Bloomberg US consumer borrowing surged in February by the most on record, reflecting outsized increases in both credit-card balances and non-revolving loans. Total credit jumped $41.8 billion from the prior month after a revised $8.9 billion gain in January, Federal Reserve figures showed. The increase exceeded all estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists. On an annualised basis, borrowing ...

  Bloomberg Some of the world’s biggest automakers are linked through their suppliers to labour programs in China’s Xinjiang region that experts have flagged as coercive, according to a new report by Horizon Advisory, a ..-based consultancy. The concerns center around the production of aluminum, raising questions for another key industry about alleged human rights abuses in its supply chain. ...

Bloomberg The German government is working on a financial-aid package for companies suffering from the fallout of the Ukraine war and the economic sanctions against Russia. The support measures, which are being assembled by the economy ministry, will include a loan program by the KfW state-owned bank as well as direct financial aid, according to a person involved in the ...

  Bloomberg The Panama Canal Authority proposed a comprehensive restructuring of its toll system, which would increase rates charged on cargo such as vehicles, oil and gas and soybeans that cross the waterway as ocean shippers rake in record profits. The changes would reduce the current structure to fewer than 60 tariffs from 430 now and focus on vessel capacity ...

Bloomberg Hungarian inflation continued to accelerate as the effects of record pre-election spending, weaker currency and a surge in oil prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine fed through to prices across the economy. Consumer price rises an annual 8.5% in March, the highest level since 2007, the Budapest-based statistics office said in a statement. The median estimate in a Bloomberg ...

  Bloomberg European equities started the week on a negative note as investors weighed an array of risks from China’s Covid-19 flare up to an uncomfortably tight race for the French presidency, surging bond yields and the war in Ukraine. The Stoxx 600 Europe Index falls 0.2% as of 8:52 am in London, tracking Asian stocks lower. Technology stocks were ...

  Bloomberg Bitcoin’s tendency to move in tandem with technology stocks means the biggest cryptocurrency may slump to $30,000 by June, according to Arthur Hayes, the co-founder of crypto trading platform BitMEX. Hayes, in a blog post on Monday, also said the same dynamic could drive Ether to $2,500. The tokens traded at around $42,300 and $3,180, respectively, at 12:43 ...

  DUBAI / WAM The 1 Billion Meals initiative, the largest food donation drive of its kind in the region, has collected 76 million meals within just six days. Organised by Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives (MBRGI), the initiative provides food support to the underprivileged and the undernourished in 50 countries around the world, especially vulnerable groups of ...

Bloomberg Oil retreated for a second week in the wake of plans for massive stockpile releases, a demand-sapping virus outbreak in China and a hawkish turn from the US Federal Reserve. West Texas Intermediate fell 1% this week, with the US benchmark giving back most of its gains since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February. Oil rallied to the highest ...

  ABU DHABI / WAM The ‘Library on Wheels’ initiative, operated by the Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (Adek), will continue its tour of the emirate on a year-long basis. This comes after a series of successful pop-ups at schools and key locations in Abu Dhabi city during March, as part of the ‘Abu Dhabi Reads’ programme. Part ...