DUBAI / Reuters Banking shares dragged Saudi Arabian stocks lower on Sunday while most other Gulf markets were sluggish as investors waited for third-quarter corporate earnings announcements. Good news on Egypt’s International Monetary Fund loan boosted that market. The Saudi stock index sank 2.2 percent as the banking index tumbled 4.5 percent. Banque Saudi Fransi plunged by its 10 percent ...

Bloomberg U.S. stock market investors have put Dec. 14 firmly in their crosshairs. Amid a range of reports showing the U.S. economy can withstand an interest-rate increase, investors are punishing industries likely to suffer with tighter monetary policy and shifting cash into groups that benefit from higher borrowing costs and economic growth. The S&P 500 Index tumbled 0.7 percent to ...

  Bloomberg The United Nations accord reached to clean up pollution from international aviation may cost airlines as much as $23.9 billion annually by 2035. The companies see it as a victory. The landmark deal brokered in Montreal creates a global system requiring airlines to compensate for emissions growth after 2020 by funding environmental initiatives. That spares carriers from exactly ...

  Bloomberg Improvements in Old Navy’s product selection brought a sales surge to Gap Inc.’s biggest chain last month — and the stock’s biggest rally in almost eight years. The brand’s same-store sales gained 4 percent in September, Gap said. Analysts had projected growth of less than 1 percent, according to Retail Metrics. The results helped offset an overall sales ...

  AFP Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific bid farewell to its Boeing 747 fleet with a final low-altitude flyby over the city’s iconic skyline. The final route harked back to dramatic images of the planes flying low over rooftops of apartment blocks as they used to approach the old airport on the harbour. The flight, codenamed CX8747, flew over ...

  AFP At first glance there’s nothing out of the ordinary about the regional airport in George, a town of just 150,000 residents on South Africa’s south coast. In fact though, the small site is Africa’s first “green” airport to be powered by the sun. The control tower, escalators, check-in desks, baggage carousels, restaurants and ATMs — every service here ...

  Bloomberg Itau Unibanco Holding SA, Latin America’s largest bank by market value, agreed to buy Citigroup Inc.’s retail-banking business in Brazil for 710 million reais ($220 million), taking over operations that the US company has maintained in the country for more than 100 years. The purchase includes Citi’s 71 branches in the South American country as well as its ...

  Bloomberg As the price of oil stays stubbornly low, investors in the Middle East are turning to deals. Mergers and acquisitions activity in the Gulf region is set to accelerate as lower oil prices force governments and corporations to consolidate fragmented industries, according to Bank of America Corp. (BofA) “The drop in oil prices has made people in the ...

  Bloomberg Bank Leumi Le-Israel Ltd. expects to end its five-year dividend drought in early 2017 as it’s “very close” to clearing the main regulatory hurdle standing in its way, Chief Executive Officer Rakefet Russak-Aminoach said. The Bank of Israel requires lenders to meet a Tier 1 capital ratio of 10.25 percent by Jan. 1. The Tier 1 ratio is ...

  Bloomberg Global banking regulators are sticking to their guns on capital standards in the face of intense European pressure to soften planned rule-changes. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision will wrap up work on the post-crisis capital framework on schedule by the end of the year, William Coen, the regulator’s secretary general, said. Key elements criticized by European Union ...