Live news updates: Crypto broker Voyager Digital suspends trading and withdrawals

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Scotland remains the nation hit hardest by the surge in infections, with an estimated 288,200 coronavirus infections, representing 5.47 per cent of the population. The Scottish total is up 15 per cent on the week before.

In Wales 3.49 per cent of people and in Northern Ireland 3.87 per cent would test positive for coronavirus, the ONS found.

Sarah Crofts, head of analytical outputs for the Covid-19 Infection Survey, said: “Across the UK we’ve seen a continued increase of over half a million infections, likely caused by the growth of BA.4 and BA.5 variants.”

“,”title”:”Omicron variants drive surge in UK coronavirus infections”,”byline”:”Clive Cookson in London”,”backToTop”:”o-topper”},{“standout”:{“breakingNews”:false,”editorsChoice”:false,”exclusive”:false,”scoop”:false},”id”:”180eefa6-fbb8-4272-9a0c-d1e271b2fc95″,”publishedDate”:”2022-07-01T11:48:53.783Z”,”bodyHTML”:”

Global equities started the second half of the year on a subdued note as investors struggled to see the end of inflation and interest rate pressures that pushed Wall Street to its worst first-half drop since 1970.

The FTSE All World index of developed and emerging market shares fell 0.3 per cent on Friday afternoon in London, bringing its losses this year to just over 20 per cent.

Europe’s regional Stoxx 600 slipped 0.5 per cent after higher-than-expected eurozone consumer prices data firmed expectations that the European Central Bank would raise interest rates, boosting banking stocks. The regional share gauge has lost about 16 per cent since the end of 2021.

Futures trading also implied Wall Street’s S&P 500, which fell by a fifth in the first six months of this year, would notch another 0.2 per cent decline on Friday. US equities, which set the tone for trading worldwide, have not endured such a punishing first six months of a year since 1970.

Investors have stampeded out of risky assets in recent months after a surge in global inflation driven by delays to supply chains during the coronavirus pandemic. That has been exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and pushed global central banks to end rapidly monetary policies that had encouraged economic growth and borrowing.

Data on Friday showed the annual rate of eurozone inflation climbed to 8.6 per cent this month, up from 8.1 per cent in May.

For more markets news, click here.

“,”title”:”Global equities slip as recession fears rise”,”byline”:”Naomi Rovnick in London”,”backToTop”:”o-topper”},{“standout”:{“breakingNews”:false,”editorsChoice”:false,”exclusive”:false,”scoop”:false},”id”:”f0e5a524-7948-4b0f-99ca-cb51c14e743c”,”publishedDate”:”2022-07-01T10:30:56.985Z”,”bodyHTML”:”nttt

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Manufacturing: Growth in the US manufacturing sector is estimated to have decreased in June. The Institute for Supply Management’s purchasing managers’ index is forecast to have declined from 56.1 in May to 54.9 in June, according to a Refinitiv poll of economists.

Construction spending: Data from the US Census Bureau are expected to show that spending edged up 0.4 per cent in May, compared with a 0.2 per cent increase in April, according to economists polled by Refinitiv. New residential construction and building permits slowed in May, but inflationary price increases on building materials could keep overall construction spending high.

Markets: Wall Street is set to open slightly lower, with S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 stock futures both down 0.25 per cent. On Thursday, US stocks recorded their worst first half of the year in more than half a century. The S&P 500 fell 20.6 per cent in the first six months of 2022 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped almost 30 per cent. Tightening monetary policies have stoked concerns that a recession is looming.

“,”title”:”What to watch in North America today”,”byline”:”Alexandra White in New York”,”backToTop”:”o-topper”},{“standout”:{“breakingNews”:false,”editorsChoice”:false,”exclusive”:false,”scoop”:false},”id”:”abc6f16a-298b-49c9-9471-94de7e71667c”,”publishedDate”:”2022-07-01T09:28:25.117Z”,”bodyHTML”:”

Price growth in the eurozone hit a new record high of 8.6 per cent in June, intensifying tensions between rate-setters at the European Central Bank over the speed of planned interest rate rises.

Eurozone inflation increased from 8.1 per cent in May, after a sharp acceleration of food and energy prices in many countries offset the slowdown in German inflation caused by government subsidies on transport and electricity.

Energy prices in the eurozone rose almost 42 per cent in June as Russia reduced the supply of natural gas to Europe, while food, alcohol, and tobacco prices rose 8.9 per cent.

