Bloomberg Euro-area consumer prices rose less than initially estimated in January, increasing the pressure on the European Central Bank to take steps to sustain the region’s recovery. The inflation rate was 0.3 percent, less than the 0.4 percent reported on Jan. 29, data from the European Union’s statistics office showed on Thursday. ECB policy makers will review their stimulus package …

BLOOMBERG Barclays Plc cut the bonus pool for its investment bank by about 10 percent to 12 percent, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Individual employee variable pay for 2015 would have dropped more if the London-based bank wasn’t cutting 1,200 jobs worldwide and closing operations across Asia, said the people, who asked not to be identified because …

Wellington / Bloomberg Air New Zealand more than doubled first-half profit and said it expects full-year earnings to surge at least 70 percent as lower fuel prices and growing passenger numbers boost revenue. Net income jumped 154 percent to NZ$338 million ($225 million) in the six months to December 31, the Auckland-based airline said Thursday. Pretax earnings climbed to NZ$457 …