The seemingly impossible, paradoxical news that astronomers had taken a picture of a supermassive black hole captured our imaginations in 2019 for good reason. What they actually showed us was a sort of shadow — a spherical blackness surrounded by a cosmic hurricane of matter and energy — but that was enough to qualify as a sign of real human ...

Cause and effect. Action, reaction. As China cracks down on shadow finance, private companies and state giants alike are learning that the karmic wheel of money can come to a screeching halt. In April 2018, China unveiled far-reaching rules for its financial industry as part of an effort to curb risk. Banks were asked to spin off their wealth-management arms, ...

The much-anticipated arrival of virtual banking in Singapore is unlikely to be an “aha” moment for consumer finance, but corporate banking will be different. One should expect disruption. The application period for Singapore’s first internet-only lenders ended last week with five known hopefuls, so far, for as many licenses on offer. The move mirrors the grant of eight licenses in ...

Workers are delivering more, and they’re getting a lot less,” argued former Vice President Joe Biden in a speech at the Brookings Institution this summer. “There’s no correlation now between productivity and wages. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democratic presidential rival, agrees. Her campaign website states that “wages have largely stagnated,” even though “worker productivity has risen steadily.” The claim that ...

Vivendi SA investors should be sighing with relief. The French media conglomerate announced that it plans to sell 10% of its Universal Music Group (UMG) record label to a group led by Tencent Holdings Ltd., the Chinese internet giant. The 3 billion euro purchase ($3.4 billion) implies an equity valuation of 30 billion euros for all of UMG, as the music ...

Bloomberg US equity futures were steady on Tuesday and stocks in Europe and Asia advanced as investors attempted to set aside their fears about escalating tensions in the Middle East. Treasuries fluctuated and the euro declined. Markets were roiled before the European open when an Iranian news agency said the country is assessing scenarios for its response to the US ...

Bloomberg Investors are snapping up Chinese financial assets, encouraged by progress on trade and signs that the world’s second-largest economy may be stabilising. Improving confidence helped stoke a 0.5% rally in the yuan on Tuesday, pushing it to its strongest level since early August. The currency punched past the key 6.95-per-dollar level, and traded on the strong side of its ...

Bloomberg SBI Holdings Inc and Japanese internet-service provider GMO Internet Inc are about to start extracting Bitcoin at the world’s largest crypto mine, located in the industry’s new hotspot: Rockdale, Texas. The two firms have in principle agreed with Northern Bitcoin AG subsidiary Whinstone Inc to process cryptocurrency transactions at the German company’s facility within the coming months, according to ...

Bloomberg JetBlue Airways Corp said it will become the first large US airline to offset emissions from all of its domestic flights, aiming to become carbon neutral by July as pressure grows on the industry from climate change activists. The carrier also will begin using sustainable aviation fuel on its flights from San Francisco International Airport, the New York-based airline ...

Bloomberg American Airlines Group Inc has reached a settlement with Boeing Co over last year’s financial blow from the 737 Max grounding, and the carrier said it would share about $30 million of the proceeds with employees. The companies are still in talks over compensation for damages beyond 2019, American said in a statement. The Max’s absence since March shaved ...