logo
New World's Perpetual Bond Drops as Coupon Payment Date Nears

New World's Perpetual Bond Drops as Coupon Payment Date Nears

Bloomberg28-05-2025

A perpetual bond issued by Hong Kong developer New World Development Co. fell to its lowest level in three months, as investors wait to see whether the company will defer June coupon payments.
The 6.15% perpetual note slumped more than 4 cents to 54.8 cents on the dollar as of 4:23 p.m. Hong Kong time, heading for its lowest level since February, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News. Several other dollar bonds sold by the troubled builder slid about 2 cents.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Exporting Trust: How Blockchain Finance Can Redefine Trade Agreements
Exporting Trust: How Blockchain Finance Can Redefine Trade Agreements

Forbes

time28 minutes ago

  • Forbes

Exporting Trust: How Blockchain Finance Can Redefine Trade Agreements

Programmable contract on blockchain While the spotlight in Web3 remains fixed on ETFs, token listings, and stablecoin frameworks, a quieter but equally consequential evolution is taking shape at the edge of global commerce. In the last six months alone, the Bank for International Settlements expanded its cross-border wholesale CBDC pilot, Project mBridge, to include over 26 observing members. Meanwhile, the Monetary Authority of Singapore extended Project Guardian, testing tokenized trade finance and digital asset settlement with banks including JPMorgan, DBS, and Standard Chartered. Hong Kong Monetary Authority also launched Project Ensemble to develop innovative financial market infrastructure enabling seamless interbank settlement of tokenised money, initially focusing on tokenised deposits to support the growth of Hong Kong's tokenisation market. On the protocol side, DeFi-native projects like Centrifuge are tokenizing invoices and short-term credit, while firms like Enclave Markets are developing encrypted execution environments for confidential trading. These aren't isolated experiments - they're signs of a maturing thesis: that programmable finance can redefine the foundations of international trade. Today's trade infrastructure is a patchwork of legal fictions and trust intermediaries - letters of credit, bills of lading, third-party guarantees - many of which exist solely to simulate trust. Each one adds friction, cost, and settlement lag. Blockchain-based systems flip that dynamic by anchoring records on cryptographically secure, shared ledgers. This is more than just a technical upgrade. As David Wells, CEO of Enclave Markets, puts it: 'When counterparties from different jurisdictions can rely on cryptographically secured records rather than opaque intermediaries, the trust barrier that typically adds friction and cost to international trade diminishes significantly.' He adds that, 'At Enclave, we use secure enclave technology to enable privacy-preserving verification. This means counterparties can validate critical deal terms or performance metrics without exposing sensitive business data. It's a foundational shift - you get transparency and confidentiality at the same time, something legacy systems just aren't built for.' Where platforms like the now-defunct TradeLens stumbled due to governance limitations, decentralized or privacy-preserving infrastructure offers an alternative. Enclave, for instance, uses secure enclave hardware to enable private yet verifiable trades - part of a broader movement that includes confidential computing platforms and zero-knowledge middleware. Beyond data transparency, programmable finance introduces automatic enforceability. Smart contracts don't just log terms - they execute them. When conditions are met (e.g., delivery confirmed via oracle or IoT sensor), payment flows instantly. If conditions fail, penalties or reversions execute without legal intervention. This mechanism is already live in parts of the DeFi world. MakerDAO and Centrifuge have deployed real-world asset vaults tied to tokenized invoices and short-term credit. As reported, Maker's RWA vaults now account for a significant share of its fee income. Denis Petrovcic, CEO of Blocksquare, frames it this way: 'Banks shift from paperwork gatekeepers to liquidity nodes, and insurers underwrite only risks the code can't cover.' He continues: 'In our real estate tokenization work, we've shown how anchoring legal agreements - like mortgage registration or loan collateralization - on-chain creates enforceable economic rights that are provable in real time. This reduces the need for buffer escrows and limits disputes. When you apply this to cargo or trade finance, it's easy to imagine similar benefits.' His company recently completed one of the first legally notarized tokenized real estate deals tied to a national land registry - a model that could extend to warehousing, shipping hubs, and other trade-linked assets. The Dubai Land Department (DLD) has also launched the MENA region's first government-backed tokenized real estate platform, Prypco Mint, which enables fractional ownership of Dubai properties by minting real estate title deed tokens. This is supported by Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), marking the first time a government real estate authority in the Middle East has implemented a public blockchain-based tokenization of property title deeds, pioneering a more accessible, transparent, and efficient real estate market. Perhaps the most profound shift is this: trade agreements, once enshrined in legalese and negotiated by diplomats, are now being expressed as code. Project mBridge envisions programmable cross-border CBDC rails. MAS' Project Guardian is piloting asset tokenization and real-time DvP with institutional players. And emerging trade finance platforms are layering compliance, risk, and audit rules into smart contracts rather than spreadsheets. This isn't hypothetical. 'We're already seeing smart contracts do things that used to take banks days or weeks to handle,' says Nicolas Vaiman, CEO of Bubblemaps. 'Instant escrow, peer-to-peer lending, collateral management. The technology simply offers more. And we're just scratching the surface - as more data sources and real-time proofs come online, I think blockchain-based finance will become the default operating system for trade, not an optional enhancement.' The results: fewer intermediaries, faster time to cash, and real-time visibility across jurisdictions. For decades, the global trade system relied on institutional credibility: the issuing bank, the national regulator, the trusted auditor. But programmable finance rewires that system to depend on logic, not legacy. To be clear, this transition is still in its early innings. Regulatory coordination, technical standards, and enterprise integration remain uphill challenges. But the pieces are aligning: on-chain attestation, tokenized RWAs, fiat-backed stablecoins, and decentralized identity protocols are rapidly evolving into an interoperable trust stack. The result isn't just digitized trade. It's a new form of enforceable, exportable trust—written in code, and verified on-chain.

