German business activity contracted unexpectedly in July following three months of expansion, a preliminary survey showed on Wednesday. The HCOB German flash composite Purchasing Managers’ Index, compiled by S&P Global, fell to 48.7 in July from 50.4 in June, well below the 50.7 forecast in a Reuters poll. The composite index, which tracks the services and manufacturing sectors that together account for more than two-thirds of the euro zone’s largest economy, is now below the 50 mark that separates growth from contraction. The services sector index eased in July to ...

German consumer sentiment is set to recover significantly heading into August as households’ income expectations hit their highest point in over two years due to slightly lower inflation and noticeable wage increases, a survey showed on Wednesday. The consumer sentiment index, published jointly by GfK and the Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions (NIM), rose more than expected, to -18.4 points heading into August, from a slightly revised -21.6 in July and above a forecast -21.0. The rise is due primarily to consumers’ income expectations for the next 12 months reaching ...

India’s business activity accelerated at its fastest pace in three months in July thanks to strong demand, especially in the services sector, according to a survey that also showed companies hired at the fastest pace in over 18 years. The data reflected sustained growth in the private sector, which according to the government’s first budget since the national election will get incentives to improve skills and spur employment. HSBC’s flash India composite purchasing managers’ index, compiled by S&P Global, rose to 61.4 this month from June’s final reading of 60.9, ...

The war in Ukraine and the looming U.S. presidential election dominated a NATO summit in Washington this month but, away from the public stage, the alliance’s military planners have been focused on assessing the enormous cost of fixing Europe’s creaking defences. NATO leaders agreed plans last year for the biggest overhaul in three decades of its defence capabilities, amid growing fears of Russian aggression. Behind the scenes, officials have sincebeen poring over the minimum defence requirements to achieve those plans, which were sent to national governments in recent weeks, according ...

Japan’s factory activity contracted slightly in July as output and new orders fell and firms remained under pressure from higher prices, a business survey showed on Wednesday. But the expansion in the service sector helped overall activity in Japan’s private sector return to growth in July, the survey found. The au Jibun Bank flash Japan manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipped to 49.2 in July from 50.0 in June. The index fell below the 50.0 threshold separating growth from contraction on a monthly basis for the first time in three ...

The Imperial Towers twin towers residential skyscrapers and business district development in Tardeo South Mumbai, India. India “clearly has a problem” figuring out new drivers for its economic growth even as its economy expands at a fast pace, JPMorgan’s Jahangir Aziz said, following the country’s union budget. “If you look at India over the last two years post the pandemic, recorded growth has been strong. But if you look at the drivers of growth, it’s essentially these two: Public infrastructure and services export,” Aziz, chief emerging markets economist at JPM, ...

U.S. companies borrowed 4% less to finance equipment investments in June than a year ago, industry body Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) said on Tuesday. New loans, leases and lines of credit signed up by companies in June were down 2% from $10.20 billion a month ago. ELFA, which reports economic activity for the more than $1-trillion equipment finance sector, said credit approvals for U.S. companies came in at 75%, unchanged from May. “A pullback in origination activity at banks caused overall new business volume to dip in June ...

A week of hot summer weather at the end of June, England reaching the final of the Euro 2024 soccer championship and promotions on branded goods drove UK grocery sales over the last month, industry data showed on Wednesday. Market researcher NIQ said sales at UK supermarkets grew 3.6% year-on-year over the four weeks to July 13, up from growth of 1.1% in last month’s report. The data is the most up-to-date snapshot of UK consumer behaviour published since the July 4 national election, which saw the Labour Party return ...

France’s BNP Paribas (OTC:) exceeded expectations with a big jump in earnings on Wednesday thanks to a boost in equities trading, although a sharp drop in net interest income at its domestic retail business unnerved investors. The euro zone’s biggest bank said net income grew by 21% on a reported basis from a year earlier to 3.4 billion euros ($3.69 billion), its best-ever second quarter, exceeding the 2.91 billion-euro average estimate of 16 analysts compiled by the group. Group revenues rose about 8% to 12.3 billion euros, beating the 11.9 ...

Deutsche Bank posted its first loss in four years in the second quarter after setting aside 1.3 billion euros ($1.41 billion) as a provision for an investor lawsuit, scuppering plans for a stock buyback and triggering a 7% drop in shares. The loss at Germany’s largest lender broke a profit streak of 15 consecutive quarters, in a setback for the bank’s turnaround under CEO Christian Sewing. The bank also increased its forecast for possible credit losses, and its finance chief said the bank was unlikely to conduct a second share ...

British business activity picked up this month after a lull in the run-up to a July 4 election, bolstered by the fastest manufacturing growth in two years and the strongest inflow of new orders since April 2023, a major survey showed on Wednesday. The figures may cheer Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s new government – which is targeting faster growth to allow higher public spending – and the Bank of England too, as inflation pressures fell to their lowest in more than three years. Although growth so far this year has ...

Concerns over a second Donald Trump presidency have weighed on Asian markets, specifically China, on what new headwinds they could bring for the region through increased protectionist policies. Analysts at ANZ said that while tariff increases appeared likely if Trump did win the November elections, they would not be as severe as he had foreshadowed. ANZ said that Trump would be likely to rein-in more extreme policy positions, given that he also holds an agenda for boosting U.S. economic growth and equity markets. Tax cuts and looser regulations were likely ...

European Union member states will on Wednesday discuss options for extending the renewal period of sanctions on the Russian central bank’s assets to secure a Group of Seven plan to extend a major loan to Ukraine, a EU draft document showed. Leaders of the Group of Seven major democracies and the EU, agreed in June to use the interest on frozen Russian assets to back a $50-billion loan for Ukraine to help it defend itself against Moscow’s invasion. The bulk of the some $300 billion in assets is held in ...

The European Central Bank’s top banking supervisor said on Wednesday she was working on a new framework for assessing how geopolitical risks impact banks, drawing lessons from sanctions on Russia hitting operations of several euro zone lenders. Italian bank UniCredit said on July 1 it had appealed to the European Court of Justice against ECB demands to cut ties with Russia, which is subject to a welter of sanctions from the EU, United States and elsewhere following its invasion of Ukraine. Claudia Buch, who heads banking supervision at the ECB, ...

The euro zone’s biggest banks largely beat second quarter earnings expectations on Wednesday, benefiting from still-high interest rates and bumper investment banking business, although concerns about a tougher outlook held back their shares. European banking shares, pinned lower for a decade by poor profitability when central bank interest rates were stuck at zero, have risen 20% since January and trade near nine-year highs. On Wednesday, the STOXX Europe 600 Banks index .SX7P was down 0.4% by 1310 GMT after a raft of bank earnings fed into analyst and investor concerns ...