Bloomberg Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd., the airline part-owned by HNA Group Co., ditched the idea of a privatisation to end years of speculation that major shareholders would attempt a buyout. After discussions with the airline’s largest investors, Virgin Australia’s board said it had decided against a privatisation. The carrier, which has a market value of A$2.2 billion ($1.7 billion), raised ...

Bloomberg HNA Group Co. is planning to cut 100,000 jobs, or about a quarter of its global workforce, this year amid a liquidity squeeze, Risk Event-Driven and Distressed Intelligence reported. The Chinese group plans to eliminate jobs in areas such as human resources, business operations and asset restructuring, REDD reported, citing the people. Job cuts will also target units that ...

Bloomberg Starbucks Corp. Chairman Howard Schultz sees a blessing in all the empty storefronts across the US. Facing a crush of vacancies—and the rise of e-commerce—retail landlords are beginning to cut rents, the executive said. That stands to benefit the world’s largest coffee chain, which has more than 14,000 US locations. “Over the last few weeks, I have been in ...

Bloomberg FedEx Corp. is maintaining discounts for members of the National Rifle Association, even as calls for a boycott mount on social media after a deadly school shooting in Florida. The courier said it “has never set or changed rates for any of our millions of customers around the world in response to their politics, beliefs or positions on issues.” ...

Bloomberg US stocks rose, Treasuries fluctuated and the dollar advanced as investors weighed comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell saying the central bank won’t rush to raise rates even though the economy should pick up steam. Powell’s testimony signalled optimism in economy, while data on durable orders fell well short of estimates and the US balance of trade worsened. ...

Bloomberg As Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election meddling unfolds, investors should expect stocks to fall on major developments, according to a new index aimed at tracking political risks from the probe. The Mueller Risk Index “suggests that increased risk associated with the Mueller investigation (and by extension, the increased risk of impeachment) may hurt stocks but help ...

LONDON / Reuters More than $200 billion of investment in liquefied natural gas is needed to meet a boom in demand by 2030, Royal Dutch Shell, the world’s top LNG trader, said. The LNG market is set to continue its rapid expansion into 2020 as facilities approved for construction in the first half of the decade come on line, in ...

TOKYO / Reuters The United States will overtake Russia as the world’s biggest oil producer by 2019 at the latest, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday, as the country’s shale oil boom continues to upend global markets. IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said at an event in Tokyo the United States would overtake Russia as the biggest crude ...

RIYADH / Reuters Marriott International expects to attract $2 billion of investment in Saudi Arabia in the next four years by almost doubling the number of hotel rooms it operates there, an executive said. The kingdom aims to boost domestic and international tourism in its drive to diversify the economy away from oil exports. It is has set a target ...

Bloomberg Oil traded near a three-week high after a supply disruption in Libya and as investors await US inventory data. Futures in New York slid 0.3 percent after closing at the highest since February 5 as crude exports from a key Libyan terminal were disrupted. The focus now shifts to US stockpiles, which are forecast to have risen last week. ...