Bloomberg Investors are flooding into exchange-traded funds focused on semiconductor stocks, wagering the industry will rebound from the supply-chain snags and chip shortage that have dragged the shares lower. Semiconductor ETFs have seen roughly $6.8 billion of inflows since the beginning of the year, surpassing the $5.2 billion for all of 2021 and the $2.1 billion for the year before, …

Bloomberg South Africa’s Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd is scrutinising contracts to buy power from a government program for private developers to quickly bring on board additional generation. The state-owned utility started scheduled power cuts for the first time in almost a month, cutting 2,000 megawatts from the grid. That was due to breakdowns that affected a range of units, including …

  Bloomberg European natural gas prices edged higher, following seven sessions of declines, with Russian supplies through Ukraine expected to fall. Orders dropped to about 68% of the amount that Gazprom PJSC can send under its transit contract. The Russian company reiterated that flows were in line with requests from customers. Supplies through another pipeline, the Nord Stream, were near …

Bloomberg China is slashing liquefied natural gas (LNG) purchases as soaring global prices deepen import losses and pandemic lockdowns throttle domestic demand. Imports in the first quarter fell 14% from the same period last year, according to shipping data, and private companies are spurning offers to use once-highly coveted slots at state-owned receiving terminals. Consultancy Wood Mackenzie Ltd said it …

Bloomberg EasyJet Plc reiterated its plan to gear up operations to near pre-pandemic levels through the summer high season, as an easing of travel restrictions unleashes pent-up demand. Europe’s second-biggest discount carrier managed to narrow its estimated loss in a fiscal first half roiled by the rise of the omicron variant of Covid-19, and has now turned its focus to …

Bloomberg German billionaire Klaus-Michael Kuehne has doubled his stake in his country’s flagship airline Deutsche Lufthansa AG, cementing his position as the carrier’s second-largest shareholder behind the government. KA Logistik Beteiligungen GmbH, controlled by the the 84-year-old Kuehne, doubled its stake in Lufthansa to 10.01%, according to a filing. The investor plans to be a “long-term, stable and reliable partner” …

Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc sold $12.75 billion of investment-grade bonds for general corporate purposes that may include repaying debt as well as funding acquisitions and share buybacks in its first note sale in about a year. The online retail giant issued senior unsecured bonds in seven parts. The longest portion of the offering, a 40-year security, yields 1.3 percentage points over …

Bloomberg Understaffed airports and airlines from Australia to Europe are struggling to cope with a fresh rush of travellers, with long queues and flight disruptions expected to persist as the busy Easter weekend approaches. The aviation industry axed hundreds of thousands of workers to get through the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic. That left airports and airlines short of staff …

  Bloomberg Rob Walton, the eldest son of Walmart Inc founder Sam Walton, is planning a bid for the National Football League’s Denver Broncos, according to people familiar with the process. A former chairman of the world’s largest retailer, Walton, 77, is the 17th-richest person on Earth with a net worth of $68.9 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. …

Bloomberg Thailand is rushing to vaccinate its elderly citizens and other vulnerable groups ahead of the local New Year celebrations as the festivities are seen fuelling a surge in Covid cases and deaths, potentially derailing a tentative economic and tourism recovery. Millions of Thais will travel to their hometowns from cities such as Bangkok to join families in celebrating Songkran, …