Bloomberg Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) is boosting its minimum wage and pledging to push it even higher in the next few years as tight labour markets force banks into fierce competition for workers. The lender’s minimum wage will rise to C$20 per hour in Canada and $20 in the US in July, and the bank is committing …

Bloomberg China’s central bank abstained from cutting a key policy interest rate, avoiding further policy divergence from the US that could add pressure on the yuan. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) kept the rate on its one-year medium-term lending facility at 2.85% on Wednesday, in line with most forecasts in a Bloomberg survey of economists. The PBOC also rolled …

  Bloomberg European stocks rallied after their longest slump since March 2020 as the European Central Bank (ECB) announced an emergency meeting “to discuss current market conditions” and ahead of the Federal Reserve rates decision. The Stoxx Europe 600 rises 1.1% at 9:45 am in London. Italy’s FTSE MIB index was up 3%, led by banks, while Italian bonds surged …

  Bloomberg Bitcoin prices tumbled once again, driving the token to the brink of $20,000 on evidence of deepening stress within the crypto industry. The largest cryptocurrency sank 8% to $20,180, the lowest level since December 2020. Bitcoin has fallen for nine days, the longest losing streak since 2014. Losses continued to be widespread, with Ether plunging 10% to $1,062. …

  Bloomberg Oil rises as investors weighed a tight supply outlook and the potential responses from consumers and policy makers alike. West Texas Intermediate gained for a second session, trading above $122 a barrel. President Biden will travel to Saudi Arabia next month and will discuss energy production, according to US National Security Counsel Coordinator John Kirby. The meeting will …

  Bloomberg Air France-KLM vowed to expand low-cost and transatlantic flights after raising 2.26 billion euros ($2.4 billion) to repay a chunk of the state aid that helped the carrier survive the Covid-19 crisis. The proceeds of the rights issue launched last month will be used to reimburse about 1.7 billion euros of bonds issued last year and held by …

  Bloomberg IndiGo, India’s largest airline, looks close to inducting its first freighter plane as it seeks to capture the boom in air cargo driven by the pandemic. An IndiGo CarGo-branded aircraft was spotted at Seletar Airport in Singapore’s north east. Seletar is a much smaller airport than Changi Airport, serving mainly private jets, a few regional commercial flights and …

  Bloomberg Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd flagged it will post a narrower first-half loss than the previous year on continued strong cargo demand and cost-cutting measures. “Our consolidated losses in the first half of 2022, while substantial, are expected to be lower than the consolidated losses reported in the first half of 2021,” Ronald Lam, the airline’s chief customer and …

  Bloomberg Canada plans to end Covid-19 vaccine mandates for domestic air and rail travel, as well as outbound international travel, CBC News reported, citing people with direct knowledge of the decision. An announcement was expected on Tuesday. The government may reinstate the vaccine requirement if there’s a new variant of the virus, CBC reported. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government …

  Bloomberg With the major tourism market of China still mostly sealed off from the rest of the world, AirAsia, the budget carrier of Capital A Bhd, is turning to India to make up the shortfall. “India is definitely a very, very important market,” AirAsia Malaysia Chief Executive Officer Riad Asmat said on the sidelines of the Aviation Festival Asia …