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Trump's NATO spending demands could hit Europe's credit ratings, says S&P Global

The credit ratings of Europe's NATO members are likely to suffer if they ramp up defence spending in line with U.S. President Donald Trump's demands although they might drive the region to jointly issue debt, ratings firm S&P Global has said. Despite almost doubling their defence expenditure since Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea in 2014, European nations on average still spend below NATO's 2% of GDP guidelines, while the U.S. finances nearly two-thirds of NATO's military budget.

HBL, S&P Global launch Pakistan's first manufacturing PMI

Pakistan's largest bank, HBL, and global financial information and analytics firm S&P Global have launched a new index to track the country's manufacturing sector, the companies said on Friday. Rising taxes and power tariffs have led to social unrest and hammered industries in Pakistan's $350 billion economy, as it navigates a tricky path to recovery under a $7 billion IMF program approved in September. The HBL S&P Global Purchasing Managers' Index will be a standardized economic indicator based on a survey of a diverse panel of industries.