Business

China's banking regulator is betrothed to increasing loans to fulfill developers' unfinished construction projects and increase their demand, as an increasing number of buyers stop buying houses due to growing home-value estimates. The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) reiterated Thursday that it will provide "active credit support" for property developers, so they can complete delayed or stalled projects as soon as possible. It also urged banks to issue more mortgage loans to qualified homebuyers to support demand and prop up the property market. The regulator said previous efforts to boost property lending have been working; 90 percent of mortgage loans have been issued to first-home buyers. "The current he reached for most property-related loans in 2019," s...

Borussia Dortmund's newly signed striker Sbastien Haller has been sidelined indefinitely after being diagnosed with a testicular cancer, the club confirmed. In a statement, Borussia Dortmund said the 28-year-old had felt unwell during a training camp in Swiss Alps on Monday and proceeded to inspections. After being diagnosed with an illness, BVB striker Sébastien Haller has returned to Germany for further tests at a specialist medical facility. "This news today came as a shock to Sébastien Haller and everyone else," said Dortmund's sporting director Sebastian Kehl. "The entire BVB family hopes that Sébastien makes a full recovery as soon as possible and that we can give him a hug again soon." Haller, whose new club Borussia Dortmund had previously issued a statement expressing their ...

Wall Street wasn't thrilled by the news about Netflix losing subscribers from April through June. But the investors didn't seem to grumble about the CNN. In fact, they were cheering. Netflix shares are up more than 6% in premarket trading on Wednesday after the company reported its latest results. Analysts say that while they were worried about Netflix's earnings, it could have been much worse. "It was a 'less bad news is good news' quarter," analysts at Bespoke Investment Group said in a note to clients. Separating it: Netflix had previously pushed assumptions as low as possible, projecting that it would lose 2 million endorsers last quarter in the wake of shedding 200,000 in the initial three months of the year. That made space for a positive shock. "We're looking at losing 1 mi...

The global economy is still facing supply chain disruptions, which are contributing to high inflation. The good news is that these disruptions appear to be easing. Labor disputes involving US rail workers threaten to cloud the outlook for the global economy by creating more supply chain disruptions. The transit of goods has mostly recovered from the initial shock of the war in Ukraine, Konstantin Krebs, managing partner at Capstan Capital, an investment banking firm that works with investors in containers and container shipping, told me. He said that while it's still difficult to predict what will happen next given the unpredictable nature of global politics, he is optimistic about the future. "Containers are coming back onstream, and you can feel that," Krebs said. The Global Supply Ch...

For the first time in two decades, the exchange rate between the euro (EUR) and the US dollar has reached parity, with the exchange rate of the two currencies equal to each other. On Tuesday, the euro reached $1, which resulted in 12% worth of growth since the beginning of the year. The fears of recession in Europe are fueled by high inflation rates and energy supply uncertainty caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Because of the war in Ukraine, the European Union has attempted to reduce its dependence on Russian oil and gas. However, Russia has throttled back gas supplies to some EU countries and recently cut the flow in the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany by 60%. Now that critical piece of gas import infrastructure in Europe has been shut down for scheduled maintenance due to last ...

Boris Johnson will resign as UK prime minister Thursday after dozens of members of his party quit the government. But his popularity outside parliament has also been badly dented by surging inflation and stagnation in the British economy, a cost-of-living crisis that threatens to impoverish millions more people this winter, and the risk of a damaging trade war with the European Union. UK stocks surged, and the pound gained 0.75% to trade at $1.20 — recovering slightly from two-year lows hit earlier this week. "Make no mistake however, the [pound] remains severely weak due to the dire state of the UK economy which is underperforming its peers, [and] likely to enter into a recession," wrote Walid Koudmani, chief market analyst at broker XTB, in a note to clients. Whoever emerges from the ...

The results of a new poll by the University of New Hampshire have some worrisome news for Trump: He is no longer the big dog in the state of New Hampshire. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis takes 39% in a poll of the Republican presidential primary in New Hampshire, while Trump is at 37%. No other potential GOP contender manages double-digit support, with former Vice President Mike Pence in third place at 9%. This is a major change from where the race was last fall. A UNH poll in October 2021 showed Trump with 43% to DeSantis' 18%. Another interesting nugget from the poll: Just 6 in 10 self-identified Republicans (62%) want President Trump to run again in 2024. Now, this is just one poll at a secluded location expected to be the first to vote in the 2024 primary season. Depending on polling ...

A series of measures will be implemented to reduce natural gas use in Germany and use it to fill gas storage facilities, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck announced Sunday. "The circumstance is serious," Habeck said in an explanation. "We are hence proceeding to fortify safeguards and going to extra lengths to decrease gas utilization. This implies that gas utilization should fall further, yet more gas should be placed into the storerooms, if not things will truly get tight in winter." Germany is vigorously dependent on Moscow's gas to drive its homes and weighty industry, however has figured out how to shave Moscow's portion of its imports down to 35% from 55% before the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine.   Habeck expressed security of supply was at present ensured...