Bloomberg Chile’s central bank stunned analysts by cutting its key interest rate by 50 basis points, the biggest reduction in a decade, saying the economy could grow faster without fuelling inflation. Policy makers reduced the benchmark rate to 2.5 percent, surprising all 18 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The analysts had expected borrowing costs to be left unchanged. The bank is …

Bloomberg Fears are mounting at the European Central Bank (ECB) that investors are losing faith in the inflation outlook, in a self-reinforcing spiral that could force the institution to dig deeper into its stimulus toolkit. Staff at the euro zone’s national central banks are worried that inflation expectations are becoming “deanchored,” according to officials familiar with the matter. They cited …

Bloomberg Ocado Group Plc is investing in a pair of vertical-farming ventures as the UK maker of online retail technologies branches out following its mammoth deal with Marks & Spencer Group. The company said it bought a 58 percent stake in Jones Foods Co, Europe’s largest operating vertical farm, based in Scunthorpe, England. Ocado will use its know-how in automation …

Bloomberg Japan believes pilot disorientation, rather than technical problems, caused the loss of one of its stealth F-35A fighter jets earlier this year, Kyodo News reported. Findings compiled by Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force said the pilot was ordered to descend to a lower altitude to avoid a nearby US plane during a training session in April. He responded calmly, but …

Bloomberg An influential New York Democrat has written to Amazon.com Inc asking about a report that the company plans to cease wholesale orders from thousands of smaller suppliers. US Representative Nydia Velazquez, chairwoman of the House Committee on Small Business, wrote to Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos asking about the nature of his company’s relationship with small suppliers, whether …

Bloomberg Starbucks Corp this month will begin a first-of-its kind trial of reusable cups at London’s Gatwick airport. People drink a lot of coffee at airports. Gatwick says it already recycles a majority of the 7 million disposable coffee cups that travellers use each year. The airport wants to improve on that, and reusable cups potentially have a lower carbon …

Bloomberg Boeing Co has been negotiating one of the largest orders ever of wide-body jetliners with Chinese airlines even as tensions between Washington and Beijing escalate, say people familiar with the talks. The discussions centre on about 100 twin-aisle jets: 787 Dreamliners as well as 777X planes, the newest long-range aircraft in Boeing’s lineup, said one of the people, who …

Bloomberg After days of wrangling over the wording of a communique, finance chiefs from the world’s largest economies warned that escalating trade and geopolitical tensions pose the biggest risk to global growth. Officials said that although growth appears to be stabilising, it “remains low and risks remain tilted to the downside,” according to the statement. “Most importantly, trade and geopolitical …

Dubai / Emirates Business The headline seasonally adjusted Emirates NBD UAE Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) — a composite indicator designed to give an accurate overview of operating conditions in the non-oil private sector economy — rose to 59.4 in May from 57.6 in April. This was the third successive monthly increase in the index, with the latest reading signalling a …

Bloomberg US crude explorers reduced drilling to a 15-month low as oil dipped into bear-market territory. Working American oil rigs fell by 11 this week to 789, according to data released by oilfield-services provider Baker Hughes. More than half the decline happened in the Permian Basin, the biggest source of American crude. Crude futures traded in New York fell into …