Core inflation, excluding more volatile energy and food prices, slowed slightly from 3.8 per cent in May to 3.7 per cent in June, according to data released by Eurostat on Friday.

Services prices slowed to 3.4 per cent, while non-energy industrial goods prices continued to accelerate to 4.3 per cent.

ECB president Christine Lagarde this week stuck to the central bank’s plan to begin raising interest rates with a quarter percentage point increase on July 21. A bigger move is expected in September, unless there is a rapid improvement in the inflation outlook.

Some hawkish rate-setters plan to push for a larger rate rise of 50 basis points in July because of concerns over the way price pressures keep rising.

The FT is running a survey on the cost of living squeeze — how are you handling higher inflation? For more, click here.

“,”title”:”Eurozone inflation reaches record high in June”,”byline”:”Martin Arnold in Frankfurt”,”backToTop”:”o-topper”},{“standout”:{“breakingNews”:false,”editorsChoice”:false,”exclusive”:false,”scoop”:false},”id”:”3dab9232-cd06-4e62-8de2-9b725cc6f22e”,”publishedDate”:”2022-07-01T09:13:33.383Z”,”bodyHTML”:”

UK mortgage rates rose at the fastest pace in a decade in the six months to May, according to data from the Bank of England that laid bare the impact of tightening monetary policies on household finances.

Figures published on Friday showed that the “effective” interest rate — the actual rate paid — on newly drawn mortgages increased 13 basis points to 1.95 per cent in May. This was also 46 basis points above the rate in November, marking the fastest six-month increase since 2012.

The rate on the outstanding stock of mortgages ticked up 2 basis points to 2.07 per cent in May.

The figures confirm that mortgage providers are passing on the rise in interest rates implemented at the past five meetings by the BoE, making mortgage payments more expensive. Markets expect the central bank to continue to tighten its monetary policy as it faces the fastest pace of inflation in 40 years.

“Rates are rising at a rate of knots and people are getting in while they can, and fixing for as long as they can, whether through a house purchase or a remortgage,” said Andrew Montlake, managing director of the UK-wide mortgage broker, Coreco. “A lot of people want to buy before rates rise even further.”

In fact, other data published by the BoE showed that the housing market was still resilient. Net borrowing of mortgage debt increased to £7.4bn in May, up from £4.2bn in April to sit above its 12-month pre-pandemic average up to February 2020 of £4.3bn.

Approvals for house purchases ticked up to 66,200 in May, from 66,100 in April. This is only slightly below the 12-month pre-pandemic average up to February 2020 of 66,700.

“,”title”:”UK mortgage rates rise at fastest pace in a decade”,”byline”:”Valentina Romei in London”,”backToTop”:”o-topper”},{“standout”:{“breakingNews”:false,”editorsChoice”:false,”exclusive”:false,”scoop”:false},”id”:”3e964d31-c932-4a84-a6aa-1eb905945b08″,”publishedDate”:”2022-07-01T07:43:05.743Z”,”bodyHTML”:”nttt

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Russian missiles struck near Odesa early on Friday, Ukrainian officials said, killing at least 18 people in the country’s biggest port, as Moscow increased attacks on civilian infrastructure.

The latest missile strikes came a day after Ukrainian bombardment forced Russian troops to abandon Snake Island, a strategic outpost in the Black Sea close to Odesa that had been seized by invading forces early in the war. Russia said its withdrawal was a “gesture of goodwill”.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, a senior official in president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, said 18 people were dead from the strike so far, including two children. Another 30 were wounded.

Ukraine’s state emergency service said the missiles hit a building in the town of Serhiyivka, in Odesa’s Bilhorod-Dnistrovsky district, at 1am. The first to ninth floors of a residential building were destroyed, Ukrainian authorities said, and a recreation centre was also damaged.

“Terror is a common tactic of Russia,” said Tymoshenko on his Telegram channel. “First, they cover their criminal actions with an ‘act of goodwill’, and then launch rocket attacks on our peaceful cities.”

“,”title”:”Russian missile strikes on Odesa kill at least 18 people, says Ukraine “,”byline”:”Derek Brower in Kyiv”,”backToTop”:”o-topper”},{“standout”:{“breakingNews”:false,”editorsChoice”:false,”exclusive”:false,”scoop”:false},”id”:”e3f04bf2-769e-4062-a179-d72e90def548″,”publishedDate”:”2022-07-01T07:32:57.049Z”,”bodyHTML”:”

Global equities started the second half of the year lower as investors saw no end to the inflation and interest rate pressures that pushed Wall Street to its worst first-half performance for more than half a decade.

