FRANKFURT/MUMBAI, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Afghanistan's banks are running out of dollars, and may have to close their doors to customers unless the Taliban government releases funds soon, three people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The cash squeeze threatens to upend the country's already battered economy, largely dependent on hundreds of millions of dollars shipped by the United States to the central bank in Kabul that make their way to Afghans through banks.

One month since the Taliban captured the capital of Kabul, bankers fear fewer dollars could inflate the cost of food or electricity and make it harder to afford imports, spelling further misery for Afghans.

Although the cash crunch has lasted weeks, the country's banks have in recent days repeatedly underlined their concerns to the new government and central bank, two of the people said.

Banks have already pared back services and imposed weekly $200 payout limits amid a run on savings, with...

SINGAPORE/SHANGHAI, Sept 14 (Reuters) - China Evergrande is teetering between a messy meltdown with far-reaching impacts, a managed collapse or the less likely prospect of a bailout by Beijing for what was once the country's top-selling property developer.

Founded in Guangzhou in 1996, Evergrande has epitomised China's freewheeling era of borrowing and building, but with liabilities of nearly two trillion yuan ($305 billion) its possible collapse looms as one of China's largest for years.

Debt and land-buying curbs and hundreds of new rules have been imposed on Chinese developers over recent years as part of a push to cut financial risks and promote affordable housing.

Evergrande (3333.HK), which accelerated efforts to cut its debts in 2020 after regulators introduced caps, does not have any major offshore bond maturities until early next year but tardy payment of suppliers and interest on loans have brought to a head concerns that have long nagged at...

LONDON, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Wall Street faced a subdued session on Wednesday after unexpectedly weak data from China reinforced investor bets that global growth is slowing due to COVID and supply chain constraints.

The S&P 500 index hit a three-week low on Tuesday as worries about global recovery fed into stock markets that have enjoyed a prolonged run to record highs in recent months.

"You still have the global growth uncertainties that are linked to COVID still not being clearly behind us and the supply constraint issues," said Derek Halpenny, head of research, globla markets EMEA at MUFG.

"This is really the first week of proper trading post summer and the global growth projections are coming down, so the scope for continued strong performance of equities is somewhat in question," Halpenny said.

In the futures markets, U.S. S&P 500 E-minis and Dow E-minis were little changed, with Nasdaq 100 E-minis slightly firmer.

A burst of data out...

MEXICO CITY, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Mexico's telecommunications regulator IFT said on Tuesday it had authorized the plan for U.S.-based Spanish-language broadcaster Univision to acquire the content business of Mexico's Grupo Televisa in a deal to create a new company.

The two companies in April announced a plan to create a new firm called Televisa-Univision, which will feature Spanish-language video content from both broadcasters, including soap operas known as telenovelas, sports and movies.

The IFT said in a statement its analysis did not find anti-competitive effects.

"No anti-competitive effects derived from the transaction are expected in these coinciding activities of Univision Holdings and Grupo Televisa, largely due to the marginal participation of Univision Holdings in Mexico," the IFT said.

The transaction, partially financed by a $1 billion Series C preferred investment led by the SoftBank (9984.T) Latin American Fund, with participation from...

Sept 15 (Reuters) - Canadian National Railway Co (CNR.TO) said on Wednesday it would not proceed with its $29.6 billion offer to buy Kansas City Southern (KSU.N), paving the way for the U.S. railroad operator to be bought by rival Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd (CP.TO).

WASHINGTON, Sept 15 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden was scheduled to meet on Wednesday with business leaders and CEOs, as he pushes companies to require workers to be vaccinated amid a surge in COVID-19 infections among those not yet inoculated.

Biden last week announced vaccine mandates for all federal employees and larger companies as the number of infections in the United States continued to rise, hospital beds filled up and face mask requirements returned, all while some Republican-led states defy recommendations from health officials.

Polls have shown a majority Americans support some form of mandates.

The U.S. president told reporters on Tuesday that he had seen "positive support for mandates, by and large," although he conceded that there would always be a small percentage of people who would refuse to get a shot. read more

The White House hopes Wednesday's meeting will serve "as a rallying cry for more businesses across the country to step...

BEIJING, Sept 15 (Reuters) - China's factory and retail sectors faltered in August with output and sales growth hitting one-year lows as fresh coronavirus outbreaks and supply disruptions threatened the country's impressive economic recovery.

Industrial production rose 5.3% in August from a year earlier, narrowing from an increase of 6.4% in July and marking the weakest pace since July 2020, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Wednesday. Output growth missed the 5.8% increase tipped by analysts.

Consumer spending also took a big hit from rising local COVID-19 cases and floods with sales rising only 2.5% in August from a year ago, much lower than the forecast 7.0% rise and the slowest clip since August last year.

"Economic growth slowed in August as consumption was hit by the lingering impact of earlier COVID outbreaks and investment remained weak," said Louis Kuijs, Head of Asia Economics at Oxford Economics. "Meanwhile, a new outbreak which...

MEXICO CITY, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Mexican state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) has canceled three contracts with Vitol, the latest fallout from a U.S. bribery case involving the world's largest independent energy trader.

Three separate Pemex documents seen by Reuters and a source familiar with the matter provide as the reason for the cancellation Vitol's public acknowledgement in December, in a deal with the U.S. Department of Justice, that it paid kickbacks to win business with the Mexican state oil company, as well as state companies in Brazil and Ecuador.

Pemex's decision has not previously been reported.

In letters to Vitol (VITOLV.UL), all dated within the past two months, Pemex (PEMX.UL) informed the energy trader of the cancellation of a contract for butane gas, one for naphtha, and one for propane gas. The propane contract encompassed four separate deals.

The world's largest independent commodity traders are facing scrutiny globally for...

