Headlines

Chinese authorities have asked Ping An Insurance Group to take a controlling stake in embattled Country Garden, the nation's biggest private property developer, Reuters reported. China's State Council, which is headed by Premier Li Qiang, has instructed the local government of Guangdong province, where both companies are based, to help arrange a rescue of Country Garden by Ping An. A spokesperson for Ping An (601318.SS) said the company had not been approached by the government and denied the information reported by Reuters.

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday called on the Netherlands to jointly advance bilateral cooperation in economy, trade, science and technology, innovation and other fields, while maintaining the stability of global industrial and supply chains, Reuters reported. Wang, in a phone call with his Dutch counterpart Hanke Bruins Slot, described the Netherlands as a "gateway" for China's cooperation with Europe, according to a Chinese foreign ministry statement.

UBS’s first loss in nearly six years shouldn’t make investors take their eyes off the road. While the Swiss bank said Tuesday that third-quarter net income was a negative $785 million—almost twice as large as the median analyst forecast—its shares rose about 3% in early trading, the Wall Street Journal reported. Yes, the one-off gain of $29 billion that resulted from UBS buying its rival Credit Suisse at far-below book value is now in the rear window, having been recorded in the second quarter.

Germany's economy will shrink by 0.4% this year and grow only by a relatively modest 0.7% next year, the government's panel of independent economic advisers forecast Wednesday, the Associated Press reported. The panel joined several other forecasters in revising downward its outlook for Europe's biggest economy. Its prediction for this year was in line with one issued by the government about a month ago, but next year's forecast was considerably gloomier than the 1.3% the government expects.

Indonesia sold $2 billion in the form of a US-currency sukuk, its first such issuance in 18 months against the backdrop of a global rise in borrowing costs, Bloomberg News reported. Southeast Asia’s largest economy issued $1 billion of five-year Sharia-compliant notes for general financing, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified as they are not authorized to speak about it. It also launched $1 billion worth of 10-year green notes for expenditure as outlined under its sustainable securities framework.

Poland’s central bank left interest rates unchanged, unexpectedly halting its easing cycle in the first decision since the country’s pro-European opposition secured a majority in last month’s election. The zloty gained, Bloomberg News reported. Governor Adam Glapinski and the rate-setting Monetary Policy Council kept the main rate at 5.75%, defying a majority of economists surveyed by Bloomberg, who predicted a quarter-point reduction. The move comes as declining inflation remains above target — and the opposition under Donald Tusk prepare to take power after eight years of nationalist rule.

Spain's stock market supervisor said on Wednesday it had opened its first case relating to a possible infringement of recent rules governing mass advertising campaigns for cryptoassets, Reuters reported. The supervisor also said separately that it was analysing some advertisements carried on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, which was taken private by Elon Musk, for potential infringements. X did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

A property boom in Dubai that pushed the number of residential transactions to a record high last year has continued into 2023, with sales surpassing those levels in the first 10 months of this year, Bloomberg News reported. The Middle East’s tourism and financial hub recorded 93,590 transactions through to the end of October, surpassing 92,178 in all of 2022, according to CBRE Group Inc. Still, the number of sales slowed in October, falling 23.6% from a year earlier as developers offered fewer new off-plan projects.

Russia's biggest bank Sberbank expects a sharp cooling of the mortgage market following an expected 80% rise in mortgage lending this year, CEO German Gref said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Gref said that the bank's mortgage issuance for the whole of 2023 was expected to reach 4.6 trillion roubles ($50.1 billion). "Despite the fact that we will most likely see a serious cooling in the near future, 2023 can still be called a successful year for the Russian mortgage market," he said at a financial forum in Moscow.