The FTSE All World index of developed and emerging market shares fell 0.7 per cent on Friday morning, having declined by a fifth this year. Europe’s regional Stoxx 600 equity gauge opened 0.9 per cent lower, following a 16 per cent drop in the past six months.

Futures trading also implied Wall Street’s S&P 500, which fell by a fifth in the first six months of this year, would notch another 1 per cent decline on Friday. US equities, which set the tone for trading worldwide, have not endured such a punishing first six months of a year since 1970.

Investors have herded out of risky assets in recent months after a surge in global inflation driven by delays to supply chains during the coronavirus pandemic. That has been exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and pushed global central banks to end rapidly monetary policies that had encouraged economic growth and borrowing.

The US Federal Reserve raised its main interest rate by an extra-large 0.75 percentage points last month and is tipped to increase it to about 3.5 per cent by next March, in a tightening cycle that could tame inflation but will also raise companies’ borrowing costs. The prospect of more rises has already dented consumer confidence.

Read more markets news here.

“,”title”:”Global equities slip as recession fears rise”,”byline”:”Naomi Rovnick in London”,”backToTop”:”o-topper”},{“standout”:{“breakingNews”:false,”editorsChoice”:false,”exclusive”:false,”scoop”:false},”id”:”4c1945f0-d599-4db5-b17c-a6decee0f87e”,”publishedDate”:”2022-07-01T07:24:43.547Z”,”bodyHTML”:”nttt

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The chief negotiator for Network Rail said meetings with trade unions have been “constructive” following the biggest strikes in the UK’s transport network in 30 years.

“The trade unions and our representatives have been meeting all this week,” Tim Shoveller told BBC Radio 4’s Today on Friday. “They’ve had a busy week, really focusing on key areas of the issues that we know are important to our colleagues, but also important to us.”

He added: “The teams have met well and had constructive meetings throughout this week, I’m really pleased to say.”

Shoveller said he was “cautiously optimistic” and a consultation on planned redundancies had been halted, “because the best way to achieve a conclusion is through negotiation”.

Over three days last week, 40,000 Network Rail staff and workers at 13 train operating companies went on strike following a dispute over pay, working practices and possible redundancies.

The strike caused widespread disruption to the country’s transport system, and discussions are aimed at avoiding a repeat.

“The conversations . . . have focused primarily on the issues of job security, efficiencies and issues like deployment,” said Shoveller. “We’ve identified that it’s so important to make sure that if we can achieve the efficiencies, that creates the funds in order to provide more options associated with pay.”

“,”title”:”Network Rail and unions hold ‘constructive meetings’, says chief negotiator”,”byline”:”Leke Oso Alabi in London”,”backToTop”:”o-topper”},{“standout”:{“breakingNews”:false,”editorsChoice”:false,”exclusive”:false,”scoop”:false},”id”:”3f941f83-342d-494c-bcc3-5179e8d1f9d2″,”publishedDate”:”2022-07-01T06:58:35.341Z”,”bodyHTML”:”

Russian president Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to transfer all rights to the Sakhalin-2 natural gas project to a newly established Russian entity, in a move that could force major foreign investors such as Shell, Mitsubishi and Mitsui away from the project. 

The decree gives existing investors one month to decide whether or not to remain stakeholders in the new entity, which will run the now 28-year-old project. Russia said its move had arisen from growing concerns over economic security. 

The decree said that stakeholders who opt out of the project under its new operator may not be fully compensated.

Sakhalin-2 was developed by Russia’s Gazprom and oil major Shell along with Japanese trading houses Mitsui and Mitsubishi, which respectively hold 12.5 per cent and 10 per cent stakes in the project. In March, Shell, which holds a 27.5 per cent stake, said it would abandon the venture, putting pressure on the Japanese stakeholders.

“Japan’s resource interests must not be undermined. We are now investigating the impact of the decree on the interests of Japanese companies and on LNG imports,” said Seiji Kihara, deputy chief cabinet secretary, on Friday morning, without commenting further on the government’s next steps. 

