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☆ China says military spending growth in 2024 to stay the same as last year at 7.2%
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-05 | by ( Clement Tan | In Clemtan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

This year's military budget announcement comes against the backdrop of several generals from the People's Liberation Army, including the country's previous Defense Minister Li Shangfu, losing their positions amid President Xi Jinping's broad anti-corruption probe in the past year. China's 2024 military budget expansion follows a 7.2% increase last year, a 7.1% spike in 2022, 6.8% increase in 2021, 6.6% climb in 2020 and 7.5% growth in 2019, according to official data. China's official military budget is second only to the United States in the world, though some unofficial estimates suggest the scale of Beijing's military spending may be larger than officially claimed. China maintains its claims over self-governed Taiwan and President Xi Jinping regards reunification as a "historical inevitability." Beijing has also taken offence at joint exercises and patrols that U.S. and other Western naval powers have conducted with various Asian nations in international waters that Beijing claims as its own.

Persons: Li Shangfu, Xi, Xi Jinping, — Organizations: Reuters, People's Liberation Army Locations: China, Beijing, United States, Taiwan, The Hague, South China, India, South

☆ A timeline of Bob and Rita Marley's tumultuous relationship
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-28 | by ( Olivia Singh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Bob and Rita Marley were married from 1966 until the reggae star's death in 1981. Bob and Rita welcomed three children together, in addition to kids from relationships outside of their marriage. Their relationship is also at the heart of Reinaldo Marcus Green's recently released biopic, " Bob Marley: One Love ," starring Kingsley Ben-Adir as Bob and Lashana Lynch as Rita. Jacques Langevin/APRita recalled how she became acquainted with Bob in her 2004 memoir, " No Woman No Cry: My Life with Bob Marley ." October 17, 1968: Their son, David Nesta "Ziggy" Marley, is bornZiggy Marley on the set of "Bob Marley: One Love."

Persons: Bob, Rita Marley, Cedella, Ziggy, Stephen, Rita each, —, Rita Marley's, Rita, Reinaldo Marcus Green's, Bob Marley, Kingsley Ben, Lashana Lynch, Here's, Jacques Langevin, Clement " Coxsone, Dodd, Robbie Marley, Marcia Griffiths, Judy Mowatt, Sharon, Rita get, Cedella Marley, David Nesta, Marley, Ziggy Marley, Chiabella James, Paramount Pictures Ziggy, Stephen Marley, Robert, Robbie, Pat Williams, Rohan Anthony Marley, Janet Hunt, I've, Paul Natkin, Karen Marley, Janet Bowen, Julian Ricardo Marley, Lucy, Mani Marley, Anita Belnavis, Damian " Jr, Gong, Cindy Breakspeare, Owen, Stewart, Stephanie Marley, Serita Stewart, he'd, Graham Wiltshire, Cindy, Miami Bob, Josef Issels Organizations: Service, Wailers, Soulettes, Paramount Pictures, Jamaica, Miss Locations: Jamaica, Paris, Kingston, Ky, London, England, Miami

☆ Christopher Morales Williams: Canadian teenager breaks 400m indoor world record
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-26 | by ( George Ramsay | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Canadian teenager Christopher Morales Williams ran a stunning 400-meter world indoor record at the SEC Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Saturday. In 2018, American Michael Norman ran an indoor time of 44.52 which couldn’t be ratified as a record by World Athletics. “The world record – I guess that’s something you wouldn’t really expect to happen, but it did,” Morales Williams told reporters after Saturday’s race. And then I guess that’s always the result of it.”Morales Williams won the Canadian national championships and a silver at the Pan American U20 championships last year. Prior to that, he was part of Canada’s silver medal team in the 4x400-meter relay at the World U20 Championships in 2022.

