SEOUL / WAM His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and President Moon Jae-in of South Korea, on Wednesday attended — at the Blue House in Seoul — the signing of an agreement between the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), and South Korea’s SK …

GENEVA / WAM As part of its commitment to achieving peace and prosperity in Yemen, the UAE has pledged $500 million for Yemen in 2019. The funding includes grants for United Nations agencies to support Yemen as well as commitments on a bilateral basis, to finance ambitious stabilisation programmes, working with many Yemeni and international partners. The UAE has also …

GENEVA / WAM Aldar Investments Properties has announced it’s acquiring full ownership of Etihad Plaza and Etihad Airways Centre in an AED1.2 billion transaction with Etihad Airways. As part of the deal, Etihad will take 100 percent ownership of Etihad Airways HQ. The three properties were previously held in three 50/50 joint ventures between Aldar Properties and Etihad (the JV). …

Bloomberg Oil climbed in New York as Saudi Arabia signaled that Opec and its allies will keep going with production cuts. West Texas Intermediate futures advanced as much as 2.1 percent. Opec’s most powerful member is inclined to extend the supply cuts into the second half of the year, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said in Riyadh. US stockpiles fell …

DUBAI / WAM The Dubai Maritime City Authority (DMCA) launched the Smart Mobile Service, the latest addition to the maritime innovation and transformation march, with positive interaction from exhibitors and visitors at the Dubai International Boat Show (DIBS) 2019 at Dubai Water Canal. Hailing from the smart car concept, the Smart Mobile Service, is equipped with state-of-the-art technological innov- ations offering …

Bloomberg US equity futures fell alongside European stocks on fresh headwinds from disappointing corporate earnings and geopolitical tension in Asia. The dollar and Treasuries held steady as traders awaited the second half of the Federal Reserve chairman’s testimony to Congress. The Stoxx Europe 600 index declined as Air France-KLM dropped the most ever and Nivea hand-cream maker Beiersdorf cut guidance, …

Bloomberg US companies are finally listening to stock and bond investors that have been pressing corporations to cut their debt loads. General Electric Co. is selling its biopharmaceutical business to Danaher Corp. for more than $21 billion, and using the money to pay down borrowings. Kraft Heinz is slashing its dividend and using the proceeds of asset sales to reduce …

Bloomberg Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said a healthy US economy has faced some “crosscurrents and conflicting signals” that officials in January decided warranted taking a patient approach to future interest-rate changes. With inflation pressures “muted,” the Federal Open Market Committee in its decision last month to keep interest rates unchanged “determined that the cumulative effects’’ of its actions and …

Bloomberg German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet agreed to extend Jens Weidmann’s term as head of the Bundesbank by another eight years from May as he waits to see if he is picked later this year for the top job at the European Central Bank. The decision, which needs formal approval from President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, was taken at a meeting on …

Bloomberg The Bank of Japan may resort to its least preferred tool to expand stimulus next time the yen jumps: more government bond purchases. That’s according to Takahide Kiuchi, a former BOJ policy board member who said the central bank’s favored option — deepening negative interest rates — would face opposition from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration because it would …