Shell did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“,”title”:”Putin orders transfer of Sakhalin-2 gas project to new Russian entity”,”byline”:”Antoni Slodkowski, Eri Sugiura and Leo Lewis in Tokyo”,”backToTop”:”o-topper”},{“standout”:{“breakingNews”:false,”editorsChoice”:false,”exclusive”:false,”scoop”:false},”id”:”4b508ac4-ee46-4f78-bfcb-45663614f5c5″,”publishedDate”:”2022-07-01T05:45:42.932Z”,”bodyHTML”:”

EU: The Czech Republic assumes its six-month presidency of the EU on Friday. The ECB will end its long-running bond-buying scheme, which was initiated a decade ago, to help battle stubbornly high inflation. The economic bloc will publish flash inflation figures for June.

Poland: A state of emergency in a 3km-wide strip along the country’s border with Belarus, declared by authorities in September, will be lifted following the completion of construction of a barrier in the area on Thursday. The Polish parliament backed construction of the wall last October after thousands of migrants attempted to cross into the country from Belarus. Journalists, charities and non-residents were prohibited from accessing the area.

Economic news: Italy publishes consumer price index data for May and the UK will release consumer credit figures. S&P Global publishes manufacturing purchasing managers’ index data for France, Italy and the UK.

“,”title”:”What to watch in Europe today”,”byline”:”Leke Oso Alabi in London”,”backToTop”:”o-topper”},{“standout”:{“breakingNews”:false,”editorsChoice”:false,”exclusive”:false,”scoop”:false},”id”:”339d9bbf-dd9b-4159-8cf1-d48347ddf6a4″,”publishedDate”:”2022-07-01T05:44:43.171Z”,”bodyHTML”:”

India’s move to increase taxes on fuel exports to protect domestic supply hit the share price of energy groups including Reliance Industries, one of the country’s biggest refiners.

New Delhi announced on Friday that it would raise the export duty on diesel, petrol and aviation fuel.

The government hopes to protect domestic fuel supplies amid soaring global energy prices amid the war in Ukraine and snarled supply chains. A separate notice from the country’s trade ministry mandated that 50 per cent of Indian refiner’s petrol and 30 per cent of diesel must be reserved for the domestic market.

The government also raised taxes on gold imports as it seeks to slow a plunge in the value of the rupee, which has tumbled more than 6 per cent against the dollar this year.

The news of the fuel export duty increase hit the shares of Reliance Industries, owned by Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, which dropped as much as 8.7 per cent, the steepest decline since December. Shares in Oil & Natural Gas Corporation, another big refiner, fell as much as 10 per cent, while the country’s wider BSE Sensex slid as much as 1.5 per cent in early trading.

“,”title”:”Indian oil stocks tumble after New Delhi unveils fuel export tax increase “,”byline”:”William Langley in Hong Kong”,”backToTop”:”o-topper”},{“standout”:{“breakingNews”:false,”editorsChoice”:false,”exclusive”:false,”scoop”:false},”id”:”ddf29671-baf3-4047-bf35-c0bfe394fbbf”,”publishedDate”:”2022-07-01T04:32:20.626Z”,”bodyHTML”:”

Shares in the Asia-Pacific region declined after fears of a recession in the US pushed Wall Street stocks to their sharpest first-half fall since 1970.

China’s CSI 300 declined as much as 0.7 per cent on Friday, while South Korea’s Kospi fell 1.2 per cent. Japan’s Topix shed 1.7 per cent as a closely watched survey of business sentiment showed declining confidence in the country’s economic outlook among manufacturers. Markets in Hong Kong were closed.

The falls followed similar declines in the US, where the benchmark S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed 0.9 per cent and 1.3 per cent lower, respectively, on Thursday.

Investors are increasingly concerned about the prospect that the US may fail to post positive economic growth this quarter. A number of economists downgraded their forecasts for the country this week as the inflationary shock caused by the war in Ukraine and supply chain disruptions from the Covid-19 pandemic hammered the economic outlook.

European futures also pointed lower on Friday, with contracts for the Euro Stoxx 50 and FTSE 100 down 0.7 per cent and 0.3 per cent, respectively.

The yield on the US 10-year Treasury note, which underpins global borrowing costs, fell 0.02 percentage points to 2.96 per cent, as increasingly risk-averse investors bought up government bonds.

