets hit. Between April and June, there were only 100 deals and only one was above $200 million, the report said. High-tech had been the fastest growing sector in Israel for a decade, accounting for 14% of jobs and almost a fifth of economic output.

Persons: Yoni Zimmermann, Steven Scheer, Conor Humphries Organizations: REUTERS, IVC Research, Israel Innovation Authority, LeumiTech, Thomson Locations: Tel Aviv, Israel, Handout, cybersecurity, Israeli

The executive, who was expected to make a visit this month, walked through the WF Central mall in Beijing, China on Tuesday, photos circulating on social media showed. The photos showed Arnault with his daughter, Dior CEO Delphine Arnault, and son Jean Arnault, who works for Louis Vuitton, as well as Dior's China president Monika Figlewicz. Other Beijing residents, posting on social media site Xiaohongshu, reported seeing Arnault at luxury department store SKP. LVMH, which owns labels ranging from Hennessy cognac to fashion houses Dior and Louis Vuitton, declined to comment. "The Chinese are very important clients," Louis Vuitton CEO Pietro Beccari told Reuters in an interview last week.

Persons: Bernard Arnault, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, Gonzalo, Read, Dior, Delphine Arnault, Jean Arnault, Louis Vuitton, Monika Figlewicz, Hennessy, Pietro Beccari, Pharrell Williams, Casey Hall, Brenda Goh, Mimosa Spencer, Conor Humphries Organizations: Viva Technology, Porte de, REUTERS, WF, Reuters, Tiffany, Thomson Locations: Porte, Paris, France, SHANGHAI, PARIS, China, Beijing, China . China

Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said on Tuesday: "We will closely watch currency market moves with a strong sense of urgency and will respond appropriately if the moves become excessive." Japan intervened to boost the yen last year when it weakened past the 145 per dollar level. "Euro-dollar is a bit stronger this morning, we had probably a bit of help from hawkish ECB (European Central Bank) comments this morning," said ING's Pesole. Latvian central bank governor and ECB official Martins Kazaks said in Portugal on Tuesday that the central bank will likely keep hiking interest rates after July. China's central bank set its daily yuan fixing stronger than market expectations for a second day in a row on Tuesday.

Persons: paring, Shunichi Suzuki, Francesco Pesole, ING's Pesole, Martins Kazaks, Kazaks, Christine Lagarde, Jerome Powell, Andrew Bailey, Kazuo Ueda, Lagarde, Vladimir Putin, Wagner, Sterling, Harry Robertson, Rocky Swift, Barbara Lewis, Conor Humphries, Chizu Organizations: Central, . Finance, Bank of Japan, ING, hawkish ECB, European Central Bank, ECB, Federal, Bank of England, Wednesday, Thomson Locations: TOKYO, Japan, Sintra, Portugal, Latvian, Russian, China, China's, London, Tokyo

☆ Spirit AeroSystems union to discuss new contract offer as strike continues
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 27 (Reuters) - Spirit AeroSystems (SPR.N) has presented a new contract offer to union workers at its plant in Wichita, Kansas, after what the Boeing (BA.N) and Airbus (AIR.PA) supplier said were "positive discussions" aimed at ending a strike. Spirit declined to answer questions about its revised offer but confirmed in a statement on Tuesday that it had delivered it "following days of positive discussions" with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) union. The IAM union will hold a meeting on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. local time to discuss the new proposal, IAM said on the Facebook page for its local unit in Wichita. The meeting will only be attended by union stewards, Spirit employees that represent the union. The company and union restarted negotiations on Saturday, and Spirit CEO Tom Gentile said in a statement on Monday that the parties were "making good progress."

Persons: AeroSystems, Tom Gentile, Valerie Insinna, Conor Humphries Organizations: Boeing, Airbus, International Association of Machinists, Aerospace Workers, IAM, Thomson Locations: Wichita , Kansas, Wichita

The world's third-largest aircraft maker after Airbus (AIR.PA) and Boeing (BA.N), Embraer bagged 13 fresh orders for commercial jets at the Paris Airshow, falling short of market estimates and previous years' levels. The 13 new orders compared with 74 secured at Le Bourget in 2019 and 28 in Farnborough last year. They also lagged some upbeat market forecasts, including expectations by JPMorgan analysts for at least 30 orders. In Paris, investors were especially disappointed by the lack of orders from the booming Indian airline market, which handled an all-time-high 500-plane transaction to Airbus and new orders to Boeing. "We believe that most of the pre-event excitement has already been adjusted in share prices," said XP Investimentos, while also rates Embraer a "buy."

