News

  Bloomberg Euro-area economic confidence unexpectedly slipped this month, an indication that the region’s recovery may not be as immune from political uncertainty as anticipated. An index of executive and consumer sentiment in the region dipped to 107.9 from 108 in February, the European Commission in Brussels said on Thursday. While that’s lower than the 108.3 median estimate in a ...

  Bloomberg One of the world’s biggest drugmakers has a new plan to get more medicines to more people: tapping funds from wealthy investors to build up health-care systems in low-income countries. Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis AG is in talks with banks to create a fund for investors interested in opportunities that have a social impact, Harald Nusser, the company’s ...

  Bloomberg Native Americans and conservation groups moved to challenge the Trump administration’s decision to restart coal leasing on federal lands, arguing in a legal filing that the activity violates federal environmental laws. The groups filed their lawsuit in a Montana-based federal court, hours after Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke signed an order to resume selling rights to mine federally owned ...

  Bloomberg The inflation rate in Spain weakened this month for the first time in almost a year, possibly prefiguring a broader slowdown across the euro area. Consumer-price growth came in at an annual 2.1 percent in March, weaker than economists had predicted and down from 3 percent in February. The rate is still much stronger than a year ago, ...

  Bloomberg The US economy grew in the fourth quarter at a faster pace than previously reported on higher consumer spending, Commerce Department data showed Thursday in Washington. Gross domestic product rose at a 2.1 annualized pace (forecast was for 2 percent), revised from 1.9 percent. Consumer spending, the biggest part of the economy, rose at a 3.5 percent rate, ...

  Bloomberg Many of America’s biggest corporations including Apple Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. are sticking by their pledges to fight climate change even as President Donald Trump guts his predecessor’s environmental policies. Companies say their pledges, coordinated by the Obama administration, reflect their push to cut energy costs, head off activist pressure and address a risk to their bottom ...

  Bloomberg JPMorgan Chase & Co. is in talks to buy a Dublin office building as the bank considers expanding in the Irish capital as one of its options for when Britain leaves the European Union, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The lender is negotiating the potential purchase of a building in Dublin’s Capital Dock that’s being ...

  Bloomberg Volkswagen AG will soon do what’s been impossible since its emissions crisis began: sell diesel-powered cars in the US. The company received approval from the Environmental Protection Agency for its dealers to sell 2015 model year diesels after updating the vehicles’ emissions software, VW Group of America spokeswoman Jeannine Ginivan said. The software update is part of a ...

  ABU DHABI / WAM The move towards quality healthcare as well as an increase in demand for preventive care and digital health will contribute to a massive 60 percent growth of the UAE’s healthcare sector in five years, according to a new study by MENA Research Partners (MRP), a leading research company in the region. The current AED64 billion ...

  ABU DHABI / WAM ZonesCorp, the largest developer and operator of purpose-built industrial zones in the UAE, unveiled a new development designed to support the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises, SMEs, in Abu Dhabi. The new zone being developed by ZonesCorp will feature 261 prefabricated, ready-to-use units covering an area of just over 300,000 square metres. Overall, 80 ...