“,”title”:”Asian stocks fall as US recession fears linger”,”byline”:”William Langley in Hong Kong”,”backToTop”:”o-topper”},{“standout”:{“breakingNews”:false,”editorsChoice”:false,”exclusive”:false,”scoop”:false},”id”:”b524306d-60b0-4efc-96c2-4544cb805a96″,”publishedDate”:”2022-07-01T03:30:57.083Z”,”bodyHTML”:”nttt

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Shares in China Yangtze Power, the world’s largest hydroelectric power company by capacity, jumped on Friday following the group’s announcement that it would purchase a domestic rival.

China Yangtze said on Thursday that it would purchase Three Gorges Jinshajiang Yunchuan Hydropower for Rmb80.5bn ($12bn), a takeover that would bring two dams into its operations and increase its power generating capacity by 57 per cent to 71.8mn kilowatts.

The deal was first announced in December but its value was only disclosed on Thursday. Shares in China Yangtze Power rose as much as 6 per cent.

The takeover will bring the Wudongde and Baihetan dams, the country’s third- and fourth-biggest hydroelectric power stations, under the company’s control. China Yangtze already owns the Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest power station.

The company said it would pay for the deal with cash and the issuance of shares. It said it hoped to raise as much as Rmb16.1bn through a private placement.

China Yangtze is 90 per cent owned by the Chinese state. Its share price jump on Friday diverged from a drop in the wider Shanghai Composite index, which was down about 0.1 per cent in late morning trading.

“,”title”:”Shares in world’s largest hydropower company jump on takeover of two dams”,”byline”:”William Langley in Hong Kong”,”backToTop”:”o-topper”},{“standout”:{“breakingNews”:false,”editorsChoice”:false,”exclusive”:false,”scoop”:false},”id”:”584ca2d8-da72-4283-9c52-24382be1b5f5″,”publishedDate”:”2022-07-01T01:27:30.169Z”,”bodyHTML”:”

Consumer prices are heading into hyper inflation territory in Sri Lanka’s capital, as the island nation is rocked by a foreign currency crisis that has sparked widespread protest and fuel shortages.

Headline CPI inflation in Colombo reached 54.6 per cent in June compared with the same period a year earlier, up from 39.1 per cent in May. Economists polled by Bloomberg had expected an increase of 43.7 per cent.

The steep rise was driven by surging food prices, which rose 80.1 per cent in the month.

Sri Lanka has been battling an economic crisis as it runs out of foreign reserves to pay for imported essentials such as food, medicine and fuel. The country this week banned private vehicles from accessing fuel until July 10 to manage a severe shortage.

Mass protests have put President Gotabaya Rajapaksa under pressure to resign, while the country became the first in the Asia-Pacific region in almost two decades to default on its offshore loans after it missed payments on two $1.25bn sovereign bonds in May.

Most economists consider inflation of more than 50 per cent to correspond to “hyper inflation”.

“,”title”:”Sri Lankan capital’s consumer prices reach hyper inflation levels”,”byline”:”William Langley in Hong Kong”,”backToTop”:”o-topper”},{“standout”:{“breakingNews”:false,”editorsChoice”:false,”exclusive”:false,”scoop”:false},”id”:”58422d14-42a7-45ad-a763-45a59d18398f”,”publishedDate”:”2022-07-01T00:34:51.090Z”,”bodyHTML”:”

Hong Kong: The city’s new leader, John Lee, is sworn in as chief executive by Chinese president Xi Jinping. On Thursday, Xi gave a speech praising the city for winning “the battle against many tests and obstacles” following a crackdown on civil society and pro-democracy protests in 2019. The territory is also celebrating the 25th anniversary of its handover from Britain to China.

Thailand: The south-east Asian nation lifts all pandemic-era entry restrictions in a bid to revive its tourism industry. Thailand was an early experimenter with a staged reintroduction of tourists via its “sandbox” scheme, which required vaccinated tourists to spend 14 days in the beach town of Phuket to avoid quarantine, and has been gradually relaxing requirements over the past year.

Markets: The S&P 500 fell 0.9 per cent on Thursday, leaving the blue-chip index down by 20.6 per cent in the first six months of 2022, its worst first half since 1970. Asia-Pacific markets were set to start the second half of the year on a more positive start, however, with Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 adding 0.8 per cent in early trading, while Japan’s Topix was up 0.4 per cent.

“,”title”:”What to watch in Asia today”,”byline”:”William Langley in Hong Kong”,”backToTop”:”o-topper”},{“standout”:{“breakingNews”:false,”editorsChoice”:false,”exclusive”:false,”scoop”:false},”id”:”abd5db2b-fd36-47e0-8fd7-b32c3cbd4b48″,”publishedDate”:”2022-06-30T22:56:50.336Z”,”bodyHTML”:”

Peru’s president Pedro Castillo resigned on Thursday from the Marxist party that propelled him to power last year, potentially leaving him vulnerable to another attempt to remove him from office via impeachment.

