Bloomberg Colombia’s economy grew faster than expected at the end of 2020 as a rebound in consumer spending led the recovery from the worst slump in the nation’s history. The economy expanded 6% in last three months of the year compared to the previous quarter, beating the median forecast of 5.7% growth from analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The recovery was ...

Bloomberg France is optimistic that the European Commission will sign off within days on an innovative plan for helping companies through the post-pandemic recovery, according to a finance ministry official, who asked not to be identified. The French government has proposed a program to partially guarantee billions of euros of so-called participatory loans to improve corporate balance sheets and encourage ...

Bloomberg Passenger-car sales in Europe’s five biggest markets tumbled by more than a quarter last month after lockdowns to combat the pandemic shuttered dealerships and consumers shied away from large purchases. Registrations fall 28% across Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Spain in January from the year-earlier period, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Michael Dean. With lockdowns still in effect ...

Bloomberg The energy crisis crippling Texas’s power system continued to spread, with nearly 5 million people across the US plunged into darkness as authorities fought to avoid a total collapse of the grid. Homes and businesses from North Dakota to Texas are losing power in the middle of an unprecedented deep freeze that has broken daily temperature records in hundreds ...

Bloomberg Global stocks are in the midst of the longest run of gains in 17 years as optimism over the economic recovery sweeps across markets. The MSCI benchmark for emerging and developed market stocks has risen for 12 straight sessions, while US equities were set to open higher after a public holiday. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 Stock Average extended ...

Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc and Standard Chartered Plc’s Hong Kong shares are among top gainers of bank stocks across the region on optimism faster economic growth and higher interest rates will stoke profits. HSBC shares jumped as much as 6.9%, while Standard Chartered gained 6.3% on Tuesday after a two-day market close. The MSCI AC Asia Pacific Financials Index rise ...

Bloomberg Imax China Holding Inc. led a rally in Chinese entertainment stocks after data showed local box-office revenue hit a record high for the Lunar New Year. Ticket sales for the first five days of the Lunar New Year holidays starting Feb. 11 touched 5.7 billion yuan ($880 million), about 33% more than the same period in 2019, which was ...

ABU DHABI / WAM Edge, the UAE’s advanced technology group for defence and beyond, on Monday announced it signed a tri-party strategic cooperation agreement with Ukrainian state-owned defence conglomerate UkrOboronProm, and Ukrspecexport, a Ukrainian state-owned arms trading company. The agreement will enable the three entities to exchange and develop advanced technologies that could lead to over $1 billion worth of ...

ABU DHABI / WAM Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, said that the value of non-oil trade between the UAE and Africa totalled $40.7 billion in the first nine months of 2020, compared to $36.9 billion in the same period of 2019, underscoring the growing trade between the UAE and African countries despite the ...

ABU DHABI / WAM Adnoc Distribution on Monday reported that its net profit for the fourth quarter of 2020 grew to AED851 million, with underlying EBITDA (EBITDA excluding one-offs and inventory gains/losses) of AED1.1 billion. For the year 2020, net profit was AED 2.4 billion, while underlying EBITDA stood at AED3.6 billion. Adnoc Distribution has maintained a strong balance sheet ...