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Bloomberg The US is open to facing “repercussions” if it doesn’t live up to its commitments in a potential trade deal with China, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said, in a sign that the two sides are edging closer to an accord. “There are certain commitments that the United States is making in this agreement, and there are certain commitments that ...

Bloomberg India is witnessing a listless growth in electricity demand, possibly signalling more slowdown in Asia’s third-largest economy. Electricity requirement from distribution utilities in February rose 1.3 percent from a year earlier and barely changed from January’s 1.1 percent, the weakest growth in two years, according to the power ministry’s Central Electricity Authority. Data for power generation, a proxy for ...

Bloomberg Publicis Groupe SA agreed to buy digital marketing firm Epsilon from Alliance Data Systems Corp. for $4.4 billion in cash, propelling the French advertising group further beyond a weakening conventional ad business in its biggest takeover yet. Epsilon’s services span loyalty programs to email marketing and its Conversant unit collects consumer data including transactions, location and web activity. The ...

Bloomberg For all the ink spilled over climate change and the global energy transition, the world’s biggest energy companies are focusing on where it all began: American oil. Chevron Corp.’s $33 billion acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum Corp.will make the US company the largest producer in the dusty plains of the Permian Basin by giving it control of an oil-rich area ...

Bloomberg Investor unrest is increasing after Bayer AG sweetened Chief Executive Officer Werner Baumann’s bonus even as court battles over Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller have destroyed billions in the company’s market value. Shareholder and corporate governance expert Christian Strenger, a former CEO of DWS Investment, filed a motion proposing that members of the supervisory board not be discharged of responsibility for ...

Bloomberg The year was 1989 and Mark Read, armed with degrees from top-tier academic institutions and an appetite for business, wrote an application to Martin Sorrell, the founder of a little-known advertising outfit snapping at the heels of the titans on Madison Avenue. The letter landed Read his first job at WPP Plc and in the next years, the soft-spoken ...

Emirates Business The Abu Dhabi Smart Solutions and Services Authority (ADSSSA) announced it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Microsoft to establish a ‘cloud centre of excellence’ that will aim to build its capacity for the delivery of cloud services and platforms, as well as upskill the emirate’s public sector workforce. This partnership is aligned with ADSSSA’s strategy ...

Bloomberg Oil optimists pushed bullish wagers to a six-month high as the rally in prices continued. Money managers raised optimistic wagers on Brent crude for a fifth straight week while closing out pessimistic bets by the most since January as turmoil in major oil-producing nations heightened supply concerns. Short-selling bets on the global benchmark plunged by 18 percent, according to ...

Bloomberg The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned governments not to rock the boat with trade wars and other disruptions at a time when the global economy is already sailing through choppy waters. “We see downside risk and that means one has to be very careful,” IMF First Deputy Managing Director David Lipton told Bloomberg Television. “With trade tensions, not knowing ...

DUBAI / WAM Dubai Customs announced an 8.5 percent increase in customs transactions for the first quarter in 2019. Customs transactions grew to 2.6 million from 2.4 million in the same period of 2018. According to Dubai Customs, if this momentum is kept up, the customs authority is expected to reach 10.5 million transactions by year-end compared to 9.6 million ...