Castillo said he had taken the decision “due to my responsibility as president of 33 million Peruvians”, in a resignation letter posted on Twitter.

The move came a day after the party’s hardline leader Vladimir Cerrón urged Castillo to leave, accusing him of failing to implement the party’s agenda.

Hoy he presentado al @JNE_Peru mi renuncia irrevocable al partido político Perú Libre. Tal decisión obedece a mi responsabilidad como presidente de 33 millones de peruanos. Soy respetuoso del partido y sus bases construidas en la campaña. pic.twitter.com/KsRGmujnoQ

— Pedro Castillo Terrones (@PedroCastilloTe) June 30, 2022

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The decision could leave Castillo vulnerable to future impeachment attempts. He has already survived two during his first year in office, largely due to the votes his Perú Libre party, the largest in the Peruvian congress.

Castillo’s resignation from the party could free him up to move into the political centre and forge new alliances with more moderate parties.

Castillo was elected last year against all odds. A rural primary school teacher and farmer, he had never held public office before. His first year in power has been extremely turbulent and one opinion poll published this week showed his approval rating had dropped to 19 per cent.

“,”title”:”Peru’s president resigns from party that took him to power”,”byline”:”Gideon Long in Bogotá”,”backToTop”:”o-topper”},{“standout”:{“breakingNews”:false,”editorsChoice”:false,”exclusive”:false,”scoop”:false},”id”:”259bf5bd-5e45-41e5-9893-31b35658b266″,”publishedDate”:”2022-06-30T22:41:52.494Z”,”bodyHTML”:”

US stocks have recorded their worst first half in more than 50 years after a rout triggered by the Federal Reserve’s attempt to curb persistent inflation and exacerbated by gathering concerns over global growth.

The S&P 500 fell 0.9 per cent on Thursday, leaving the blue-chip index down by 20.6 per cent in the first six months of 2022. Wall Street equities have not endured such a punishing start to a year since 1970, when equities sold off in response to a recession that ended what was up to that point the longest period of economic expansion in American history.

The pullback in US stocks has eviscerated more than $9tn in market value since the end of 2021, according to Bloomberg data on the S&P 1500 index, a broader gauge which tracks small, mid and large-cap groups.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite has also tumbled this year, sliding 1.3 per cent on Thursday to take its losses in 2022 to almost 30 per cent.

Across the globe, big stock indices have fallen sharply. Europe’s Stoxx 600 was 1.5 per cent lower on Thursday, leaving it down about 17 per cent this year. MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific markets has slumped 18 per cent in 2022 in dollar terms.

Top policymakers at the European Central Bank’s annual conference on Wednesday warned that the era of low interest rates and moderate inflation had come to an end following the inflation shock caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the coronavirus pandemic.

Read more about today’s market moves here.

“,”title”:”S&P 500 has fourth-worst first-half of a year on record”,”byline”:”Kate Duguid in New York, Naomi Rovnick in London and Hudson Lockett in Hong Kong”,”backToTop”:”o-topper”},{“standout”:{“breakingNews”:false,”editorsChoice”:false,”exclusive”:false,”scoop”:false},”id”:”805a6e8e-64f0-457b-9b15-030da3252511″,”publishedDate”:”2022-06-30T22:41:08.615Z”,”bodyHTML”:”

Cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network said it is considering “strategic transactions” and “restructuring” its liabilities as it seeks to contain fallout from its recent decision to halt withdrawals by its users.

Celsius is among several companies that have taken drastic action as cryptocurrency prices have dropped sharply in recent weeks. In mid-June, Celsius prevented users from withdrawing digital assets due to “extreme market conditions.” Bitcoin has fallen 16 per cent in value since that announcement. Crypto companies such as Coinbase have laid off swaths of employees during the downturn.

Celsius, in a short blog post Thursday, said it was “focused and working as quickly as we can to stabilise liquidity and operations” but did not go into details about its plans.

“These exhaustive explorations are complex and take time, but we want the community to know that our teams are working with experts from many different disciplines,” it said.

Crypto exchange FTX has used its relatively stronger balance sheet to bail out industry players such as BlockFi and Voyager Digital in recent weeks. Celsius approached FTX for a bailout but was rejected, according to Bloomberg.