Persons: Le Bourget, Gabriel Araujo, Conor Humphries, Leslie Adler Organizations: SAO PAULO, Embraer, EMBR3, Airbus, Boeing, Paris, Le, JPMorgan, American Airlines, Royal, Salam Air, Thomson Locations: China, Farnborough, U.S, Paris, Royal Jordanian, New York

☆ Israel's Shin Bet spy service uses generative AI to thwart threats
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TEL AVIV, June 27 (Reuters) - Israel's Shin Bet security service has incorporated artificial intelligence into its tradecraft and used the technology to foil substantial threats, its director said on Tuesday, highlighting generative AI's potential for law-enforcement. Among measures taken by the Shin Bet - the Israeli counterpart of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations or Britain's MI5 - has been the creation of its own generative AI platform, akin to ChatGPT or Bard, director Ronen Bar said. "AI technology has been incorporated quite naturally into the Shin Bet's interdiction machine," Bar said in a speech to the Cyber Week conference hosted by Tel Aviv University. Acknowledging the public-domain backbone of the fast-emerging technology, Bar urged cooperation between commercial hi-tech and government agencies such as his "to ensure AI leads to evolution and not to revolution". With Israel still pondering its AI policies, Bar called for the expected regulations to include a review of Shin Bet-related laws as well as a redefinition of official secrecy.

Persons: Shin, Bard, Ronen Bar, Bar, Israel, Shin Bet, Dan Williams, Conor Humphries Organizations: U.S . Federal Bureau of Investigations, Tel Aviv University, Shin, Thomson Locations: TEL AVIV, Israel

And while South Africa may have topped the overall pile of major economies in 2022, the trajectory of its carbon intensity has been steadily lower for the past decade, with the latest carbon intensity level nearly 8% lower than that of 2010. Poland's carbon intensity is also on a steadily declining track, and has dropped 16% since 2010 due to greater use of renewables and cleaner-burning natural gas in energy generation. Carbon intensity of key Asian economiesIndia, which had a carbon intensity of 632 grams per KWh in 2022, also has a declining intensity trend, although at a much shallower slope than Poland given India's continued high reliance on coal in power generation. TRENDING LOWEROther key economies with significant carbon intensity trends include Japan, which was forced to sharply increase carbon intensity in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdown by shuttering other nuclear plants and increasing use of coal and gas-fired plants to generate electricity instead. Some economies are increasing their carbon intensity, but most have reduced intensity since 2010Most other major economies are also undergoing steady carbon intensity declines, including Australia, which in the early 2000's had one of the highest carbon intensity ratings in the world thanks to its predominantly coal-fired power system, but has now cut that intensity through sharp increases in solar and wind power generation.

Persons: plumb, Gavin Maguire, Conor Humphries Organizations: United States, Reuters, Thomson Locations: LITTLETON , Colorado, China, India, South Africa, Indonesia, Poland, Africa, Morocco, The Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Botswana, Guinea, Bissau, Gambia, South Sudan, Japan, Australia

The lawsuit seeks at least $250 million in damages from Trump, his adult sons Donald Jr and Eric, the Trump Organization and others, and to stop the Trumps from running businesses in New York. He has also called James' case and two unrelated criminal indictments, where he has pleaded not guilty, part of a Democratic "witch hunt." It also said all claims against Ivanka Trump should be dismissed because they were filed too late, and because she was no longer with the Trump Organization at the relevant time. OCTOBER TRIALThe court returned the case to Justice Arthur Engoron of the state Supreme Court in Manhattan to determine which parts could proceed. The New York civil case is New York v Trump et al, New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, 1st Department, No.

Persons: Donald Trump's, Ivanka Trump, Letitia James, Trump, Donald Jr, Eric, Donald Trump, James, Arthur Engoron, Christopher Kise, Ivanka, Attorney Alvin Bragg, Jonathan Stempel, Luc Cohen, Conor Humphries, Jonathan Oatis, Alistair Bell Organizations: YORK, Trump, Trump Organization, Republican, Democratic, Division, Manhattan, Attorney, U.S, Department of, The New, New York, Appellate, 1st Department, Thomson Locations: York, Lago, Florida, Manhattan, New York, The New York, New

Variable rate mortgages in Canada typically require borrowers to make regular payments in fixed amounts. WHAT IS THE EXTENT OF MORTGAGE AMORTIZATION EXTENSION? Both banks had no variable-rate mortgages with amortizations greater than 30 years prior to the start of rate hikes. If interest rates stay high over the next few years, as the central bank has warned, it raises questions about customers' ability to service bigger than anticipated debt at higher rates during renewals. The big banks said most customers are able to cope with higher interest rates as they had passed a rigorous stress test to handle higher interest rates.

