Town Hall News

By Stella Qiu SYDNEY (Reuters) – Asian shares were pressured on Friday after lingering banking stability concerns gripped Wall Street, while bonds bet the recent slew of rate hikes by central banks will be among the last of the cycle, allowing for policy relief later in the year. The caution is set to extend to Europe, with pan-region Euro Stoxx 50 futures down 0.6%. Both S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq […]

By Summer Zhen HONG KONG (Reuters) – Wealth management firms are expanding operations aggressively in Hong Kong to meet pent-up demand from rich Chinese individuals looking to invest more money overseas after three years of COVID-19 curbs, industry sources said. High- and ultra-high net worth families in China are seeking to diversify their investments as they are finally able to travel and as they chase alternatives to a depressed property […]

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s defence ministry said on Friday that it yet again had to monitor and drive away the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Milius that entered its territorial waters in the South China Sea near the Paracel Islands. “We sternly demand the U.S. to immediately stop such provocative acts, otherwise it will bear the serious consequences of unforeseen incidents,” a spokesperson said in a statement from the Ministry of […]

By Selena Li HONG KONG (Reuters) -Standard Chartered Chief Executive Bill Winters said on Friday Credit Suisse AG’s $17 billion Additional Tier 1 bonds wipeout had “profound” implications for global bank regulations. Winters told a financial forum in Hong Kong the U.S. Federal Reserve move to guarantee non-insured deposits was a “moral hazard”. As part of the deal for UBS Group AG to take over Credit Suisse, the Swiss regulator […]

HONG KONG (Reuters) – UBS promised retention packages to wealth management staff in Asia at Credit Suisse, two people with knowledge of the matter said, as the bank tries to stem a talent exodus after the takeover of its former Swiss rival. In a town hall address in Hong Kong on Friday, Iqbal Khan, UBS’s president for global wealth management, also focussed on stabilising Credit Suisse Asia team and boosting […]

By Yuka Obayashi and Trixie Sher Li Yap (Reuters) -Oil prices extended losses on Friday on worries about a potential oversupply after U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said refilling the country’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) may take several years. Brent crude fell 24 cents, or 0.32%, to $75.67 a barrel by 0412 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures slipped 24 cents, 0.34%, to $69.72 a barrel. Both benchmarks, […]

MADRID (Reuters) – A forest fire raged in eastern Spain on Thursday, forcing hundreds of people to evacuate from nearby villages and sending huge plumes of smoke into the air. Firefighters were alerted about the blaze near Villanueva de Viver in the region of Valencia just before 1 p.m. (1200 GMT). Ten airplanes were fighting to put out the blaze, which had forced the evacuation of the villages of three […]

By Soo-hyang Choi and Ju-min Park SEOUL (Reuters) -North Korea has tested a new nuclear-capable underwater attack drone, state media reported on Friday, as leader Kim Jong Un warned joint military drills by South Korea and the U.S. should stop. During the test, the new North Korean drone cruised underwater at a depth of 80 to 150 metres (260-500 feet) for over 59 hours and detonated a non-nuclear payload in […]

(Reuters) – U.S. cybersecurity firm Fortra said suspicious activity was identified within its GoAnywhere software nearly two months ago, a day after Rio Tinto in a staff memo said personal data of some of its Australian employees may have been stolen. The internal memo seen by Reuters on Thursday revealed payroll information, like payslips and overpayment letters, of a small number of the mining giants’ Australian employees from January 2023 […]