Bloomberg Hennes & Mauritz AB surged after the struggling Swedish clothing retailer showed progress coping with a buildup of unsold garments, raising hopes that the worst may be over after a three-year slump in earnings. Inventory dropped slightly as a proportion of sales, easing to 18.2 percent at the end of May from a record 18.9 percent as of last …

WASHINGTON / WAM The United Arab Emirates said on Wednesday that circumstantial and compelling evidence is needed to apportion blame for the last month’s attacks on four oil tankers in the country’s territorial waters. “The UAE is not pointing fingers of accusation at any state for the recent attacks on four oil tankers in the country’s territorial waters since clear, …

Bloomberg Abu Dhabi Financial Group (ADFG) agreed to a reverse merger with Shuaa Capital PSC that will create an investment bank managing $12.8 billion of assets. The deal values the Abu Dhabi firm’s equity at AED1.5 billion ($408 million) to AED1.6 billion, ADFG Chief Executive Officer Jassim Alseddiqi said in an interview on Wednesday. It also gives the combined entity …

DUBAI / WAM The Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD) announced its consolidated financial results for the year ended on December 31, 2018, achieving record revenues of AED232.4 billion ($63 billion) and a net profit of AED21.4 billion. Revenues increased 15.7 percent from the prior year with increases achieved in all key segments and net profit was AED21.4 billion, a decrease …

Bloomberg Oil rose to a four-week high after an industry report signalled a bigger-than-forecast drop in US crude stockpiles, adding impetus to a rally that’s been driven by a tense standoff between Washington and Tehran. Futures in New York gained as much as 2.3 percent. The American Petroleum Institute reported that inventories fell by 7.55 million barrels last week, according …

MEXICO CITY / WAM UAE Ambassador to Mexico Ahmed Hatem Al Menhali met with Mexican Assistant Secretary of Communications and Transportation Carlos Alfonso Moran Moguel. The two sides explored ways of enhancing cooperation between the two countries across different sectors. Al Menhali and Moguel emphasised that their cooperation and partnership would support bilateral projects and initiativ-es, particularly those of overall …

Bloomberg US President Donald Trump said substantial additional US tariffs would be placed on goods from China if there’s no progress on a trade deal after his planned meeting with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the G-20 Summit in Japan. “My Plan B with China is to take in billions and billions of dollars a month and we’ll do less …

Bloomberg Technology shares gained on strong earnings from a leading chipmaker, while Treasuries fell with gold. The Nasdaq indexes rose after Micron Technologies Inc’s profit topped estimates. Chipmakers Intel Corp and Cisco Systems Inc also rallied. The S&P 500 pared early gains as heathcare shares and consumer staples weighed on benchmarks. Futures spiked higher overnight after a CNBC report that …

Bloomberg Bitcoin’s furious run is starting to look more and more like it did at the height of crypto-mania two years ago. The virtual currency surged as much as 14 percent on Wednesday, topping $12,900 for the first time since January 2018, and bringing its gain to about 30 percent. The digital asset has climbed more than 200 percent since …

Bloomberg Three big Chinese banks extended their drop on Wednesday, after a US media report suggested they could face fallout from an investigation into North Korean sanctions violations. China Merchants Bank Co., Bank of Communications Co. and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Co. fell in Shanghai and Hong Kong trading after the Washington Post said that a US judge found three …