Persons: Christopher Morales Williams, Morales Williams ’, Michael Norman, couldn’t, “, ” Morales Williams, wasn’t, Jevaughn Powell, ”, that’s Organizations: CNN, SEC, World Athletics, University of Georgia, Canadian, Pan American U20 Locations: Fayetteville , Arkansas, Ontario

☆ Japan's Nikkei surpasses 1989 all-time high on robust corporate earnings, investor-friendly measures
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-22 | by ( Clement Tan | In Clemtan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Japan's Nikkei 225 hit a record high on Thursday as robust corporate profitability and steps aimed at boosting investor returns fuel a blistering rally in Japanese equities this year. The Nikkei 225 hit 38,924.88, surpassing the previous record high of 38,915.87 reached in 1989. Japan Inc's solid third-quarter corporate earnings have prompted Bank of America equity strategists to upgrade their 2024 year-end forecasts for the Nikkei 225 to 41,000 from 38,500. They raised their forecasts for the Topix to 2,850 from 2,715. The rally has also been supported by a weaker yen, which has shed about 6% against the dollar so far this year and seems on track to drop to to 33-year lows touched late last year.

Persons: outperformers Organizations: Nikkei, Bank of Locations: Asia, Japan

☆ European markets head for mixed open, struggle to find positive momentum
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-21 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

HSBC reported on Wednesday its full year 2023 pre-tax profit climbed about 78% to $30.3 billion from a year ago, missing median estimates of $34.06 billion from analysts tracked by LSEG. Its Hong Kong shares reversed gains to dip more than 2%, compared against the 3% gains for the Hang Seng Index. The bank's shares have gained about 0.5% so far this year after jumping 23% in 2023 as the Hang Seng Index shed 14%. It was last trading down 2.55%. —Clement Tan, Lee Ying Shan

Persons: — Clement Tan, Lee Ying Shan Organizations: HSBC, LSEG, Hong Kong

☆ HSBC shares sink 3% after pre-tax annual profit misses estimates on impairment costs
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-21 | by ( Clement Tan | In Clemtan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Customers use automated teller machines (ATM) at an HSBC Holdings Plc bank branch at night in Hong Kong, China, on Saturday, Feb 16, 2019. HSBC 's full-year 2023 pre-tax profit missed analysts' estimates, hit by impairment costs linked to the London-based lender's stake in a Chinese bank — sinking its shares by as much as 3%. With three share buy-backs in 2023 totaling $7 billion, Quinn said the bank returned $19 billion to shareholders last year. The bank suffered a "valuation adjustment" of $3 billion on its stake in Bank of Communications, Quinn said. HSBC's Hong Kong shares reversed gains of about 1% after trading resumed, falling as much as 3.2% in early afternoon trade.

Persons: LSEG, Noel Quinn, Quinn Organizations: HSBC Holdings Plc, HSBC, Bank of Communications Locations: Hong Kong, China, London, Europe's, Bank

☆ China boosts property funding with first cut in key loan rate since June
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-20 | by ( Clement Tan | In Clemtan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

China's lenders cut the country's benchmark five-year loan prime rate for the first time since June, extending Beijing's efforts to revive the country's anemic property market. The Chinese central bank kept its one-year loan prime rate — the peg for most household and corporate loans in China — unchanged at 3.45%. The benchmark five-year loan rate — the peg for most mortgages — was cut by 25 basis points to 3.95%, according to a statement Tuesday from the People's Bank of China. This was also the largest one-time cut in the five-year rate and the first since the five-year rate was last trimmed in June by 10 basis points. China calculates its loan prime rates each month after 20 designated commercial lenders submit their proposed rates to the PBOC.

Persons: Louise Loo, Loo, CNBC's Lee Ying Shan Organizations: People's Bank of China, Oxford Economics, Sunday Locations: China, Beijing

☆ Japan slipped into a technical recession. The Bank of Japan has to juggle supporting the yen and fragile growth
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( Clement Tan | In Clemtan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda is under pressure to stem yen depreciation driven by the divergence between high U.S. interest rates and Japan's ultra easy policy. Yet, he is also constricted by high inflation that BOJ policymakers still deem unsustainable, even as it crimped domestic demand and tipped the economy into a technical recession. She previously served as a member of BOJ policy board from 2011 to 2016, helping to make monetary policy decisions. At its January meeting, the BOJ decided unanimously to keep short-term interest rates at -0.1%. BOJ policymakers have been cautious and fastidious with their primary task: reflating an economy that's been mired in decades of deflationary pressures.

