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 ...

  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 ...

  Bloomberg European banks are counting the rising cost of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as they brace for a wave of defaults and write down the value of their operations in the country. Led by Societe Generale SA and UniCredit SpA, the region’s lenders have so far flagged a hit of $8.6 billion to their earnings from the war. The ...

  Bloomberg The Czech central bank lifted borrowing costs more than expected to the highest level since 1999 and signalled further monetary policy tightening to come as intensifying inflation pressure eclipses risks to economic growth. Policy makers raised the benchmark rate by 75 basis points to 5.75% — exceeding the forecasts of all analysts in a Bloomberg survey for a ...

  Bloomberg European Central Bank (ECB) Governing Council member Francois Villeroy de Galhau said interest rates may be raised back above zero this year if the euro-zone economy doesn’t suffer another setback. In a speech in Paris, the Bank of France chief also suggested that the ECB should conclude net bond purchases at the end of June — a necessary ...

  Bloomberg Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA swung to a small quarterly profit as new Chief Executive Officer Luigi Lovaglio seeks to revamp the bailed-out bank ahead of a planned capital raising. The bank reported a net income of 9.7 million euros ($10.2 million) in the first three months of the year reversing a fourth quarter loss, according ...

  Bloomberg Poland’s central bank pledged to continue fighting inflation after its interest-rate increase fell short of market expectations and weakened the zloty. Policy makers in Warsaw lifted the benchmark rate by 75 basis points to 5.25%, the highest level since 2008. Most economists predicted a full percentage-point increase. Future decisions will hinge on the prospects for inflation and economic ...

Bloomberg Societe Generale SA benefited from higher interest rates and market volatility in the first quarter, helping offset rising costs as the French lender prepares to exit its Russian business. Revenue in the first three months rise 17%, beating analysts’ estimates, driven by its international banking operations, gains in French retail banking and across investment banking units. The Paris-based bank ...

  Bloomberg Opec and its allies once again ratified a small monthly increase in production, even as global markets look set to tighten because the European Union is considering banning supplies from Russia. International consumers have called on Saudi Arabia and its partners to fill the gap left by a boycott of Russian crude and help ease the inflationary pain ...

  Bloomberg Germany signed contracts to charter four floating terminals to import liquefied natural gas in partnership with utilities RWE and Uniper as it races to reduce its energy dependence on Russia. Shipping companies Hoegh LNG and Dynagas will each provide two of the LNG terminals — which together have the capacity to convert at least 20 billion cubic meters ...