2024-03-24 18:17:40
The most important events and reports from the Dow Jones Newswires weekend program.
US BUDGET STOCK AVOID – US President Joe Biden signed a $1.2 trillion funding package on Saturday that averts a partial government shutdown and secures funding for federal agencies through the fall. The package was approved by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives on Friday and the Democratic-controlled Senate on Saturday after midnight local time, shortly before an impending budget freeze.
EU/IMPORT TARIFFS/RUSSIA – The European Union plans to impose tariffs on Russian grain to curb Moscow’s export earnings and appease European farmers angered by imports of cheaper agricultural products. The plan is the EU’s first move to restrict food from Russia since the start of the war of aggression in Ukraine. The tariffs will apply to EU imports of grain, oilseeds and derived products from Russia and its ally Belarus.
RECALL/HYUNDAI and KIA – Hyundai Motor and sister company Kia Motors will recall a combined 147,110 electric vehicles in the United States. The reason for this is possible defects in a charger, which can lead to a loss of power during operation, as the US federal agency National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced. A week earlier, Hyundai and Kia had recalled around 170,000 electric vehicles in South Korea because of the same problem.
UNITED/FAA – The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is tightening controls at United Airlines after a series of safety problems in recent weeks. The Federal Aviation Administration is concerned about the high number of problems at United in a short period of time, several people familiar with the matter said. United faced potential restrictions on new routes and the use of new aircraft.
POLITICS BLOG: SPD and Greens gain in Sunday trend
DIGITAL EURO – Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel expects the digital euro to be introduced quickly. “I am confident that we will have the digital euro in four to five years,” he told the newspapers of the Funke media group.
SAP – SAP CFO Dominik Asam wants to bring more US investors on board and also catch up with US competitors in important key figures. “It’s no secret that the deepest pockets for investments in the software sector are in the USA,” says Asam in an interview with Börsen-Zeitung. In comparison to rivals such as Oracle or Salesforce, SAP has to be measured in terms of growth and cash flow in the cloud business. The “Rule of 40” is the measure of all things in the tech industry, and the company wants to grow significantly by 2025.
BASF – BASF CEO Martin Brudermüller defended the billion-dollar investments in China in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. This means that the group does not make itself too dependent on the Chinese market and political tensions. In China, BASF produces for China. He cannot yet say anything about the extent of the job cuts as a result of the announced austerity program in Germany; the specific measures are “currently being examined in detail and also discussed with the employee representatives.”
SIGNA/INVESTORS – Several investors have made serious allegations against the failed real estate magnate Rene Benko and his Signa Group to Der Spiegel. Various Signa companies have filed for bankruptcy. Karl Gernandt, asset manager of logistics billionaire Klaus-Michael Kühne, sees investors in the Signa Group being “deceived” by its founder René Benko. Benko used his company structure with more than 1,000 sub-companies for this purpose. Benko had hidden debts “in all the Luxembourg intermediate holding companies,” Gernandt, head of Kühne Holding, told Spiegel.
GREAT BRITAIN/FITCH – Fitch raises outlook for Great Britain to stable from negative – the AA- credit rating has been confirmed. According to Fitch, economic policy risks have reduced since October 2022, when Fitch issued a negative outlook.
JAPAN/SCOPE – The rating agency Scope has raised the outlook for Japan’s credit rating to stable from negative. The credit rating was confirmed at A. The rating agency justifies the higher outlook with improved inflation prospects. The recent high inflation shows “elements of a structural strengthening of inflation expectations” that counteract modern price deflation and have a positive impact on nominal economic growth again.
SPAIN/SCOPE – The rating agency Scope has raised the outlook for Spain’s credit rating to positive from stable. The credit rating was confirmed at A-. The rating agency justifies the higher outlook with the country’s “improved economic resilience” and points to Spain’s recent strong economic performance and positive labor market dynamics, which would have benefited from the implementation of previous reforms. In addition, the strengthening of fiscal fundamentals will be supported by sustained revenue growth due to higher social security contributions and more moderate spending.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 24, 2024 14:18 ET (18:18 GMT)
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