“,”title”:”Crypto lender Celsius considering restructuring debts “,”byline”:”Jaren Kerr in Toronto”,”backToTop”:”o-topper”},{“standout”:{“breakingNews”:false,”editorsChoice”:false,”exclusive”:false,”scoop”:false},”id”:”80dfdac2-964d-4eb1-97c3-61c922649bdd”,”publishedDate”:”2022-06-30T22:40:16.848Z”,”bodyHTML”:”

Several economists took the knife to their second-quarter GDP forecasts in the wake of a disappointing consumer spending report that has added to concerns about a slowdown for the US economy.

Some forecasters even think the world’s biggest economy will contract for the second consecutive quarter, passing the threshold for a technical recession.

Personal consumption rose 0.2 per cent in May, the commerce department reported on Thursday, missing economists’ expectations for a 0.4 per cent gain. That represented a drop from the downwardly revised 0.6 per cent increase for April, suggesting spending was weaker in those months than previously thought.

A revision on Wednesday to the first-quarter GDP report showed personal consumption only increased 1.8 per cent in the first three months of the year, compared to previous reports of a 3.1 per cent increase.

The weaker real consumption data in the spring, and upward revisions to the first quarter inventories in the GDP report, led Goldman Sachs to cut its second-quarter GDP estimate by 1 percentage point to an increase of just 1.9 per cent. Personal consumption in the second quarter is now forecast to rise only 1.6 per cent compared to previous estimates of 2.3 per cent.

Capital Economics now estimates consumption will rise only 0.8 per cent annualised in the second quarter, compared to its previous forecast for almost 3 per cent. Its GDP forecast has been cut to 1 per cent annualised, from previous estimates of 2.7 per cent.

Similarly, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s GDPNow tracker now points to a 1 per cent contraction in GDP in the June quarter.

Pantheon Economics downgraded its GDP estimate and now forecasts a decline 0.5 per cent in the second quarter.

“All the decline will be in the inventory numbers,” chief economist Ian Shepherdson said. He expects domestic final demand to increase only 1.5 per cent in the second quarter, compared to 3 per cent in the first three months of the year.

“Markets and the media will call two quarters of falling headline GDP a recession, but the [National Bureau of Economic Research] won’t because payrolls have continued to rise strongly,” Shepherdson said, referring to the research organisation that determines whether the economy has officially entered a recession.

“,”title”:”Economists slash US GDP forecasts following weak consumer spending reports”,”byline”:”Alexandra White in New York”,”backToTop”:”o-topper”},{“standout”:{“breakingNews”:false,”editorsChoice”:false,”exclusive”:false,”scoop”:false},”id”:”6c5fcb63-97c2-49a7-9556-10128a991934″,”publishedDate”:”2022-06-30T22:38:02.781Z”,”bodyHTML”:”

Leon Black, the billionaire financier, has failed in his effort to persuade a judge that one of his top business rivals conspired with a Russian fashion model to publicise made-up allegations of sexual abuse that prompted his departure as chief executive of Apollo Global Management.

The ruling by a federal court in Manhattan on Thursday leaves Black defending himself against a separate lawsuit in which Guzel Ganieva, a former mistress, alleges that he assaulted her, bullied her and then manipulated her into silence.

It represents a victory for Josh Harris, the former Apollo executive whom Black had accused of plotting to unseat him as chief executive with the help of a “war council” assembled from senior New York business figures including public relations executive Steven Rubenstein.

“[Black’s] allegations regarding Ganieva’s relationship with Harris are conclusory, vague, indirect, clever, and cute,” US district judge Paul Engelmayer wrote in the ruling. “They are not factual, concrete, specific, declarative, or trustworthy.”

Ganieva sued Black in New York State court last June, accusing him of abusing her during their relationship and then damaging her reputation by accusing her of extortion. Both sides agree that the billionaire paid millions of dollars over several years as part of an agreement to secure her silence.

Last October, Black shot back with his own lawsuit claiming that Ganieva’s allegations were part of a conspiracy designed to enable Harris to take the helm at Apollo. Both men left the firm last year after another longtime Apollo executive, Marc Rowan, ultimately prevailed in the firm’s messy succession contest.

A representative for Harris said he was “pleased the court swiftly and fairly dismissed the case and believe the decision speaks for itself”.

Read more about Black’s case here

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