Bloomberg European natural gas prices headed for a third straight weekly decline as fears over further disruptions to Russian supplies waned. Benchmark futures fell as much as 4.3%, hitting the lowest level since the start of the war in Ukraine. Russian shipments are expected to remain stable, even as flows through one cross-border point in Ukraine remain cut off ...

The first tourists have begun to trickle back into Japan, with a few guided tour groups arriving in a small experiment designed to get locals used to the idea of foreign visitors. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is promising to let in more package tours starting next month as the country starts to reopen. Foreigners have actually been visible for several ...

High-end shoppers are still spending, for now at least. After Kohl’s Corp Chief Executive Officer Michelle Gass pointed to a “bifurcation” of consumers, as some Americans traded up to premium brands while others downshifted to cheaper private labels, upmarket department store Nordstrom Inc has continued the polarisation theme. The seller of $1,000 Mach & Mach shoes and $2,000 Burberry trench ...

  It’s rare to see the Labour Party offer such a fulsome embrace of a set of Conservative policy announcements. Then again, opposition leader Keir Starmer’s shadow bench was really cheering Boris Johnson’s government adopting Labour calls for a windfall tax on energy companies and more help for consumers hit with cost-of-living increases. Democracy in action. Chancellor of the Exchequer ...

  The mass murder of children in Uvalde, Texas, coming just 10 days after the mass murder of shoppers in Buffalo, New York, moved former Senator Bill Frist — who was the majority leader of a Republican Senate when President George W Bush was in the White House — to issue a statement on guns: “We can find ways to ...

Bloomberg Delta Air Lines Inc is cutting flights just ahead of the busy Memorial Day weekend and through the summer to help it recover faster from bad weather, higher-than-expected worker absences and other issues that have rattled recent operations. The airline said it will trim about 100 flights a day in the US and Latin America from July 1 through ...

Bloomberg Alibaba Group Holding Ltd soared after reporting revenue rose a better-than-expected 9%, reassuring investors trying to come to grips with the economic cost of sweeping lockdowns intended to eradicate Covid-19. The shares rose more than 12% in Hong Kong after the company reported revenue climbed to 204.05 billion yuan ($30.3 billion) in the March quarter, beating analysts’ projections. Chief ...

  Bloomberg Australian retailers recorded a fourth consecutive month of sales gains, suggesting cashed-up households are so far weathering a spike in the cost of living from surging fuel and other prices. Sales advanced 0.9% in April to a fresh record $24.1 billion and just shy of economists’ estimates for a 1% increase, Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed. “Cost ...

Bloomberg Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd has started a review that could lead to the shuttering of its pilot bases in the US, the Hong Kong carrier’s last overseas outpost, as it continues to cut costs to stem a cash drain from operating so few flights during the Covid crisis. Cathay has bases in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and ...

  Bloomberg India’s flying public is becoming increasingly frustrated with the nation’s airlines, according to a survey undertaken for Bloomberg, saying that customer service and the behaviour of airline staff has deteriorated sharply in the wake of Covid-19. Some 79% of the 15,000 airline passengers surveyed by LocalCircles said they believe carriers in India are compromising on passenger comfort and ...