PARIS, Sept 15 (Reuters) - BNP Paribas Asset Management (BNPP.PA) has agreed to buy a majority stake in Dynamic Credit Group, a Dutch asset manager and specialist lender with 9 billion euros ($10.6 billion) of assets under management, the companies said on Wednesday.

BNP Paribas said the deal would allow Dynamic Credit access to a larger distribution network. The price of the acquisition was not disclosed.

Dynamic Credit's portfolio mainly consists of Dutch mortgages, which BNP Paribas said had good growth potential.

"Given their attractive risk-return profile and low capital charge under Solvency II, Dutch mortgages are a very attractive investment for institutional investors in the ongoing low interest rate environment. Investments in Dutch mortgages are expected to continue to grow steadily," said BNP Paribas.

The Dutch government's main policy advisory body said in August that economic growth in the Netherlands was set to be stronger than previously...

Sept 15 (Reuters) - Adobe Inc (ADBE.O) on Wednesday said it will add payment services to its e-commerce platform this year to help merchants accept credit cards and other ways of paying, deepening a rivalry with e-commerce firm Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO).

Adobe started providing software to help retailers run their online stores in 2018 when it purchased Magento Commerce from private equity firm Permira for $1.68 billion.

Adobe will roll out the new payment system by the end of this year in the United States and is tapping PayPal Holdings (PYPL.O) to process a variety of payment types, including credit and debit cards as well as PayPal's own payment and pay-later offerings.

Until now, Adobe's e-commerce customers have had to build their own payment systems. That works for larger businesses that can negotiate with payment processors, but Adobe wanted a simpler service for smaller merchants, Peter Sheldon, senior director of commerce strategy at Adobe, told Reuters...

TORONTO, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Canada's annual inflation rate accelerated to 4.1% in August, the highest since 2003, up from a year-over-year increase of 3.7% in July, Statistics Canada said on Wednesday.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected the annual rate to rise to 3.9% in August.

STORIES: [USN:AQN04N3ID]

Market reaction: CAD/

Link: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/210915/dq210915a-eng.htm?HPA=1

COMMENTARY

DOUG PORTER, CHIEF ECONOMIST, BMO CAPITAL MARKETS

"There is certainly more going on than just the reopening. We are still seeing sustained pressure on durable goods in particular ... It's very notable that vehicles, furniture and appliances are all showing very strong gains from a year ago and contributing to both the headline and the core."

"Having said all that, this didn't surprise us and I don't think it will surprise the Bank of Canada, they were looking for almost 4% inflation in the third...

Sept 15 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) said on Wednesday it would buy GreenSky Inc (GSKY.O), a fintech platform that provides consumer loans for home improvement, in an all-stock deal valued at $2.24 billion.

The deal implies a per-share price of $12.11 for each GreenSky Class A common stock, representing a 55% premium to the company's closing price on Tuesday.

Atlanta-based GreenSky, which went public in 2018 at a valuation of about $4 billion, has provided home improvement loans to about four million customers.

Its purchase will further bulk up Goldman's consumer banking unit Marcus, which is named after one of the bank's founders and is a key plank of Chief Executive David Solomon's plan to reduce Goldman's reliance on volatile trading and investment banking revenues.

"We have been clear in our aspiration for Marcus to become the consumer banking platform of the future, and the acquisition of GreenSky advances this goal," Solomon said in a...

BERLIN, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Germany needs natural gas in its energy mix while it develops a market for so-called "green" hydrogen based on renewable power, the boss of Wintershall (BASFn.DE)(WINT.UL) said on Wednesday.

Germany is hoping to develop large-scale green hydrogen by using wind and solar electricity to make synthetic fuels for industry, energy and transport sectors and has launched a 9 billion euro ($10.64 billion) hydrogen strategy up to 2030.

"As long as green hydrogen is not available in sufficient volumes and at attractive prices, we also need hydrogen from natural gas in order to establish the market quickly," Mario Mehren, chief executive of gas and oil producer Wintershall (BASFn.DE)(WINT.UL), said.

"It’s my conviction that green hydrogen will benefit from a mature market in the long term," Mehren said at the annual conference of power and gas lobby BDEW, implying that gas-derived hydrogen would help it to arrive at that stage.

Green...

LONDON, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Evergrande Group's (3333.HK) debt crisis could pose spillover risks to the broader Chinese property sector, Goldman Sachs said in a note on Wednesday.

The developer, which has liabilities of nearly two trillion yuan ($305 billion), is trying to raise funds to pay lenders and suppliers as it teeters between a managed collapse or the more distant prospect of a bailout by Beijing. read more

"We believe that further disruptions to the company's property development operations can be very negative for sentiment amongst domestic property buyers and investors, and potentially spillover to the broader property sector," Goldman Sachs' Kenneth Ho and Chakki Ting wrote in the note.

If the property operations can be maintained as a going concern, that could mean less scope for contagion, the analysts added.

Possible options for Evergrande could include a corporate overhaul to ensure the onshore operations continue, bringing in third...

LONDON, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Investors managing more than $10 trillion on Wednesday published an ambitious blueprint for energy companies seeking to tackle climate change, including sharp cuts to greenhouse gas emissions and a winding down of oil and gas production.

The unprecedented initiative - dubbed the Net Zero Standard for Oil and Gas - details 10 required standards to help money managers compare companies' strategies and understand whether they are aligned with United Nations-backed efforts to reduce global carbon emissions to net zero by 2050.

Oil and gas companies such as BP (BP.L) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) have published targets and strategies aimed at battling climate change, but the huge variation in scope, definitions and ambition makes analysis and comparison exceedingly difficult for investors.

At the same time, pressure has grown on portfolio managers and banks to ensure that their investments chime with the 2015 Paris accords to limit...