Persons: Royce Mendes, Carolyn Rogers, OSFI, Nivedita Balu, Fergal Smith, Steve Scherer, Denny Thomas, Conor Humphries Organizations: TORONTO, Statistics Canada, Royal Bank of Canada, CIBC, Bank of Nova, National Bank, Bank of Canada, BoC, Thomson Locations: Canada, United States, Bank of Nova Scotia, amortization, Toronto, Ottawa

☆ EU nature law on knife-edge after losing first vote
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Kate Abnett | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The bill to revive ailing environments - which aims to restore nature on 20% of EU land and sea - is facing a political backlash from the European People's Party group in the EU Parliament, which has called for its rejection. In a tight vote, 44 lawmakers voted for the law and 44 against, meaning it failed to win majority support. The bill now heads to a full EU Parliament vote on July 11, where failure to win majority support would kill off the proposal. Supporters from other parliament groups said they would try to club together to find a compromise deal ahead of the full parliament vote. Despite that, EU countries agreed a position on the nature bill last week - weakening some targets and asking for more EU money to support farmers in restoring nature, but backing its overall aims.

Persons: Anne Sander, Cesar Luena, parliament's, Kate Abnett, Bart Meijer, Frank Jack Daniel, Conor Humphries Organizations: REUTERS, Union, European People's Party, European Commission, EPP, Thomson Locations: Hymettus, Athens, Greece, BRUSSELS, Brussels, Ireland, Belgium

☆ Police officer investigated after 17-year-old shot dead in Paris suburb
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Summary Sporadic clashes break out between youths and policeYouth shot dead after failing to stop car for policePolice officer in question being investigatedShooting took place in Paris suburb of NanterrePARIS, June 27 (Reuters) - A French police officer is being investigated for homicide after shooting dead a 17-year-old on Tuesday morning in the Paris suburb of Nanterre after the youth failed to comply with an order to stop his car, the local prosecutor's office said. The officer fired at the boy, who subsequently died from his wounds, said the Nanterre prosecutor's office. Three people were killed by police shooting after refusing to comply with a traffic stop in 2021 and two in 2020. A Reuters tally of fatal shootings in 2021 and 2022 shows the majority of victims were Black or of Arabic origin. The driver was "known to the judicial services for having refused to comply with a traffic stop" on a previous occasion, it said.

Persons: Mercedes, Mornia Labssi, Laurent Nunez, BFM, Gerald Darmanin, Layli Foroudi, Juliette Jabkhiro, Dominique Vidalon, Sudip Kar, Conor Humphries, Alistair Bell, Sandra Maler Organizations: Police, Reuters, Mercedes AMG, National Police, Thomson Locations: Paris suburb, Nanterre PARIS, Paris, Nanterre, France

Islamabad is racing against time to unlock $1.1 billion under the lender's ninth review of a $6.5-billion Extended Fund Facility agreed in 2019. -The ninth review is to release a tranche of $1.1 billion, leaving about $1.4 billion on the table in unlocked funds. It is unclear if an IMF agreement would release the entire amount. -National elections are due by November this year and the government has said the decision to enter a new IMF programme will be a decision for the incoming administration. -Hopes of a last-minute bailout rose following meetings between Sharif and IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva in Paris this month, followed by marathon meetings between IMF staff and finance ministry officials.

Persons: Shehbaz Sharif, Kristalina Georgieva, Ariba Shahid, Conor Humphries Organizations: Pakistani, International Monetary Fund, IMF, Pakistan, CCC, United, Thomson Locations: KARACHI, Pakistan, Islamabad, Caa3, Fitch, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, China, Sharif, Paris, Karachi

☆ Analysis: Nigeria's Tinubu faces daunting hurdles after reform sprint
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Macdonald Dzirutwe | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Nigeria today faces record debt, unemployment is worryingly high, and power shortages have contributed to years of anaemic growth. "The path to political power in Nigeria, over time, has always been through these vested interests," said Bismarck Rewane, CEO at Financial Derivatives Company in Lagos. ENTRENCHED NETWORKSTinubu's ambitions to build a $1 trillion economy in eight years could come unstuck in part due to chronic power shortages. Getting the lights on would be a major win, but to do so some say Tinubu must remove grid subsidies and cut red tape. Tinubu suspended the head of the financial and economic crimes agency, but has yet to outline an anti-graft plan.

