Aurelia Butler

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) also said it will also promote a virtuous circulation of onshore and offshore yuan markets, reiterating that it will “resolutely fend off systemic risks,” it said in a yuan internationalisation report published on Friday.The report comes at a time when the currency is facing renewed depreciation pressure, weighed by a buoyant dollar, hawkish Federal Reserve tightening and a slowing economy. [CNY/]China, along with Japan, is among major outliers in a global run of interest rate hikes to tame high inflation, with Beijing focused on reviving the economy hurt by COVID-19 shocks. But such widening policy divergence weighed on the yuan, and prompted overseas investors to cut holdings of Chinese bonds for a seventh consecutive month in August.The PBOC said in the report that it will facilitate overseas investors, especially global central banks and similar institutions, to increase holdings of Chinese assets.China will “improve the liquidity of yuan-denominated financial assets, further facilitate foreign investors’ access to Chinese markets for investments and enrich the variety of assets available for investments,” the central bank said. More

LONDON (Reuters) – Stocks hit two-year lows on Friday, the dollar scaled a two-decade high and bonds sold off again as investors feared bigger interest rate rises are on their way to tame inflation, while UK assets plunged after huge debt-financed tax cuts were announced.UK assets were already weaker but extended their fall after Britain’s new finance minister unveiled an historic tax-cutting agenda that will see government borrowing soar. UK bond yields were set for their biggest daily rise in decades, and money markets were pricing in Bank of England interest rates of as much as 5% by May next year. Sterling lost 2%.The mood on markets has been sour all week, with major central banks delivering another 350 basis points of rate hikes to fight inflation, Japan intervening to prop up the yen and grim purchasing managers index data on Friday pointing to a deepening slowdown in major economies.Rates were hiked in the United States, Britain, Sweden, Switzerland and Norway – among other places – but it was the Federal Reserve’s signal that it expects high U.S. rates to last through 2023 that sparked the latest sell-off.MSCI’s world stocks index fell to its lowest since mid-2020 on Friday, having lost about 12% in the month or so since Fed Chair Jerome Powell made clear that bringing down inflation would hurt.The euro fell for a fourth straight day after data showed the downturn in the German economy has worsened in September, as consumers and businesses face an unprecedented energy crunch and spiralling inflation.European stocks were a sea of red for a second day, under pressure from losses in everything from bank to natural resources and technology shares. (EU)The pan-regional STOXX 600 was down about 2.2%, while Frankfurt’s DAX lost 1.94%, ranking it as one of Europe’s worst-performing indices. “Pretty much anything besides inflation data and central bank policy decisions is just noise at the moment, with the market firmly, and almost solely, focused on how high rates will rise across developed markets, and how long they will remain at those peaks,” Caxton FX chief strategist Michael Brown said.S&P emini futures fell 1.15%, suggesting a weaker start on Wall Street later.London’s FTSE lost 1.9%, against a backdrop of the pound tumbling 2% to another 37-year low and as weak as $1.1022 at one point. The cost of insuring UK debt against default also jumped. GRAPHIC – Cost of insuring UK debt against default soars “Typically looser fiscal and tighter monetary policy is a positive mix for a currency – if it can be confidently funded,” said Chris Turner, global head of markets at ING: “Here is the rub – investors have doubts about the UK’s ability to fund this package, hence the gilt under-performance.”KING DOLLARWith U.S. rates set to rise faster and stay high for longer, the dollar hit its highest in two decades and extended its double-digit gains for the year against several currencies. The Swedish crown, sensitive to the global investor mood, has this week repeatedly dropped against the dollar to its weakest since at least the early 1970s, Refinitiv data showed. GRAPHIC – King dollar reigns supremehttps://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/lbvgnkkylpq/Pasted%20image%201663851778713.png Yields on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note have soared as investors ditch inflation-sensitive assets like bonds. The 10-year yield rose 5 basis points to 3.776%, another 11-1/2 year high and on course for its eighth consecutive weekly increase.Euro zone bond yields also rose sharply, with the Italian 10-year hitting 4.294%, its highest since late 2013, ahead of Italian elections on Sunday. The euro marked another 20-year low, plunging as far as $0.9736. The Japanese yen fell sharply on Thursday until Japanese authorities stepped in to buy the currency for the first time since 1998 and arrest its long slide.On Friday the yen gave up some of its gains, with the dollar up 0.4% at 142.97 yen per dollar. Few believe the yen rally will hold given how dovish the Bank of Japan remains.Gold, which pays no interest, has come under pressure, particularly over the course of this quarter, as yields have risen. It was last down 1.55% on the day around $1,644 an ounce, at its weakest in two years. More

Airbus has backed itself to meet its target of delivering about 700 aircraft by the end of the year but warned it would be “anything but a walk in the park” as the aviation industry continues to battle supply chain constraints. The world’s largest plane maker said on Friday that it was grappling with “multiple crises” but that issues around the supply chain were its greatest challenge. Like other global manufacturers, Airbus has struggled with shortages of raw materials, electronic components and the availability of labour, just as demand has rebounded in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Soaring inflation, uncertainty over the war in Ukraine and energy costs have deepened the pressures. Dominik Asam, Airbus chief financial officer, said the company had delivered 382 aircraft through to the end of August, leaving about 320 planes still to be delivered to meet the target. The company, Asam told a capital markets briefing on Friday, was “fully engaged” to deliver on its commitments, “yet against the backdrop of disruptions in global supply chains, delivering around 700 aircraft in 2022 is anything but a walk in the park”.Airbus in July cut its original year-end delivery target from 720 to “around 700” aircraft. It also adjusted the planned output of its best-selling A320 family of jets for this year and next. The company said it was targeting a monthly production rate of 65 in early 2024 — some six months later than originally forecast. Airbus at the time, however, said it was sticking with its plan to get to a monthly rate of 75 jets by 2025.Guillaume Faury, Airbus chief executive, on Friday reiterated the rate of 75 jets a month. The company expects to be producing about 50 a month by the end of this year. “Based on the visibility we have now from the supply chain we think it’s manageable, but I will not tell you that it’s easy,” Faury said of the 700-plane target. “There’s a hell of a lot of work to be done,” he added, noting that Airbus expects the crisis to persist into next year. The bottleneck in the supply of engines, however, which has been a cause of friction between Airbus and engine makers including CFM International, a joint venture between Safran and GE, is easing. The number of “gliders” — aircraft that have been built but are sitting in storage without engines — had reduced to single figures, said Faury, from 26 in July. The company has reached agreement on engine volumes with both CFM International and Pratt & Whitney for 2023 and 2024 and had started talks about numbers for 2025. More