Persons: Kazuo Ueda, Sayuri Shirai, CNBC's, dousing, BOJ, Shirai Organizations: Istock, Getty, Bank of Japan, Germany, Keio University Locations: Tokyo, Japan

☆ Japan's economy unexpectedly contracted in the fourth quarter of 2023
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( Clement Tan | In Clemtan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

An editorial picture of the Japan flag set against an economic trend graph and images associated with the stock market, finance and digital technology. Japan's economy unexpectedly contracted again in the October-December period, provisional government data showed Thursday. Provisional gross domestic product contracted 0.4% in the fourth quarter compared with a year ago, after contracting 2.9% in the July-September period. The GDP deflator in the fourth quarter stood at 3.8% on an annualized basis. The world's third-largest economy also contracted 0.1% in the fourth quarter from the previous quarter, after contracting 0.4% in the third quarter from the second.

Organizations: Provisional Locations: Japan

☆ Indonesia's Defense Minister Prabowo leads in early unofficial presidential vote count
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-14 | by ( Clement Tan | In Clemtan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Indonesia's presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto gestures after he cast his ballot to vote in the country's presidential and legislative elections at a polling station in Bogor on February 14, 2024. Indonesians began voting for a new president on February 14 with Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto the frontrunner to lead Southeast Asia's biggest economy despite concerns over his human rights record. Indonesia's Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, a former army general, appears to have an early unofficial lead in the race to become country's next president, "quick counts" show after voting in the world's third-largest democracy closed on Wednesday. Prabowo appears to have won a simple majority of ballots cast in Wednesday's elections, with some early independent snap counts putting his percentage of the popular vote at nearly 60% — substantively more than what pre-election opinion polls yielded. "It's too early to conclude anything … so we have to wait," Baswedan told CNBC after the early snap counts suggested he was trailing Prabowo.

Persons: Prabowo Subianto, country's, Prabowo, Anies Baswedan, Pranowo, Suharto, Joko Widodo, It's, Baswedan, CNBC's Martin Soong Organizations: Defence, Indonesia's, Former Jakarta, Central Java, Indikator, CNBC Locations: Bogor, Central, Indonesia

☆ Indonesia is heading to the polls to elect Jokowi's presidential successor
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-14 | by ( Clement Tan | In Clemtan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Presidential candidate and former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan, vice presidential candidate Muhaimin Iskandar, presidential candidate and Indonesia's Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto, vice presidential candidate Gibran Rakabuming Raka, presidential candidate and former Central Java governor Ganjar Pranowo and vice presidential candidate Mahfud MD (from left to right) react on the stage during the last presidential election debate at the Jakarta Convention Center in Jakarta on February 4, 2024. More than 200 million voters in Indonesia are heading to more than 800,000 polling stations in the world's third-largest democracy on Wednesday to elect President Joko Widodo's successor, a new national House of Representatives and various local legislators. Widodo, also popularly known as Jokowi, beat Probowo in the last two presidential elections. Some of the latest opinion polls showed Probowo netting more than 50% of the vote against two other opponents. Voters have six hours to cast their five ballots for their preferred presidential and vice presidential pairing, as well as legislators at the national, provincial and regency level, along with a regional senator for the national parliament.

