Bloomberg Last year’s pandemic housing rush is now this year’s end-of-lockdown feeding frenzy. Across the US, house hunters are fighting for scraps in a market picked clean of listings during the key spring homebuying season. Bidding wars are the norm. Strategies like waiving inspections to secure deals, common for years in hot West Coast tech hubs, are popping up in ...

Bloomberg Facebook Inc. said it removed 14 networks representing more than 1,000 accounts seeking to sway politics around the world, while misleading the public about their identity. Most of the removed networks were in the early stages of building their audiences, the Menlo Park, California-based company said. Facebook’s announcement, part of its monthly reporting on efforts to rid its platforms ...

Bloomberg Finland’s government presented a gradual plan for exiting Covid-restrictions, starting with the executive relinquishing emergency powers later this month. Tight restrictions would be eased in May, and lesser restrictions gradually from June. The government will prioritise removing restrictions affecting children, Prime Minister Sanna Marin said at a press conference. The timetable is conditional on the development of the Covid-situation ...

Bloomberg UK bond investors eager for the government to sell more of its longest-dated debt appear to have gotten their way. A bond auction on Tuesday will include a 1 billion-pound ($1.37 billion) offering of gilts maturing in 2071 with more scheduled for sale in June. Minutes of a conference call with the Debt Management Office last month revealed investors ...

Bloomberg Daimler AG’s new flagship electric sedan will generate “reasonable” returns right from the start as the vehicle features top-line technology, Chief Executive Officer Ola Kallenius said. The Mercedes EQS, which debuts this week, will produce attractive profits while still lagging the returns of its combustion engine-powered sibling, the S-Class, due to the higher cost of electric-car components, Kallenius said ...

Bloomberg Costa Rica’s president says he’ll bring an end to years of excess government borrowing, even if it hurts his popularity. With just over a year left in office, Carlos Alvarado is fighting to pass spending cuts and tax increases, and narrow the fiscal deficit which brought the country to the brink of crisis two years ago. He’s also pushing ...

Bloomberg The allure of Asian stocks is fading after beating global peers last year. While 2021 began with investors expecting regional stocks to continue leading the global equity rebound as vaccine rollouts gather pace, that conviction now seems to be in short supply owing to a selloff in Chinese shares and concerns over dollar strength. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index ...

Bloomberg You’re never sure what earnings seasons will bring. Hence their volatility. But one thing is certain about the first-quarter results about to be disclosed. They couldn’t matter less to the market’s current valuations. And while it’s a Wall Street cliche that “the guidance is what matters,” that view is being taken to absurd extents right now, when the S&P ...

DUBAI / WAM In a new step that translates to the UAE’s relentless pursuit towards global leadership in the field of space exploration, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, announced the names of the two new Emirati astronauts who will form the second batch of the ...

DUBAI / WAM Dubai’s non-oil foreign trade strongly rebounded from the challenges posed by the global economic repercussions of Covid-19 and the suspension of business activity by countries across the world in the first half of last year to record high growth in 2020. Boosted by its resilience to global headwinds, as well as its rapid economic recovery and revitalised ...