Nothing makes you appreciate air-conditioning like high summer in India. In Delhi, temperatures are running over 100 degrees for much of the day, with two full months still to go before the cooling monsoon rains arrive. Unfortunately, just as everyone decided to crank up their ACs or at least their ceiling fans, electricity supply collapsed under the strain in large ...
Read More »Blog Layout
Philippines economy is great — by the numbers
The Philippines is having the kind of recovery that would make any emerging-market star envious. After a tough pandemic and deep recession, the economy will outpace many of its neighbors this year and leave China — once the gold standard for rapid expansion — in the dust. Whoever wins the presidential election in a few days will inherit a ...
Read More »Don’t expect the Fed to work miracles for you!
Much as expected, the Federal Reserve has raised its policy interest rate by half a percentage point and announced an accelerated schedule for reducing its holdings of financial assets. This is a faster pace of tightening than the central bank intended after its previous meeting in March. With inflation at 5.2% on the Fed’s preferred measure and little sign ...
Read More »British Airways parent slows growth amid staff shortage
Bloomberg British Airways parent IAG SA reported worse-than-expected earnings and tempered plans to boost capacity after staffing shortages at London’s Heathrow airport slowed its UK expansion. Shares of IAG fell 12%, the biggest drop in almost six months, after the company reported a first-quarter operating loss of $769 million. Operations were hit by IT glitches together with the reduced ...
Read More »Airbus to build 75 A320 planes a month by 2025
Bloomberg Airbus SE is pushing ahead with ambitious plans to ramp up production of its bestselling A320-family of jets to 75 a month by 2025. The figure represents a jump from a build rate of about 50 of the narrow-body planes per month right now and the 65 targeted for the middle of 2023, and comes as demand recovers from ...
Read More »Japan Airlines sees return to profit as Tokyo moves to reopen borders
Bloomberg Japan Airlines Co forecast a return to profit this year, betting on a pick-up in domestic and international travel as the nation signals it’s ready to loosen virus-related border controls. JAL forecast net income of 45 billion yen ($345 million) for the fiscal year ending March 2023, topping analysts’ average estimate for around 10.2 billion yen. The airline posted ...
Read More »NJ grocery trips get pricier with ban on paper, plastic bags
Bloomberg New Jersey is the first state to ban both plastic and paper bags, leaving companies and shoppers to find creative workarounds to get their groceries home. ShopRite, with more than 100 New Jersey stores, will charge a flat $1.50 per order for reusable bags. Instacart Inc, which fulfills shoppers’ lists for Aldi Inc, Lidl Ltd, CVS Health Corp and ...
Read More »Amazon customers sue over automatic services renewals
Bloomberg Amazon Inc makes it too hard and unnecessarily confusing to cancel subscriptions for services, some customers claimed in a lawsuit alleging the internet retailer is violating California’s rules on automatic renewal programs. The lawsuit was filed in San Francisco federal court by three California residents who say they signed up for free trials of Amazon services only to ...
Read More »Hong Kong retail sales plunge on virus curbs
Bloomberg Hong Kong’s retail sales plummeted 13.8% in March, the first back-to-back contraction in more than a year as stringent virus restrictions weighed heavily on the economy and crushed consumer spending. The fall in sales value from a year earlier was worse than the median estimate of a 12.6% decline expected by economists in a survey, though it was ...
Read More »Hong Kong’s next leader Lee shows flexibility behind scenes
Bloomberg John Lee became the only candidate for Hong Kong’s top post by proving his willingness to loyally execute Beijing’s demands despite an international outcry. The question now is whether he can convince China that re-opening the Asian financial centre to the world won’t jeopardise its control. Lee, a former cop and security minister, emerged as a leading advocate ...
Read More »