Persons: Anies Baswedan, Muhaimin Iskandar, Prabowo Subianto, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, Ganjar Pranowo, Mahfud, Joko Widodo's, Probowo Subianto, general's, Widodo, Probowo, It's, Richard Borsuk Organizations: Indonesia's Defence, Central Java, Jakarta Convention, of, Defense, Nanyang Technological, Rajaratnam, of International Studies, CNBC, Gerindra Party Locations: Jakarta, Indonesia, Nusantara

☆ Trinidad and Tobago declares ‘national emergency’ as oil spill from mystery vessel pollutes beaches
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-12 | by ( Abel Alvarado | Michael Rios | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —An overturned vessel has caused a huge oil spill along Trinidad and Tobago’s coastline, in what the Caribbean country’s prime minister described as a “national emergency” on Sunday. The spill occurred on February 7 off the southern shores of the Tobago Island, according to the country’s Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM). Prime Minister Keith Rowley said in a news conference Sunday that “the situation is not under control.” The origins of the vessel have not yet been identified, he added. An oil spill in Tobago Island, Trinidad and Tobago, is seen in this handout photo released February 10, 2024 Office of the Chief Secretary/ReutersWorkers clean up an oil spill on Rockly Bay beach in Scarborough, Trinidad and Tobago, on February 10, 2024. Akash Boodan/APThe oil spill, pictured on February 10, covered about 15 kilometers (about 9 miles) of the coastline in black residue.

Persons: Keith Rowley, ” Rowley, Farley Augustine, –, ” Augustine, Akash Boodan, Clement Williams, Lambeau, Augustine Organizations: CNN, Caribbean country’s, country’s, Disaster Preparedness, Management, ” Authorities, Assembly, Officials, Reuters Workers, Getty, Residents Locations: Trinidad, Tobago’s, Tobago, Tobago Island, Trinidad and Tobago, Scarborough, AFP

☆ A Graphic Novel Finds a Relatable Hero in a Modern African Woman
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-10 | by ( Elian Peltier | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

One of the most successful African comics has no super heroes, and certainly no supernatural powers. Instead, “Aya,” a graphic novel series, is full of everyday heroes, and topping the list is Aya herself, a young woman navigating the delights and obstacles of early adulthood in the West African nation of Ivory Coast. Inspired by the childhood years that its author, Marguerite Abouet, spent in Ivory Coast and focused on daily life in a working-class suburb of Abidjan, the country’s largest city, the series mixes humor and biting takes on society, with a feminist twist — all vividly captured by Clément Oubrerie, the illustrator. In the books, Aya and her friends go on awkward first dates, hook up and share countless shenanigans that celebrate Ivory Coast’s favorite sport after soccer — “palabrer,” or talking endlessly.

Persons: “ Aya, ”, Aya, Marguerite Abouet, Clément Oubrerie, Ivory Locations: West African, Ivory Coast, Abidjan

☆ China producer prices dip in January for a 16th month; consumer prices slip again
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-08 | by ( Clement Tan | In Clemtan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

China's producer prices declined for a 16th month in January, while consumer prices slipped for a fourth month. CPI slipped 0.3% in December. On a monthly basis though, CPI climbed 0.3% in January from December, slightly weaker than median expectations for 0.4% growth. On a monthly basis, this translated into a 0.3% growth in January from December, NBS said. China stands as a stark outlier among the world's major economies, which are mostly battling stubbornly high inflation.

Organizations: National Bureau of Statistics, NBS Locations: Beijing, reflating, China

☆ Warnings, liquidity boost and proverbs — China's tools for propping up its stock market
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-06 | by ( Clement Tan | In Clemtan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Chinese financial authorities have been striving to prop up the country's stocks through various measures, including steps aimed at increasing the liquidity in the market, warnings against malpractices and falling back on proverbs. With the onshore markets already erasing gains after the People's Bank of China announced steps to boost liquidity last month, there are doubts whether this familiar Beijing playbook will have a meaningful impact on markets. On Tuesday, Central Huijin, a unit of the mammoth sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation, said it had expanded purchases of exchange-traded funds linked to the country's onshore stocks to safeguard market stability. China Securities Regulatory Commission had also warned Monday against "malicious" short-selling and said it would step up scrutiny of margin financing following a volatile trading session. On Sunday it had assured to protect the interests of investors after onshore markets plunged as much as 3% before paring losses Friday.