Persons: Bola Tinubu, Jason Tuvey, Bismarck Rewane, Tinubu, Tunau Taiwo, Nnamdi Obasi, Prince Ojeabulu, Muhammadu Buhari, jihadists, beholden, Joe Bavier, Conor Humphries Organizations: New, Capital Economics, Financial Derivatives Company, International, Rensource Energy, Nigeria Delta, Observers, Thomson Locations: Nigeria, LAGOS, New Nigerian, Lagos

KUALA LUMPUR, June 26 (Reuters) - Saudi Aramco (2222.SE) believes market fundamentals remain "sound" for the second half as demand from emerging markets led by China and India will offset recession risk in developed markets, CEO Amin Nasser told an industry gathering on Monday. "Overall, we believe that oil market fundamentals remain generally sound for the rest of the year," said Nasser, who heads the world's largest oil company. "Despite the recession risks in several OECD countries, the economies of developing countries – especially China and India – are driving healthy oil demand growth of more than 2 million barrels per day this year," he told the conference. Although China faces economic headwinds, the transport and petrochemical sectors are still showing signs of demand growth, he added. Looking ahead, Vitol said oil demand could peak around 2030.

Persons: Amin Nasser, Nasser, Daniel Yergin, Russell Hardy, Sazali Hamzah, Petronas, Vitol, Hardy, Muyu Xu, Florence Tan, Christopher Cushing, Himani Sarkar, Conor Humphries Organizations: Saudi Aramco, Energy Asia, Petronas, Brent, Organization of, Petroleum, P Global, Vitol, EV, Thomson Locations: KUALA LUMPUR, Saudi, China, India, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia

☆ Sweden sees 'cause for concern' on retailer margins as food prices surge
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Marie Mannes | Thomson Reuters | Stockholm-Based Company News Correspondent Who Mainly Covers Anything To Do With Retail | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Sweden's competition authority on Tuesday will publish the initial findings from an investigation into food prices and competition requested by Sweden's finance ministry in March. "When we look at the margins on the retail and wholesale side, we see some cause of concern in terms of how they're developing," Martin Mandorff, head of market abuse at the competition authority, told Reuters. The agency is investigating the whole food supply chain from producers, wholesalers to the retail sector and has collected data from Sweden's main supermarkets on prices and margins. Premium food chain ICA had a 53% market share in 2022 according to the competition authority. "We have a frequent and constructive dialogue with the Swedish Competition Authority and look forward to the conclusions of the investigation," the company said.

Persons: Anders Wiklund, Martin Mandorff, Mandorff, Coop, discounter Lidl, Elisabeth Svantesson, Svantesson, Axfood, Marie Mannes, Helen Reid, Simon Johnson, Greta Rosen Fondahn, Conor Humphries Organizations: TT News Agency, Reuters, ICA, Finance, SVT, Swedish Competition Authority, Thomson Locations: Stockholm, Sweden, STOCKHOLM, Hungary, Ukraine, Swedish

☆ Wagner mutiny shows Moscow's 'big strategic mistake' in attacking Kyiv - NATO
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BRUSSELS, June 26 (Reuters) - The aborted mutiny by Russia's Wagner mercenary group at the weekend demonstrates the weakness of the Russian leadership and the scale of the Kremlin's strategic mistake in waging war on Ukraine, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday. Their commander, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was to move to Belarus under the deal mediated by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, the Kremlin said. "It demonstrates the fragility the Russian regime but it is not for NATO to intervene in those issues, that's a Russian matter." Stoltenberg said NATO was monitoring the situation in Belarus and, again, condemned Moscow's announcement to deploy nuclear weapons there. He described the drills as a clear message that NATO was ready to defend every inch of allied territory.

