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LONDON: US stocks fell with the dollar on Monday as markets reacted to the United States losing its last gold-standard sovereign bond rating over a debt pile that could balloon further. The downgrade by Moody’s dealt a blow to markets, which had enjoyed a healthy run-up last week after Washington and China reached a deal to temporarily slash tit-for-tat tariffs. US stocks were down in midday trading, led by the tech-heavy Nasdaq, which fell around half a percent. That mirrored losses in Asia, where Tokyo and Hong Kong closed down. In Europe, London and Frankfurt erased early losses to close…
ISLAMABAD: The government got an apathetic response to its auction for three inefficient power plants, compelling it to go for a second round of bidding by the end of this month. Only a single bidder — Siddiqsons from Karachi — came up with a bid for Jamshoro Power Company Ltd (JPCL). Two other plants — Muzaffargarh and Faisalabad — did not fetch even a single offer. The government set a combined reserve price of Rs26.625 billion for the three plants with 2,362MW of cumulative generation capacity. The auction was called through a ‘single-stage two envelop’ bid to ensure transparency, said…
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is seeking loans totalling up to $350 million from commercial banks in the United Arab Emirates to meet its external financing needs. According to informed banking sources, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has been in discussions with these banks to revive their loan portfolio with Pakistan, and the finalisation of the loan is expected to occur very soon. In the first three quarters of the current fiscal year, the government received about $504m from foreign lenders (mostly UAE-based), showing a minor recovery from commercial banks that had stayed away from financing Pakistan last year. The government has budgeted $3.8bn…
KARACHI: The outflow of profits and dividends on foreign investments jumped by 108 per cent during the first ten months of the current fiscal year over the same period of the last fiscal year. After the improvement of inflows, particularly higher remittances, the State Bank has eased the outflow of profits from the country. During the current fiscal year — FY25 — the outflow of profits was much higher than the previous year. One of the main reasons was reportedly the influence of the IMF, which made possible the profit outflow on foreign investment. The data issued by the State…
WASHINGTON: Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) opened high-level policy talks in Islamabad on Monday to discuss the upcoming federal budget for fiscal year 2025-26, officials said. The current round of discussions, which will continue till May 23, will help determine whether Pakistan’s proposed budget meets the fiscal and reform targets agreed with the IMF under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF). An IMF delegation arrived earlier in Islamabad for the formal policy-level negotiations on budget finalisation, after last week technical discussions held via video link amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan. The Islamabad talks focus on revenue targets,…
When a T-4 training jet plunged into a reservoir in Aichi prefecture last week, killing at least one crew member, it reignited concerns over the safety of Japan’s military aviation.The crash, part of a troubling series of fatal accidents in recent years, has shaken public trust and underlined the recruitment challenges facing the country’s self-defence forces.The T-4 aircraft, carrying two crew members, went down just two minutes after taking off from Komaki Air Base last Wednesday. Search teams have recovered the body of one crew member, while efforts continue to locate the other in the murky waters of the reservoir.Analysts…
The earnings outlook for Chinese electric vehicle (EV) makers remains cloudy, as their profit margins further decline amid fierce price competition in the world’s largest auto market, according to JPMorgan Chase.Mainland China’s automotive assemblers offered a record high 16.8 per cent average discount last month to sustain their sales growth, compared with 16.3 per cent in March, according to a recent report by the US investment bank. It has been tracking the country’s biweekly EV price-change information since 2017. The average discount in 2024 was 8.3 per cent, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).That finding exacerbates bearish sentiment…
The earnings outlook for Chinese electric vehicle (EV) makers remains cloudy, as their profit margins further decline amid fierce price competition in the world’s largest auto market, according to JPMorgan Chase.Mainland China’s automotive assemblers offered a record high 16.8 per cent average discount last month to sustain their sales growth, compared with 16.3 per cent in March, according to a recent report by the US investment bank. It has been tracking the country’s biweekly EV price-change information since 2017. The average discount in 2024 was 8.3 per cent, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).That finding exacerbates bearish sentiment…
Copper prices rose on Monday as the dollar dipped against most major rivals amid concerns that US President Donald Trump might target the metal with tariffs. Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on copper imports led to a massive surge in copper imports in the US as traders seek to stock up before tariffs. The markets now widely expect 25% tariffs by the US on copper imports, same as the current steel and aluminum imports. The tariff trade becomes clear with the price premium in the US Chicago exchange contracts compared to the London Exchange contracts. Just…
Brazil’s first lady on Monday defended remarks she made about short-video app TikTok during a state dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a move that departed from diplomatic convention and sparked furore in the South American country.Acknowledging that she broke protocol during President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s visit to Beijing last week, Rosangela “Janja” da Silva said she “will not be silenced” when the safety of children is at stake.The remarks she uttered in Beijing prompted an official response from TikTok, owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance.The formal dinner in which Xi hosted Lula and select Brazilian officials…