Organizations: People's Bank of China, China Investment Corporation, China Securities Regulatory Commission Locations: Beijing, China

☆ Startup funding is falling in most major cities. So why is Boston pulling ahead?
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-05 | by ( Melia Russell | Rebecca Torrence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

AdvertisementThe Bay Area took the lion's share of capital raised on Carta in 2023, followed by Boston, then New York. AdvertisementAccording to Carta data, select metro areas saw the total early-stage funding raised decline by at least a third from 2022 to 2023. Yet early-stage funding was only down 24% in Boston, however, the smallest decrease of the metro areas that Carta tracks. According to Carta data, about $2.6 billion of capital raised in biotech flowed to Boston startups last year. Beyond biotechThe Carta data shows Boston also had strong showings across investment in software-as-a-service and hardware.

Persons: —, Zach Weinberg, Roche, Carta, Founders, that's, Rudina Seseri, Seseri, Peter Walker, Michael Greeley, Greeley, Mark Castleman, Castleman, Clement Cazalot, Cazalot, Walker Organizations: Service, Massachusetts Turnpike, Partners, Business, Carta, Boston, East Coast, Companies, Area, Flare Capital Partners, pharma, Intel Ignite, Glasswing Ventures, Founders, Machinery, Pritzker Group, Armory Square Ventures, Way Ventures, Klaviyo's, New York Stock Exchange Locations: Boston, New York City, East, Boston , Cambridge, Newton , Massachusetts, Newark, Jersey City , New Jersey, New York, San Francisco, Bay, France, Copley

☆ Japan's Aozora Bank hits near 3-year lows as bad U.S. property loans prompt loss forecast
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-02 | by ( Clement Tan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The bank's Tokyo-listed shares fell for a second day, tracking losses in U.S. regional lenders overnight. Aozora Bank shares hit near three-year lows Friday, as investors continued to hammer the Japanese commercial lender after it downgraded its annual outlook to a loss on bad U.S. commercial real estate loans. "U.S. real estate lending for around 10% of (its) total lending with a CET1 ratio of below 7% due to unrealized losses on securities has no precedent." Aozora's update came shortly after U.S. regional bank New York Community Bancorp announced a surprise net loss of $252 million for the fourth quarter. "However, higher losses tied to commercial real estate office exposure, increase in criticized loans tied to multi-family CRE [commercial real estate] are a reminder of ongoing credit normalization that we are likely to witness across the industry," Bank of America U.S. banking analysts wrote.

Persons: Goldman Sachs, Aozora, Masahiko Sato, Sato, NYCB, — CNBC's Michael Bloom Organizations: Aozora Bank, Japan's Aozora Bank, Nikkei, Equity, SMBC Nikko Securities, New, New York Community Bancorp, Signature Bank, Bank of America, Bank of America U.S Locations: Tokyo Japan, Tokyo, U.S, New York

☆ Biden campaign faces its greatest test: rebuilding his 2020 coalition
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-02 | by ( Jeff Zeleny | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

This time around, he believes at least one thing is different: Biden can’t win through voters’ fear of Trump alone. Here in Michigan, which the president visited Thursday, rests one of the biggest tests of his campaign. Trump narrowly carried the state over Hillary Clinton in 2016 – by 10,704 votes – and four years later Biden defeated Trump by about 154,000 votes. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators gather in Warren, Michigan, on February 1, 2024, outside the venue where President Joe Biden was speaking. But, he said, the burden was on Biden and his campaign to spell out what he would do in a second term.

