Bloomberg Australia’s central bank (RBA) passed up buying bonds last week in its already reduced QE schedule as the rate it targets appears anchored for now. The calm may prove brief as governments at home and abroad start issuing reams of paper to finance their massive fiscal stimulus. The Reserve Bank is expected to maintain its three-year yield target at 0.25% ...

Bloomberg Visa Inc. shares fared better than the rest of the financials’ sector trading after its earnings report highlighted growth in online and electronic payments, even as purchases plunged across the board while the Covid-19 pandemic unfolded. Analysts continue to fear drawn-out economic consequences from lockdowns. Visa slipped about 0.9% while S&P 500 information tech index shed about 2.3%, and ...

Bloomberg Westpac Banking Corp. deferred its dividend after soaring bad-debt provisions and a potential record anti-money laundering fine sent first-half earnings plummeting to the lowest in almost two decades. Cash earnings fell 70% to $636 million in the six months ended March 31, Sydney-based Westpac said on Monday, its smallest profit since 2002. The bank is also considering selling smaller ...

Bloomberg Lloyds Banking Group Plc has begun to count the cost of the coronavirus pandemic to the British economy — and warned that the turmoil had made its old targets obsolete. Britain’s biggest mortgage lender booked a provision of 1.4 billion pounds ($1.75 billion) for possible soured loans as efforts to halt the spread of the virus crushed the economy. ...

Bloomberg Air France-KLM won European Union approval for a 7 billion-euro ($7.7 billion) French aid package that Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said will lead to cutbacks in domestic services. The carrier obtained a state guarantee and a subordinated shareholder loan, a financial life line executives say was needed for its survival in the face of a collapse in revenue ...

Bloomberg Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA’s shareholders approved a restructuring plan that will qualify the struggling carrier for state aid and keep it afloat in the coming months. After the company clinched a deal with creditors following intense talks through the weekend, shareholders approved the plan at an extraordinary general meeting on Monday, according to a statement. The restructuring will see ...

Bloomberg Deutsche Lufthansa AG’s management will face investors on Tuesday as the company races to finalise terms of a multibillion-euro bailout from the German government. Over the weekend, Chief Executive Officer Carsten Spohr told employees that the discussions are moving towards a conclusion. The bailout is expected to stretch to 10 billion euros ($11 billion), with the state likely to ...

Bloomberg Blue Bell Creameries Inc, a Texas-based ice cream maker, agreed to plead guilty and pay $19.35 million in fines for shipping frozen treats tainted with listeria in 2015 and deliberately failing to disclose the contamination to the public, the US Department of Justice said. The company’s former president, Paul Kruse, was charged with seven felony counts related to the ...

Bloomberg High-end cookware chain Sur La Table Inc is preparing for a potential bankruptcy filing after the pandemic forced it to close stores and cancel cooking classes, according to people familiar with the matter. The chain, with about 125 stores, is also pursuing a sale, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the process isn’t public. For ...

Muscat / WAM Mohammed Sultan Al Suwaidi, UAE Ambassador to Oman, hailed relations between the UAE and Oman as historic and based on family ties, lineage, and common history. In a statement to the Oman News Agency, Al Suwaidi said these ties were ”eternal” and ”growing steadily.” According to Al Suwaidi, the two countries maintain regular coordination in many trade ...