Bloomberg European Central Bank (ECB) Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel says interest rates will have to move into “restrictive territory” to bring inflation back to target. The danger of a policy overreaction by the ECB “continues to be limited, as real interest rates are still very low,” Schnabel said. Reflecting on the ECB’s string of four interest rate hikes, Schnabel ...

  Bloomberg Mobile money agents in Ivory Coast halted service for Wave Mobile Money Inc few weeks ago, in an attempt to stymie the growth of the young fintech gobbling up market share across West Africa. The agents — brokers who enable unbanked people to store and send money through cellphones — were unhappy with their commissions and expected the ...

  Bloomberg The crowd of hundreds roared in Mandarin as the gull-winged two-seater aircraft rose and hovered roughly 30 meters (100 feet) above their heads, before smoothly lowering back down to earth. In the past months, China’s Xpeng Aeroht has staged two maiden public flights for its aircraft. The 90-second exercise in October was followed by another in Guangzhou, China ...

  Bloomberg Microsoft Corp. is fighting back against allegations from the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that its proposed $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard would harm competition in video-gaming industry. In a filing with the FTC, Microsoft said the tie-up would create more choices for gamers and game developers. “The commission cannot meet its burden of showing that the ...

  Bloomberg Huawei Technologies Co has secured an extension to a patent licensing deal with Nokia Oyj, suggesting the Chinese company continues to lead in networking technology despite years of punishing US sanctions. The announcement indicates appetite for access to Huawei’s next-generation telecom patents remains strong, despite US accusations the Chinese giant poses a threat to national security. Huawei is ...

Bloomberg Stellantis plans to buy a stake in hydrogen company owned by tire-maker Michelin and car-parts supplier Faurecia SE as the automaker tries to bolster its low-emissions offerings. The maker of Fiat and Jeep vehicles will take a “substantial” stake in the Symbio business, with closing of the transaction expected for the first half of 2023, Stellantis said. “This move ...

  Bloomberg Oil rises, heading for second weekly gain, as Russia said it may cut crude production in response to the price cap imposed by the Group of Seven on its exports, highlighting risks to global supplies in the New Year. West Texas Intermediate climbed to $79 a barrel, putting it on course for a gain of about 6% for ...

Bloomberg A massive, once-in-a-decade winter storm is battering the US with blizzard conditions and life-threatening temperatures, while causing mayhem for travellers across the country at the peak of the holiday season. As of Friday, more than 200 million people — around 60% of the nation’s population — were under some form of winter weather warning or advisory, according to the ...

Bloomberg Deutsche Lufthansa AG’s plans to retroactively pay out manager bonuses contravene agreements made with the government as part of the airline’s rescue package, according to Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s chief spokesman. The state stepped in during 2020 to rescue Lufthansa after pandemic-related restrictions all but grounded air travel. While the airline repaid its 9 billion-euro ($9.6 billion) bailout ahead of ...

Bloomberg British consumers have cut back on Christmas gift-giving after the tightest cost-of-living squeeze in memory reduced disposable income, official figures showed. Six in 10 adults in the UK surveyed said they were planning on cutting spending in the holiday period by buying fewer and less expensive presents and eating out less, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. Household ...