Persons: Russia's Wagner, Jens Stoltenberg, Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Alexander Lukashenko, Vladimir, Putin, Stoltenberg, that's, groping, Mikhail Mishustin, Putin's, Sabine Siebold, Bart Meijer, Alison Williams, Conor Humphries, Alex Richardson Organizations: NATO, Ukraine, NATO battlegroup, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, Ukraine, Russia, Moscow, Russian, Rostov, Belarus, Crimea, Lithuania, NATO's

NEW DELHI, June 26 (Reuters) - Google (GOOGL.O) has urged India's Supreme Court to quash antitrust directives against it for abuse of the Android market, two sources said, as its presses its legal battle against the competition watchdog in one of its most important markets. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) said in October that Google, whose Android mobile operating system powers 97% of 600 million smartphones in India, had exploited its dominant position. Google is now asking the Supreme Court to quash the remainder of the directives, the first source with direct knowledge said. Google's Supreme Court challenge has not been previously reported. The CCI too has approached the Supreme Court, seeking to reverse the tribunal's decision to give Google partial relief, according to a third source.

Persons: India's, quashing, Aditya Kalra, Conor Humphries Organizations: of India, Google, U.S, Alphabet Inc, Supreme, Thomson Locations: DELHI, India

☆ EU says aborted Russia mutiny shows Moscow's military power is 'cracking'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BRUSSELS, June 26 (Reuters) - European Union foreign ministers on Monday said an aborted mutiny in Russia at the weekend showed Moscow's war in Ukraine was causing domestic instability and undermining its military power, but stressed their focus remained on supporting Kyiv. "The political system is showing fragilities, and the military power is cracking," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters in Luxembourg as he arrived for a meeting with ministers from across the 27-member bloc. "The monster that Putin created with Wagner, the monster is biting him now, the monster is acting against his creator." German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Putin was destroying his own country with his "brutal war of aggression" in Ukraine. Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen suggested the weekend's events showed Putin's hold on power was not as strong as it seemed.

Persons: Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Josep Borrell, Borrell, Vladimir Putin, Prigozhin's Wagner, Putin, Annalena Baerbock, Yves Herman, Baerbock, Jean Asselborn, Alexander Schallenberg, Elina Valtonen, Sabine Siebold, Bart Meijer, Andrew Gray, Conor Humphries Organizations: Union, Kyiv, Moscow, EU, European Commission, REUTERS, Austrian, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, Russia, Ukraine, EU, Luxembourg, Brussels, Belgium, Russia's, Europe, Finnish

☆ Putin expresses confidence on Ukraine in interview recorded before revolt
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 25 (Reuters) - Russian state television on Sunday showed Russian President Vladimir Putin expressing confidence in plans for Ukraine in an interview that appeared to have been recorded before Saturday's aborted revolt by the Wagner group of mercenaries. "This also applies to the country's defence, it applies to the special military operation, it applies to the economy as a whole and its individual areas." The comments in an interview with Kremlin correspondent Pavel Zarubin were broadcast by Rossiya state television. The short report did not mention Saturday's revolt, in which Wagner mercenaries took a southern city before heading toward Moscow. Asked in the interview how much time he dedicates to what Russia calls its special military operation, Putin said: "Of course, this is paramount, every day starts and ends with this."

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Saturday's, Wagner, Putin, Pavel Zarubin, Zarubin, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Alexander Marrow, Maxim Rodionov, Conor Humphries, David Goodman, Frances Kerry Organizations: Kremlin, Defence Ministry, Russia, Thomson Locations: Ukraine, Moscow

☆ ECB's De Cos sees another 25 bps rate hike in July, no certainty afterwards
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MADRID, June 22 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank will need to raise interest rates by another 25 basis points in July to combat inflation but the path afterwards remains unclear, ECB policymaker Pablo Hernandez de Cos said on Friday. De Cos added that given the "high uncertainty ... we will continue to take our decisions depending on the data and, in particular, on the aggregate assessment of the inflation outlook, the dynamics of underlying inflation." Euro zone inflation has been moderating for months, courtesy of lower energy prices and the steepest increase in rates in the ECB's 25-year history. But it remains unacceptably high for the ECB at 6.1% in May, with underlying price growth only just starting to slow despite signs economic growth is stagnating. Reporting by Jesús Aguado; additional reporting by Emma Pinedo; editing by David Latona and Conor HumphriesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: policymaker Pablo Hernandez de Cos, Christine Lagarde, De Cos, Jesús Aguado, Emma Pinedo, David Latona, Conor Humphries Organizations: European Central Bank, policymaker, ECB, Thomson Locations: MADRID, Spanish, Santander

With some 1.6 million of those due to re-fix mostly 2-5 year fixed rate deals over the next 18 months - half of those by the end of this year - this super-hike will burn. Two-year fixed mortgage rates have doubled to 6% in just 10 months and were less than 1% two years ago. Fixed-rate deals were only introduced at all in 1989 and the vast majority were floating rates until just eight years ago. As Leaviss points out, five-year inflation expectations in the bond market are still stubbornly one percentage point above the 2% goal. In the end, the BoE has few good choices - but the days of fine tuning the economy with nudges and tweaks may be over.

