Reuters

By Marc Jones

LONDON (Reuters) - France's snap parliamentary elections are negative for the country's credit score, ratings agency Moody's has warned.

"This snap election increases risks to fiscal consolidation," Moody's said in a statement late on Monday, describing it as "credit negative" for the country's Aa2 rating, which is one notch above Fitch and S&P Global's equivalent score.

"Potential political instability is a... (continue reading...)

By Casey Hall

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - An aggressive market grab by low-cost Chinese retailers has delivered bumper earnings for some firms but has also intensified a bruising price war, exacerbating deflationary fears in the world's second-largest economy.

From coffee to cars to clothes, China's discount retailers have cut prices on just about everything as they chase a consumer whose confidence has been battered by a property crisis, high... (continue reading...)

By Anisha Sircar and Divya Chowdhury

BENGALURU (Reuters) - The Philippine central bank is sticking with its view that interest rates could be lowered as early as August despite an uptick in inflation last month, saying it was happy with where consumer prices were going.

Speaking in the Reuters Global Markets Forum, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor (BSP) Eli Remolona said there was chance the central bank could ease monetary policy in... (continue reading...)

PARIS (Reuters) - The European Central Bank will bring inflation back to its 2% target by next year despite expected "noise" in monthly data this year, ECB policymaker Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on Tuesday.

The ECB trimmed its rates by a quarter of percentage point from a record high last week but gave no commitment about further cuts amid high wage growth and yet another increase in inflation projections.

The month to month flow of... (continue reading...)

By Arpan Chaturvedi

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's proposed EU-like antitrust law will pose a fresh regulatory challenge for tech firms including Apple, Google and Meta, laying out strict compliance obligations that could affect their business models.

The Indian government is currently examining a panel's February report that proposed a new "Digital Competition Bill" to complement existing antitrust laws. A key U.S. lobby group has... (continue reading...)