Bloomberg Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd is doubling down on mining customer data. The airline is logging the travel habits of lucrative business-class flyers, such as when they want their seat laid flat, in a bid to individually tailor flights for them, Chief Executive Officer Rupert Hogg said in an interview in Singapore. Cathay seeks to track 23 categories of behaviour …

Bloomberg Saudi Arabia plans to pour 86 billion riyals ($23 billion) into beautifying its capital, Riyadh, with projects expected to create tens of thousands of jobs and provide new leisure opportunities in the city. In addition to the kingdom’s investment, the projects will create opportunities for $15 billion in private sector financing, the government said. Preliminary design work is under …

Dubai / Emirates Business The Middle East and North Africa’s (Mena) data centre spend will reach a record-high of nearly $5 billion in 2019, industry experts said, as organisations drive data centre modernisation as the foundation of their digital transformation. Organisations are modernising data centre infrastructure to optimise costs, increase agility, foster innovation, and operate more efficiently, argues the UAE-based …

ABU DHABI / WAM The Ministry of Economy discussed the means of developing the economic relations between the UAE and the United States (US), as well as their overall cooperation, especially in the area of standards and metrology and their commercial application. Juma Mohammed Al Kait, Assistant Under-Secretary for the Foreign Trade Sector of the Ministry of Economy, explained that …

Bloomberg US equities climbed as investors awaited this week’s central bank decisions, including word from a recently more-dovish Federal Reserve. The euro strengthened while Treasuries slipped. The S&P 500 Index continued rising on Tuesday after climbing to a five-month high the day before. Consumer-discretionary, materials and semiconductor stocks led the charge. The Dow Jones and Nasdaq 100 gauges followed suit, …

Bloomberg The rally in Chinese stocks has been bad news for the Hong Kong dollar. Equity investors are selling the currency for the Chinese yuan and buying mainland shares through the stock trading connects, according to Ronald Man, a strategist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. That’s keeping the Hong Kong dollar lower in the spot market, he said. The …

Bloomberg The pound is a bargain and may strengthen to $1.45 once the uncertainty surrounding Brexit starts to get resolved, according to Merian Global Investors Ltd. The $45 billion London-based money manager has a long position on sterling, betting the economy will improve as soon as the protracted chaos over the UK’s separation from the European Union is over. “Sterling …

Bloomberg China is looking at excluding Boeing Co’s troubled 737 Max jet from a list of American exports it would buy as part of a trade deal with the US, people familiar with the matter said. Boeing jets were featured on a draft list of American products China would buy to reduce its trade surplus with the US, the people …

Bloomberg Delta Air Lines Inc will continue to pursue a takeover of Alitalia SpA’s operations after a potential partner dropped out, leaving the Italian government with only one industry suitor willing to take the unprofitable flag carrier off its hands. The US airline said it was continuing discussions with state-controlled railway Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane SpA about taking a stake …

Bloomberg Prada SpA shares fell to the lowest close since 2016 as slower Chinese spending contributed to an unexpected drop in the Italian fashion house’s annual profit. The Hong Kong-listed luxury group attributed a slump in Asia mostly to Chinese tourists reining in spending in Hong Kong and Macau because of the weakness in the yuan. Other luxury brands, including …