Persons: BoE, that's, Moyeen, Jim Leaviss, Vivek Paul, Paul, Leaviss, Mike Dolan, Naomi Rovnick, Conor Humphries Organizations: Bank of England, National Institute of Economic, Social Research, Reuters Graphics Reuters, Reuters, Barclays, Bank, Investment, BlackRock Investment Institute, OECD, Twitter, Thomson Locations: United States, Germany

ISLAMABAD, June 23 (Reuters) - At least 350 Pakistanis were on an overloaded boat that capsized and sank in open seas off Greece last week, Pakistan's Interior Minister said on Friday, promising to arrest and prosecute the human smugglers responsible. Another 193 Pakistani families have taken DNA tests to try to identify those who died in one of Europe's deadliest shipping disasters in recent years, he said. Pakistan said it has arrested several human traffickers and their agents who told authorities that their ring leader was based in Libya. These human smugglers had charged around $8,000 a person to take them to Europe illegally through the sea route after flying legally to Dubai, Egypt and Libya, authorities said. Reporting by Asif Shahzad, writing by Tanvi Mehta; Editing by Shivam Patel, Christina Fincher and Conor HumphriesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Rana Sanaullah, Sanaullah, Asif Shahzad, Tanvi Mehta, Shivam Patel, Christina Fincher, Conor Humphries Organizations: Pakistan's, Thomson Locations: ISLAMABAD, Greece, Egypt, Syria, Pakistan, Pylos, Libya, Europe, Dubai

☆ Sterling volatile, Norwegian crown surges and Swiss franc falls on rate hikes
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Joice Alves | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The BoE's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted 7-2 to raise its main interest rate to 5% from 4.5%, its highest since 2008 and its largest rate increase since February. SWISS FRANCThe Swiss franc fell after the Swiss National Bank (SNB) hiked its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 1.75%, defying some market expectations of a bigger increase. However, economists polled by Reuters had expected the SNB to hike rates by 25 bps. The Swiss franc fell 0.15% to 0.8942 against the dollar, moving away from a six-week high it touched last week. In an attempt to curb inflation, Norges Bank raised interest rates to 3.75%, sending the crown more than 1% higher both against the euro and dollar.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, BoE, Sterling, BOE, Paul Oberschneider, Alex Livingstone, Thomas Jordan, Thomas Gitzel, POWELL, Jerome Powell, Joice Alves, Alexander Smith, Conor Humphries Organizations: U.S, REUTERS, Norges Bank, Swiss, Bank of England, Swiss National Bank, MPC, Reuters, Hilltop Credit Partners, Trading, Titan Asset Management, SWISS, ECB, European Central Bank, Fed, Federal, Bank Group, bps, Bank, Capitol, The U.S, Thomson Locations: Norwegian, London, Liechtenstein, NORWEGIAN, The, Asia, Hong Kong, China

☆ Siemens Energy scraps profit outlook as wind turbine troubles deepen
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Christoph Steitz | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Issues at the company's Siemens Gamesa unit have been a drag on the parent, and the announcement marks the latest blow to Siemens Energy's efforts to get these under control following a full takeover of the business. Frankfurt-listed Siemens Energy shares were down 12.8% at 1849 GMT after the announcement, which follows the initial discovery of faulty components at Siemens Gamesa in January that caused a charge of nearly half a billion euros. Siemens Energy said that an extended technical review of Siemens Gamesa's installed turbine fleet and product designs was launched following that is says was a substantial increase in failure rates of components. "We are also reviewing assumptions critical to the existing business plans given productivity improvements are not materializing to the extent previously expected," Siemens Energy said. Problems at Siemens Gamesa had already caused Siemens Energy to tone down its profit outlook last month, expecting its profit margin before special items at the lower end of its 1%-3% target range for the fiscal 2023 year.

Persons: Siemens Gamesa, Christoph Steitz, Anirudh, David Gregorio, Conor Humphries Organizations: Siemens Energy, Siemens, Siemens Gamesa, Thomson Locations: Frankfurt, FRANKFURT, Bengaluru

Search resuls for: "Conor Humphries"

25 mentions found