Bloomberg A Chinese startup has developed a flying car that it plans to roll out as soon as next year. EHang Inc.’s E-184 drone can carry one passenger in its small cockpit, but the firm says it’s working on a model that can carry two. EHang’s CEO Hu Huazhi says they’ll be in operation as “taxi drones†in Dubai in ...
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Apple’s HomePod stays 3 years behind Amazon’s Echo
Bloomberg Apple Inc. audio engineers had been working on an early version of the HomePod speaker for about two years in 2014 when they were blindsided by the Echo, a smart speaker from Amazon.com Inc. with a voice-activated assistant named Alexa. The Apple engineers jokingly accused one another of leaking details of their project to Amazon, then bought Echos so ...
Read More »Barclays, Lloyds dividends in focus in toughest stress test
Bloomberg UK banks are bracing themselves for their grades in the toughest round of stress tests yet, with the fate of their dividends and strategies at stake as the Bank of England models how the seven largest British lenders will cope in another crisis. On Tuesday the central bank will reveal how they fared in a scenario that includes sharp ...
Read More »Banks squeeze Indian companies harder in $207bn bad loan fight
Bloomberg Roiled by India’s high-profile corporate defaults, the nation’s lenders are tightening the screws on borrowers with stricter debt covenants and greater enforcement as the battle to curb delinquent loans intensifies. Banks are asking for collateral that may amount to one-and-a-half times the value of the debt on new loans extended and are insisting on contracts that allow loans to ...
Read More »BOE’s Tenreyro rules nothing out on interest rates in Brexit era
Bloomberg Bank of England official Silvana Tenreyro said two more interest-rate increases will probably be needed to get inflation back to target, but Brexit will be the real determinant of where policy goes next. Less than a month after the first rate hike in a decade, Tenreyro’s comments reinforce the view of other Monetary Policy Committee members that the path ...
Read More »Colombia central bank cuts frequency of rate decisions
Bloomberg Colombia’s central bank is following Chile’s example and reducing the frequency of its policy meetings to eight a year, from twelve, to give board members more time to weigh key data. The change follows “best international practices†with the policy meeting months decided in accordance with the publication of important economic statistics, central bank Governor Juan Jose Echavarria told ...
Read More »ECB leaves flexibility for bond reinvestments in its guidance
Bloomberg The European Central Bank may be willing to show greater flexibility in how it supports its economy when bond-buying stops. When policy makers extended quantitative easing to at least Septe- mber, they stipulated that money from maturing debt would be reinvested in the same country for as long as the ECB keeps adding to its holdings. In limiting that ...
Read More »Airbus explores single-pilot, autonomous jets to cut costs
Bloomberg Airbus SE is looking to develop autonomous aircraft and technologies that will allow a single pilot to operate commercial jetliners, helping cut costs for carriers, Chief Technology Officer Paul Eremenko said. “The more disruptive approach is to say maybe we can reduce the crew needs for our future aircraft,†Eremenko told Bloomberg. “We’re pursuing single-pilot operation as a potential ...
Read More »Japan’s Uniqlo owner seeks to enter India
Bloomberg Fast Retailing Co., operator of the Uniqlo casual-wear brand, has applied to open stores in India as Asia’s largest clothing chain increases its reliance on overseas markets. The Japanese company submitted an application seeking government approval to do business in India under the Uniqlo brand name, according to a filing on India’s Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion website. ...
Read More »Rolls joins Siemens, Airbus to get hybrid jet flying by 2020
Bloomberg Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc is joining Airbus SE and Siemens AG in their quest to develop a 100-seater hybrid electric aircraft, giving the UK engine maker a seat at the table of a potential promising aviation technology. Rolls is tasked with helping develop a 2 megawatt electric drive for the aircraft, according to people with knowledge of the matter who ...
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