GLOBAL NEWS-
The International Monetary Fund trimmed its global growth forecasts and a survey showed increasing pessimism among business chiefs as trade tensions and uncertainty loomed over the world’s biggest annual gathering of the rich and powerful.The gloomy IMF forecasts, released on the eve of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, highlighted the challenges facing policymakers as they tackle an array of actual or potential crises, from the U.S.-China trade war to Brexit.
“After two years of solid expansion, the world economy is growing more slowly than expected and risks are rising,” IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde told reporters.“Does that mean a global recession is around the corner? No. But the risk of a sharper decline in global growth has certainly increased,” she said, urging policymakers to brace for a “serious slowdown.”In its World Economic Outlook report released on Monday, the IMF predicted the global economy will grow at 3.5 percent in 2019 and 3.6 percent in 2020, down 0.2 and 0.1 percentage point respectively from last October’s forecasts.
India's growth prospect after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected India to grow at 7.5% in 2019 amidst slowdown in the world economy.IMF projected that India will grow at 7.5% in 2019 and 7.7% in 2020 stating that the country will be one of the fastest growing economy in the world.India's economy is poised to pick up in 2019, benefiting from lower oil prices and a slower pace of monetary tightening than previously expected, as inflation pressures ease.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is considering offering cheap loans and free accidental insurance coverage to millions of small businesses, two government sources with direct knowledge of the matter said, as he tries to placate a key voter bloc ahead of a general election due by May.
The dollar hovered near 2-week highs against its peers on Tuesday as a slowdown in China’s economy to 28-year lows fanned fresh worries over global growth and prompted investors to move into safe-haven currencies.
For many Americans, the idea of a “government shutdown” brings to mind empty desks and hardship in Washington, D.C., but a month into this latest round of the government furloughs, there are serious impacts far beyond the Beltway.The current shutdown affects only about 800,000, 40 percent, of those 2 million civilian federal employees, but that is a still a lot of people in states all across the country — many of them far from D.C.
Weakness in the service and farm sectors slowed China’s economic growth in the fourth quarter, despite a strong pickup in construction activity, official data showed on Tuesday.Services grew 7.4 percent from a year earlier, slowing from 7.9 percent in the third quarter, while growth in agriculture slowed to 3.5 percent from 3.6 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said.
A surprising rally for China’s yuan over the turn of the year has been cut short by widespread expectations that Beijing will ramp up policy easing in coming months to avert a sharper economic slowdown.The yuan has retreated to the weaker side of 6.8 per dollar this week, but is still up nearly 3 percent since early December on hopes that Washington and Beijing may be inching toward a trade deal.
British Prime Minister Theresa May sought to break the parliamentary deadlock over Brexit on Monday by proposing to seek further concessions from the European Union on a plan to prevent customs checks on the Irish border.
With little time left until the United Kingdom is due to leave the European Union on March 29, there is no agreement in London on how and even whether it should leave the world’s biggest trading bloc, and a growing chance of a dramatic ‘no-deal’ exit with no provisions to soften the economic shock.
After her Brexit divorce deal with Brussels was rejected by 432-202 lawmakers last Tuesday, the biggest defeat in modern British history, May has been searching for a way to get a deal through.She told parliament she could not take a “no-deal” Brexit off the table as there was no approved alternative, and the EU would be unlikely to postpone Britain’s exit date - determined by the “Article 50” withdrawal notice - without an exit plan.
Germany continues to advocate an orderly exit of Britain from the European Union and Berlin expects the British government to agree soon on proposals that are backed by a majority of parliament, a German government spokesman said on Monday.British Prime Minister Theresa May sought to break the parliamentary deadlock over Brexit on Monday by proposing to seek further concessions from the European Union on a plan to prevent customs checks on the Irish border.
Canada should ban China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd from supplying equipment to Canadian 5G networks because the security risk is too great, a former spy chief said in an article published on Monday.China’s ambassador last week threatened repercussions if Ottawa blocked Huawei, a warning the Canadian government dismissed. Relations between the two nations have soured since a top Huawei executive was arrested in Vancouver last month on a U.S. extradition warrant.
Canadian officials are studying the security implications of 5G networks, the latest generation of cellular mobile communications, but their report is not expected in the immediate future, a source close to the matter said last week.Richard Fadden, who served as the head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service spy agency from 2009 to 2013, cited what he said was mounting evidence for blocking Huawei.
Asian shares and U.S. stock futures slipped on Tuesday as pessimism about world growth drove investors away from risky assets, while sterling dithered as the latest plan for Brexit appeared to come and go with no progress.MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.5 percent, drifting away from a recent seven-week top.Losses were led by Chinese shares, with the blue-chip index off 0.6 percent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 0.4 percent and Australia’s main share index faltered 0.5 percent.Japan’s Nikkei, which had opened firmer, was flat. U.S. stock futures, which offer an indication of how Wall Street will open, were down about 0.5 percent.U.S. markets were closed on Monday for a holiday so trading was generally subdued overnight. However, equity prices in Europe and Latin America were hit after data showed a slowdown in growth in China, the world’s second biggest economy.
The Bank of England was asked to consider moving the gold bars out of its vaults so that space could be rented to a pub, during its first hearing before a parliament spending watchdog.Members of parliament’s Public Accounts Committee had seized on a report by government auditors, which criticised the BoE for having more than 800 empty desks at its historic Threadneedle Street home in London’s main financial district.
“If you’re making it easier for staff to work ... at home, would there be any thought to renting out aspects of Threadneedle? Would we see a Wetherspoon’s?” committee chair Meg Hillier asked, referring to the popular chain of pubs known for refurbishing abandonned high steet premises such as banks.But Bradley Fried, the chair of the BoE’s Court of Directors, pointed out a hitch in Hillier’s plan.“Threadneedle Street is a little bit unique, in that we are sitting on top of what is literally 140 billion pounds ($180 billion) worth of physical gold, actual physical gold,” he said.
Gold prices edged lower on Tuesday, hovering near three-week lows touched in the previous session, as a firmer dollar made bullion more expensive for buyers using other currencies, even as concerns about a global slowdown mounted. Spot gold was down 0.2 percent at $1,277.24 per ounce by 0313 GMT, after touching its lowest since Dec. 28 at $1,276.31 on Monday. U.S. gold futures fell 0.4 percent to $1,277.20 per ounce.The dollar hovered near 2-week highs against its peers on Tuesday.Gold has become a victim of a stronger greenback in the short term. A weaker euro and concerns around growth in Europe have given a leg up to the dollar, pushing gold prices down below key level of $1,280.
Oil prices fell on Tuesday as signs of a spreading global economic slowdown stoked concerns over future fuel demand.International Brent crude oil futures were at $62.26 per barrel at down 48 cents, or 0.8 percent, from their previous close.U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $53.44 per barrel, down 0.7 percent, or 36 cents.China on Monday reported its lowest economic growth figure since 1990, with GDP rising by 6.6 percent in 2018.