Bloomberg New Zealand’s central bank is not currently preparing retail banks for the introduction of a negative official cash rate, suggesting policy makers will resist cutting it further for the time being. The main reason the Reserve Bank committed to keeping its benchmark rate at 0.25% for at least a year “was to take away the imminent distraction of needing ...

Bloomberg Lenders face continued difficulties in issuing financing under the $349 billion small business relief effort the Trump administration launched a week ago in response to the coronavirus outbreak, leaving mom-and-pop firms at growing risk of failure. Banks have been intermittently shut out of the government’s loan-processing system. They’re manually filling out forms — and are forced to start over ...

Bloomberg The Trump administration wants the 12 largest US airlines to repay a portion of the federal grants they receive to cover their payrolls during the coronavirus crisis. The large carriers, which are set to receive more than $100 million in payroll assistance, are being offered aid packages that would require them to repay 30% of the grants through low-interest ...

Bloomberg FedEx Corp is redeploying aircraft it mothballed earlier this year and plans to add 150 flights over the next month to ferry masks, protective suits and other healthcare supplies to the US from Asia. The activity adds to the usual seven to nine daily flights across the Pacific, said Richard Smith, chief of FedEx Express operations in the Americas ...

Bloomberg EasyJet Plc deferred the delivery of 24 Airbus SE A320-family jets that were due to arrive over the next three years as the carrier moves to protect cash amid the coronavirus pandemic. The handovers will be postponed to an undetermined date, the British low-cost airline said in a statement. The moves will significantly reduce the low-cost airline’s capital expenses ...

Bloomberg As Covid-19 cases began exploding last month, Quinton Martins thought he was doing the prudent thing by canceling a flight to Mexico for a planned vacation with his wife and daughter. But the Northern California man didn’t realise that by doing so he gave up the right to a refund from Alaska Air — even though taking the trip ...

Bloomberg British Airways (BA) has become the first major European carrier to lose its investment grade status amid the Covid-19 pandemic after Fitch cut its credit rating one notch. The flagship British company is unlikely to recover its end-2019 capacity level until 2023, according to Fitch’s baseline forecast. The ratings agency also put the company on negative outlook, reflecting the ...

Bloomberg The fortunes of the Walton family — the pioneers of American bargain shopping — have reached new heights during a pandemic that has otherwise obliterated trillions of dollars of value across global markets. The combined net worth of siblings Alice, Jim and Rob Walton has climbed 2.6% this year to $165.7 billion as recession-wary shoppers flock to Walmart Inc ...

RIYADH / WAM The Joint Forces Command of the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen has declared a comprehensive ceasefire in Yemen for a period of two weeks, starting April 9 at 12:00 KSA time. The two-week period is subject to extension. “Based on its previous announcement on March 25, the Joint Forces Command of the coalition supported the Yemeni ...

Bloomberg Oil rose but trading was volatile as the world’s top producers inched towards a deal to curb output. Brent futures were higher on the day, but fell sharply by about $2 a barrel on concerns that any deal may not be enough to stem rising inventories. The Opec+ meeting discuss curbing output by 10 million barrels a day, said ...