Bloomberg Almost 1.2 million people took to the skies in the US, the most since Covid-19 erupted, despite warnings against large gatherings and travel during the holidays. People flocked to airports in past week, according to Transportation Security Administration (TSA) data. An average of more than 1 million people a day passed through TSA screening over the past week, which ...

Bloomberg Venezuela’s opposition-dominated National Assembly voted to continue meeting beyond its five-year term that ends on January 5, giving the nation two competing legislative bodies after members boycotted the congressional election pushed by autocrat Nicolas Maduro. The move paves the way for opposition leader Juan Guaido to remain as the “president in charge,” though lawmakers voted to impose more checks ...

Bloomberg Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou’s favoured successor, Mohamed Bazoum, is the front-runner to win the elections, after the main opposition challenger was barred from standing. Issoufou, 68, is stepping down after serving two five-year terms. His departure paves the way for the first-ever peaceful transition of power between two elected leaders in the West African nation, which has had four ...

Bloomberg The Japanese government will ban entry to most foreigners through the end of January as coronavirus cases reach record highs there and the nation confirmed its first cases of the new, more infectious Covid strain. The restrictions will be implemented on Monday, the government said in a statement. Japanese nationals and foreigners with residency who are returning from short ...

Bloomberg Ghana’s main opposition leader is planning a legal challenge to his presidential election defeat. John Dramani Mahama will file a petition to the nation’s supreme court on December 29 seeking a recount, a member of his legal team said by phone. Mahama, the National Democratic Congress candidate, got 47.4% of the vote, compared with 51.6% for incumbent President Nana ...

Bloomberg Credit Suisse Group AG signalled that business continued a mixed performance in the fourth quarter and warned that reaching a profit target next year will depend on the impact of the pandemic. The investment bank “continues to perform well,” with revenue higher than in last year’s fourth quarter, Credit Suisse said in a statement, without providing more details. In ...

Bloomberg Australia’s prudential regulator has abolished its cap on bank dividend payments as the economic recovery takes hold, though urged lenders to ensure payouts are sustainable. From the start of 2021, banks will no longer be held to a minimum level of earnings retention, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority said in a statement. In April, it had recommended lenders defer ...

Bloomberg If three’s a trend, then US regional bank tie-ups are in the middle of one. Huntington Bancshares Inc.’s $6 billion purchase of TCF Financial Corp., announced, marks the third multibillion-dollar regional bank deal in as many months, and industry executives say more mergers and acquisitions are likely. “Covid put the M&A market into a deep freeze, and we are ...

Bloomberg Australia’s central bank has put together a gauge of “news sentiment” to measure the balance of negative and positive words used in journalists’ articles on the economy in order to help track perceptions. The index “complements other timely survey-based sentiment indicators in its ability to ‘nowcast’ the economy,” Reserve Bank of Australia economists Kim Nguyen and Gianni La Cava ...

Bloomberg The Bank of Thailand kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged for a fifth straight meeting to preserve its limited policy space, while reiterating concerns about a currency rally and lowering its economic growth forecast for next year. The central bank held the policy rate at 0.5% in a unanimous decision, after cutting by a total of 75 basis points ...