The Daily Update: Evergrande's Deafening Silence / UK Weather

The silence continues to be deafening from Evergrande as holders of the dollar denominated bonds await to hear news about the distressed developers $83.5 million interest payment that was due yesterday. Several holders of the bonds say they had not received any payment this morning along with hearing nothing from the company. To add to the uncertainty, there are reports that staff at the firm’s electric vehicle business haven’t been paid. With no confirmation on coupon payment, all the dollar denominated bonds have seen heavy selling again this morning.

Christine Lagarde, the European Central Bank President was asked yesterday regarding Europe’s direct exposure to Evergrande. She believes any exposure would be limited. She said that the ECB was ‘monitoring’ the ongoing situation, and when pushed on any prospect of a chaotic global knock-on effect she stated that ‘what we are seeing is a China-centric impact and exposure, I can say for Europe that its direct exposure is limited’.

Lastly, here in the UK we love to talk (moan?) about the weather, however we might have a new appreciation for those colder, windier days now. From next week it’s going to rain, be colder, however more importantly, be windy. This will in turn ease the UK’s dependence on expensive natural gas to produce electricity. So far this year wind speeds have been unusually low , leaving turbines in a lot of the UK mostly standing idle, with some regions having the lowest average wind speed this summer in more than 20 years.

Have a good weekend.