Bloomberg Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva defended the use of additional tools besides interest rates to rein in inflation, including a more active policy to reduce foreign exchange volatility and the regulation of fuel prices and food stocks. In a 180-page message to lawmakers on Thursday, Lula blamed his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro for abandoning the use of “important ...
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Italy to study KKR’s offer for Telecom Italia
Bloomberg Italy will “study the details†of KKR & Co’s offer for Telecom Italia SpA, Economy and Finance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said. The government, which is stakeholer of the belaguered phone carrier, will “evaluate the offer when it has full information on it†Giorgetti said Friday in Rome, according to Ansa newswire. The minister reiterated that the government’s goal ...
Read More »Tesla expected to announce Mexico project soon, Ebrard says
Bloomberg Tesla Inc. is expected to announce an investment in Mexico very soon as the country works to expand infrastructure and renewable energy supply to take advantage of a boom in companies relocating, Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard said. The Mexican government has been working with the carmaker led by billionaire Elon Musk to help it find a location to ...
Read More »US labor market seen cooling, but not nearly enough for Fed
Bloomberg US hiring likely continued to moderate at the start of the year, though still-solid wage growth, an unemployment rate near historical lows and high vacancies are seen stiffening the Federal Reserve’s resolve to keep rates elevated for some time. Friday’s jobs report is expected to show payrolls rose by 190,000 in January. Economists also estimate that average hourly ...
Read More »Royal Mail outsources £8.8 billion pension pot to BlackRock
Bloomberg The Royal Mail Pension Plan is handing BlackRock Inc. an £8.8 billion ($10.9 billion) mandate to be its outsourced chief investment officer. The world’s largest asset manager will lend its trading capabilities and technology to the pension plan, while using staff from the in-house investment team, according to a statement on Thursday. The plan pays for the retirements ...
Read More »US to tap traditional African crops to solve food insecurity
Bloomberg The US is launching a new initiative to identify and invest in climate adaptation for Africa’s most nutritious crops in a bid to deal with growing hunger on the continent. The program, announced by the US State Department together with the United Nations’s Food and Agriculture Organization and the African Union on Wednesday, will seek to identify crops in ...
Read More »KKR makes bid for Telecom Italia grid
Bloomberg KKR & Co. has made a non-binding bid for a stake in Telecom Italia SpA’s multi-billion-euro network, the Italian carrier said on Thursday, as Chief Executive Officer Pietro Labriola seeks to turn the business around. The shares gained as much as 14% in Milan on Thursday following the announcement of the bid. Telecom Italia has struggled under a ...
Read More »Intel’s planned US chip plant has bankers looking for deals
Bloomberg Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP’s $15 billion commitment last year to help finance Intel Corp.’s giant new semiconductor complex in Arizona, the first deal of its kind, sent investors and bankers racing to find similar opportunities. Brookfield, a major infrastructure investor, put up $2 billion in equity and borrowed $13 billion from a mix of foreign banks, pension funds ...
Read More »Worst UK strikes for a decade shut schools and stop trains
Bloomberg Swathes of office staff have been forced to work from home Wednesday as widespread industrial action closes schools and cripples Britain’s rail network. As many as 475,000 union members are on strike, demanding pay rises that do more to combat the cost-of-living crisis. Many were given salary increases of less than 5% last year, even as inflation climbed above ...
Read More »Swedish bankruptcies 10-year high as housing crunch hits builders
Bloomberg The number of Swedish bankruptcies soared to the highest level in at least a decade in January, as construction companies come under pressure from an ongoing housing-market rout. The number of companies filing for bankruptcy increased by 47% from a year earlier in January, to 622, according to credit reference agency UC. The data highlights the effects of ...
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