Bloomberg New Zealand’s central bank will be closely watching inflation expectations to determine whether it needs to raise interest rates at a faster pace, Assistant Governor Christian Hawkesby said. “Inflation expectations are going to be absolutely key for us,” Hawkesby said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Wellington. “There are things that could make us go faster, and I ...

Bloomberg Stocks in Europe rebounded and US equity futures rose along with Treasury yields as a semblance of calm returned to global markets while investors reconsidered their worst-case scenarios for the omicron coronavirus strain. The Stoxx Europe 600 index jumped more than 1%, recovering some of their worst drop in more than a year, with travel and energy stocks leading ...

Bloomberg The fate of global markets now depends at least in part on laboratories around the world probing the omicron Covid-19 strain, potentially leaving investors with weeks of uncertainty in the wait for answers. The variant detected in Africa is described as highly worrying and international travel bans are proliferating. Scientists are analysing whether it can evade inoculations and the ...

Bloomberg Black Friday deals ranked among the least generous in years as more US consumers headed back to stores on one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Retailers appear to have the “lowest level of clearance goods in five years or more,” Oliver Chen, an analyst at Cowen & Co, said in a report. According to Salesforce.com Inc, ...

Bloomberg South Africa expects to conclude the sale of a majority stake in its state-owned airline to private investors early next year, Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan said. The sale of 51% of South African Airways (SAA) to the Takatso consortium is “certainly moving in the right direction,” Gordhan, who oversees state-owned companies, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. ...

Bloomberg Ikea opened its biggest store in the world in the Philippines, with the new 730,000 square foot facility in Manila a cornerstone of the home-furnishings giant’s expansion plans in Asia. The opening was feted with an event held at the store’s cafeteria attended by Philippine trade secretary Ramon Lopez and foreign minister Teodoro Locsin, where Ikea’s cult-favourite Swedish meatballs ...

Bloomberg Airline shares tumbled the most since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, as an emerging virus variant prompted travel restrictions and fears of crimped demand for flights. The UK has halted arrivals from South Africa and several neighbouring countries for two days and limit access mainly to its own nationals from November 28 onward, with a mandatory 10-day ...

Bloomberg Gap Inc lowered its projection for 2021 sales and profit as supply-chain bottlenecks led to lost sales and higher expenses. The shares fell in late trading. Gap now sees revenue growing about 20% for the full year — down from its previous projection of a 30% gain. Analysts had projected revenue to be 28% higher this year, according to ...

Bloomberg Morgan Stanley is offering to reimburse its Hong Kong employees as much as HK$40,000 ($5,100) to compensate for quarantine costs brought on by the financial hub’s zero-Covid strategy. The one-time reimbursement will be available to all Hong Kong permanent employees when they return from a personal trip to visit immediate family members, including spouses, domestic partners, children, parents and ...

Bloomberg US banks, which have been combining at levels not seen since before the global financial crisis, are now facing the near-term hurdles of stalled approvals and the mounting opposition from Democrats in Washington. All of that is unlikely to keep the string of deals from ultimately continuing, according to analysts. Regional lenders “may tap the brakes” in their merger-and-acquisition ...