Persons: Charles Williams, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Biden, Trump, ”, Williams, “, ” Williams, Jay, –, Hillary Clinton, “ He’s, Adam Abusalah, Abusalah, ” Abusalah, Biden ”, Jeff Kowalsky, Karine Jean, Pierre, Kevin Munoz, Sens, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Gretchen Whitmer, ” Biden, wouldn’t, Emani Williams, “ ’ Sleepy Biden ’, they’ve, ” Dante Parker, ” Parker, “ We’ve, Norman Clement, We’re, ” Clement, Biden hasn’t, Clement, “ I’m, didn’t Organizations: Detroit CNN —, Biden can’t, Historic King Solomon Baptist Church, Biden, White, Trump, Arab, Muslim, ”, Palestinian, Getty, “, CNN, Democratic, Michigan Gov, Renaissance High School, Detroit Change Locations: Detroit, Michigan, –, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, America’s Great, Dearborn, Israel, Warren, Macomb County, United States, Warren , Michigan, AFP, Gaza

☆ Japanese bank tanks over 20% after flagging losses tied to U.S. commercial property
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-01 | by ( Clement Tan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

A pedestrian walks past a sign for Aozora Bank Ltd. at the company's headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, on Friday, May 14, 2010. The Tokyo-based commercial lender said it now expects to post a net loss of 28 billion Japanese yen ($191 million) for the fiscal year ending Mar. 31, a swing from its previous forecast for a net profit of 24 billion yen. Shares o f Aozora Bank tumbled to their lowest level in eight months Thursday after the Japanese bank warned of a fiscal-year net loss due to its exposure to U.S. office loans. That purchase raised their total assets to $100 billion, placing them in a category that subjects the bank to more stringent liquidity standards.

Organizations: Aozora Bank, Nikkei, COVID, New, New York Community Bancorp, Signature Bank Locations: Tokyo, Japan, U.S, New York

☆ Factories in developing Asia may have seen the worst of manufacturing slump
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-01 | by ( Clement Tan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Photographer: Linh Pham/Bloomberg via Getty Images Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesMost developing economies in Asia might have left the worst of the broad manufacturing slowdown behind in 2023, according to a series of private surveys released Thursday. South Korea's S&P manufacturing purchasing managers' index recorded its first expansionary reading since June 2022 at 51.2 in January, up from 49.9 in December. "The health of the South Korean manufacturing sector registered a renewed improvement at the start of 2024. Growth was reportedly reflective of increased domestic and international orders, particularly for new products," Bhatti added. These private PMI surveys are typically seen as one of several leading indicators of economic activity in the respective economies.

Persons: Linh Pham, Usamah Bhatti, Bhatti, Annabel Fiddes Organizations: Wind Corp, Vung, Renewables, International Energy Agency, Bloomberg, Getty Images Bloomberg, Getty, P Global Market Intelligence, Vietnam, ASEAN, PMI, International Monetary Fund, IMF, " Companies Locations: Tan Thanh, Ba, Vung Tau Province, Vietnam, Asia, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand

☆ Caixin survey shows China's factory activity expanded for a third month in January, extending divergence with official data
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-01 | by ( Clement Tan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Johannes Neudecker | Picture Alliance | Getty ImagesChina's factory activity expanded for a third-straight month in January, a private-sector survey showed on Thursday, helped by the first expansion in new export orders in seven months. Thursday's print though, extended a divergence from official data that points to the patchy growth in the world's second-largest economy and underscores the need for policy support. China's National Bureau of Statistics released data Wednesday that showed the country's official manufacturing PMI coming in at 49.2 in January, a fourth consecutive monthly contraction — compared with 49 in December. The Caixin manufacturing PMI surveys around 650 private and state-owned manufacturers that tend to be more export-oriented and located in China's coastal regions, while the official PMI surveys 3,200 companies across China. Employment in China's manufacturing sector trended down in the official survey released Wednesday as in the Caixin survey.