Tariffs prompt record plunge in US imports
Tariffs prompt record plunge in US imports

Yahoo

time28 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Tariffs prompt record plunge in US imports

Goods brought into the US plunged by 20% in April, recording their largest ever monthly drop in the face of a wave of tariffs unleashed by US President Donald Trump. The retreat reflects the abrupt hit to trade, after firms had rushed products into the country earlier this year to try to get ahead of new taxes on imports Trump had promised. US purchases from major trade partners such as Canada and China fell to their lowest levels since 2021 and 2020 respectively, the Commerce Department said. The collapse helped to cut the US trade deficit - the gap between exports and imports - in goods by almost half, a record decline, according to the report. "The April trade report indicates the impact from tariffs has well and truly arrived," said Oxford Economics, while noting that the latest figures should be interpreted with caution, given the surge in activity earlier this year. Since re-entering office in January, Trump has raised import taxes on specific items such as foreign steel, aluminium and cars and imposed a blanket 10% levy on most goods from trading partners around the world. He had briefly targeted some countries' exports with even higher duties, only to suspend those measures for 90 days to allow for talks. Trump has said the moves are intended to rebuild manufacturing at home and strengthen its hand in trade negotiations. White House officials are now engaged in intense talks aimed at striking deals before that 90-day deadline expires next month. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump spoke by phone on Thursday to try to reach a breakthrough in those negotiations, as the fragile truce between the two sides showed signs of deteriorating. In a social media post, Trump said it had been a "very good phone call" focused on trade and that teams from the two sides would be meeting again shortly. State media in China reported that they had agreed to further talks and extended an invitation of a visit to Trump. Trump's barrage of tariffs have brought the average effective tariff rate in the US to the highest level since the 1930s, according to analysts. After a surge in activity earlier this year, the abrupt changes have led to a sharp slowdown in trade as firms weigh how to respond. In Mexico, the steel industry said its exports to the US had been cut in half last month. In Canada, the trade deficit hit an all-time high last month, widening to C$7.1bn, as exports to the US shrank for a third month in a row. Thursday's report from the US Commerce Department showed few categories of products were unaffected by the changes. Imports of passenger cars dropped by a third from March to April. Pharmaceutical products were hit and imports of most consumer goods also fell, including cell phones, artwork, furniture, toys and apparel. What tariffs has Trump announced and why? Trump tariffs get to stay in place for now. What happens next? What does the US-China tariff deal mean? But imports surged from Vietnam and Taiwan, which saw their exports briefly targeted with higher rates before Trump suspended those levies, according to the report. Despite the big monthly decline, overall US goods imports in the first four months of the year are up about 20% compared with the same period in 2024. Exports so far this year are up about 5% compared with 2024. The overall goods and services deficit in April was $61.6bn, down from $138.3bn in March.

Cathay Pacific's Luxe New Business Class Suite Is Now Available on This North America-to-Asia Route
Cathay Pacific's Luxe New Business Class Suite Is Now Available on This North America-to-Asia Route

Travel + Leisure

time31 minutes ago

  • Travel + Leisure

Cathay Pacific's Luxe New Business Class Suite Is Now Available on This North America-to-Asia Route

If you're planning a trip to Hong Kong, get ready: the flight is about to be more comfortable and luxurious than ever before. Cathay Pacific is introducing its new Aria Suite business class, which will be available on selected flights between Vancouver International Airport (YVR) and Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) daily starting June 15. This is the third long-haul route for the Aria Suite, which was originally introduced in Hong Kong in October 2024. From now until Oct. 25, Cathay will run 17 non-stop flights between Vancouver and Hong Kong three times a week, on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. The Aria Suite reimagines the business class cabin to be both stylish and comfortable, with close attention to craftsmanship and design details. It features a more spacious cabin and redesigned wrap-around seats that allow for more privacy, as well as a suite door and sliding partition. Lie-flat beds are outfitted with Rohi's ethically sourced wool for breathable comfort throughout the flight. The Aria Suite also offers wireless phone charging, intuitively designed storage spaces, and artwork that has a connection to Hong Kong. The Aria Suite will be progressively rolled out throughout the year on Cathay's fleet of retrofitted Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. 'We are proud to continue our commitment to offering an unparalleled level of comfort and convenience by bringing our highly anticipated Aria Suite to our North American customers,' Chris Vanden Hooven, Cathay Pacific Senior Vice President (Americas), said in a statement shared with Travel + Leisure . 'Just over 40 years ago, Vancouver was our first long-haul passenger route between North America and Hong Kong. We are thrilled to introduce the Aria Suite to the Americas via Vancouver, further demonstrating the importance of the region to Cathay Pacific.' Last month, Cathay expanded its routes to include a new non-stop flight between Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) and Hong Kong, making it the longest flight in the Cathay network. 'With the recent launch of Cathay Pacific's new route between Dallas Fort Worth and Hong Kong, the first to connect the airline with the southern region of the United States, we're further strengthening our commitment to connecting North America with Hong Kong,' Vanden Hooven said in the statement. 'Our customers will have even more options, with over 110 return passenger flights per week between North America and Hong Kong this summer, ensuring seamless travel and enhanced connectivity for all.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store