(Bloomberg) -- Argentina must repay $5 billion by the end of 2019. It doesn’t have much to work with. While the country’s foreign reserves total a still somewhat robust $43 billion, that figure shrinks markedly once untouchable assets such as dollar deposits of everyday Argentines and a credit line from China are stripped out. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News estimate that the amount th... read more

China’s legions of regional banks are under strain. The country’s two-year crackdown on risky financing and the trade war with the U.S. have slowed economic growth, triggering debt defaults that are exposing them as the weakest link in the credit chain. Several lenders have fallen into deep trouble this year, with others -- perhaps many -- expected to follow. What’s different is that Ch... read more

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong police shot and critically wounded a protester and a man was set on fire on Monday in violence that prompted leader Carrie Lam to denounce “enemies of the people” and drew a chilling warning from a senior Chinese newspaper editor. Protesters threw petrol bombs at police after a weekend of clashes across the Chinese-ruled territory, marking a dramatic escal... read more

The US Federal Reserve is right to be concerned, if not worried, about the greenback's dominance of international trade and finance. Fortunately for consumers, growing potential competitive pressure – call it the Libra effect – creates an incentive to make the existing system work better. WASHINGTON, DC – Since the end of World War II, the United States dollar has been at the heart of... read more

(Bloomberg) -- A key Federal Reserve official on Monday made the case for the central bank’s program of buying only the shortest-dated Treasuries to ensure the banking system has enough reserves. But she signaled an openness to make changes if they’re needed to keep markets calm. By confining itself to bills, the central bank can help maintain the supply of reserves while limiting the impa... read more

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said this week that the central bank is unlikely to alter its liquidity requirements for banks, a position that may endear him to Sen. Elizabeth Warren but also could lead to more headaches for the industry. During a news conference Wednesday, Powell was asked whether the Fed might change the rules for big banks after the mid-September money crunch that... read more

Gold prices edged higher on Wednesday having touched a one-week low in the previous session, as investors awaited a decision by the U.S. Federal Reserve on a widely anticipated rate cut. Spot gold was up 0.2% at $1,490.23 an ounce. U.S. gold futures edged 0.2% higher to $1,493.20. The U.S. central bank is set to share the statement of a two-day monetary policy meeting at 1800 GMT. Investors... read more

Gold prices are attempting to break resistance around the $1,495 an ounce level after newly released data showed that orders for long-lasting U.S. factory goods were down 1.1% in September, coming in below expectations. Market consensus was calling for a 0.5% decline. The monthly drop in durable-goods orders equaled to $2.8 billion. Meanwhile, August’s data was upwardly revised to an increa... read more

Zero or negative interest rates will do “tremendous damage” to the economy in the long run, analysts warn, adding that the addiction to cheap money has become a problem as central banks around the world go on a path of increasingly lower rates. The trend of zero interest rates is “perverse” and can “poison” the business environment, said Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, a visiting scholar at t... read more

Gold prices have jumped into positive territory as U.S. consumers spent less than expected last month. U.S. retail sales fell 0.3% in September following August’s revised rise of 0.6%, according to the latest data from the U.S. Commerce Department, released Wednesday; the data missed expectations as economists were forecasting an increase of 0.3%. Meanwhile, core sales, which strips out veh... read more