Persons: Johannes Neudecker, Wang Zhe, Wang Organizations: Getty, P Global, National Bureau of Statistics, Overseas, Caixin Insight Locations: China

☆ China's manufacturing activity shrank for the fourth straight month in January
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-31 | by ( Clement Tan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Banknotes of Renminbi arranged for photography on July 03 2018 in Hong Kong, Hong Kong. China's factory activity contracted for a fourth consecutive month in January, underscoring the much-needed litany of policy support for the world's second-largest economy which Beijing announced last week. The official manufacturing purchasing managers' index rose slightly to 49.2 in January from 49 in December, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics released Wednesday. The official non-manufacturing managers' index rose to 50.7 in January from 50.4 in December, according to the same NBS release. A PMI reading above 50 indicates expansion in activity, while a reading below that level points to a contraction.

Organizations: Beijing, National Bureau of Statistics, PMI Locations: Hong Kong

☆ China plans to merge 3 bad debt asset managers with its largest sovereign wealth fund, state media reports
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-29 | by ( Clement Tan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The plan to put China Cinda Asset Management , China Orient Asset Management and China Great Wall Asset Management under the jurisdiction of one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds by assets will happen "in the near future," Xinhua added, without providing any further details. Beijing's actions follow a stock market rout amid burgeoning financial risks stemming from a debt crisis in its real estate sector. Last week, China's central bank announced its largest cut in mandatory cash reserves for banks since 2021. The property market slumped after Beijing cracked down on developers' high reliance on debt for growth in 2020, weighing on consumer growth and broader growth in the world's second-largest economy. China's real estate troubles are closely intertwined with local government finances since they typically relied on land sales to developers for a significant portion of revenue.

Persons: Beijing's Organizations: China Investment Corp, Xinhua, Asset Management, China Orient Asset Management, Wall Asset Management Locations: China, Xinhua, Beijing

☆ 'Unshirkable responsibility': China's financial institutions urged to support property developers
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-26 | by ( Clement Tan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

China's financial institutions should provide strong support to the country's beleaguered real estate sector and not "blindly withdraw" financing for projects facing difficulties, according to a senior Chinese financial regulatory official. His strongly worded comments follow the Chinese central bank's largest cut in mandatory cash reserves for banks since 2021. "The financial industry has an unshirkable responsibility and must provide strong support," said Xiao Yuanqi, deputy director of China's National Financial Regulatory Administration, at a press conference in Beijing on Thursday, according to a CNBC translation. "We all know the real estate industry chain is long and involves a wide range of areas. China's real estate troubles are closely intertwined with local government finances since they typically relied on land sales to developers for a significant portion of revenue.

Persons: Xiao Yuanqi Organizations: China's, Financial Regulatory Administration, CNBC Locations: Beijing

☆ Taiwan's political disrupter could be kingmaker in a split parliament. Here's why it matters
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-26 | by ( Clement Tan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Taiwan People's Party (TPP) presidential candidate Ko Wen-je speaks during an interview in New Taipei City on December 12, 2023. He urged his disappointed young supporters, some of them crying, not to give up, and framed himself as a one-man social movement crusading for political change. Since this social movement has not fully materialized, let's keep working hard," the former Taipei City Mayor told supporters in Mandarin. That kind of populist messaging appeals to people who feel like Taiwan's current economic and political system is not benefiting them. Taiwan's young and restlessIn any case, Taiwan's two major parties now face a battle to cater to younger voters that could come at the expense of older votes or a focus on broader strategic interests.

Persons: Ko Wen, Cheng, we'll, Ko, let's, Wei, Ting Yen, Sara Newland, Taiwan's, Newland, Lai Ching, Taiwan People's Party —, —, Yuan, Beijing's, Tsai Ing, Annice Lyn, Xi Jinping, Lily, Hwa CHENG, HWA CHENG, Ho Organizations: Taiwan People's Party, AFP, Getty, TAIPEI, Taipei City Mayor, Democratic Progressive Party, Kuomintang, Franklin, Marshall College, CNBC, Sara Newland Smith, Ko's, Taipei, KMT, Smith College, National Taiwan University, Democratic, Chinese Communist Party, HWA, Afp, Sunflower Movement Locations: Taiwan, New Taipei City, China, Taipei, Xinzhuang, AFP

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