Bloomberg The Bank of England (BOE) is about to try to put a number on normality. After months of research, the central bank will provide an assessment of the Goldilocks interest rate for the first time when it announces its policy decision on August 2. Known as r* (r-star), it’s the rate that keeps the economy neither too hot nor ...

Bloomberg Standard Bank Group Ltd. has allocated $751 million to fund energy projects in South Africa as the continent’s largest lender by assets grows more confident in its home market and invests in riskier ventures. “We are exceedingly optimistic about the future of this country, more so now than in December,” Lungisa Fuzile, the Johannesburg-based lender’s South African head, said. ...

Bloomberg Credit Suisse is shuttering five more exchange-traded notes next month, eliminating a pair of structured products that let investors bet on swings in stock markets and a trio of notes tied to oil prices. The investment bank, which infamously closed the $1.9 billion VelocityShares Daily Inverse VIX Short-Term ETN, ticker XIV, in February amid a maelstrom in which the ...

Bloomberg US airlines plan to comply with a Chinese government demand that they revise their website identifications of Taiwan to reflect China’s claim on the island territory, said a person familiar with the discussions. The US carriers affected by the mandate — American Airlines Group Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc., United Continental Holdings Inc., and Hawaiian Holdings Inc. — will ...

Bloomberg Ryanair Holdings Plc is pulling a fifth of its planes from its Dublin base this winter as the budget carrier moves to counter intensifying labor unrest causing flight disruptions across Europe. The airline said it will cut its Irish fleet by a fifth to 24 aircraft for winter 2018, blaming pilot walkouts for hurting bookings, air fares and consumer ...

Bloomberg Lululemon Athletica Inc. has named Calvin McDonald to lead the surging yogawear brand as it looks to rehabilitate its culture and expand its international presence. McDonald, a 46-year-old native of Canada who most recently served as a top executive at makeup chain Sephora, steps into the CEO role vacated by Laurent Potdevin, Lululemon said in a statement. Potdevin departed ...

Bloomberg Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, is pulling the plug on Ivanka Trump, the purveyor of womens’ fashion. After a year and a half of sporadic controversy over potential conflicts of interest, Trump, a White House adviser, said that she would wind down the company. She made the decision after some big-name department stores dropped her brand, but said in ...

Bloomberg Fosun International Ltd., the Chinese group backed by billionaire Guo Guangchang, is considering an offer for all or parts of Belgian insurer Ageas in what could be its boldest move to expand its international footprint, people familiar with the matter said. Shanghai-based Fosun is talking to advisers about alternatives including teaming up with a partner to split the Brussels-based ...

Bloomberg Facebook Inc.’s apps and websites are still blocked in China, but that’s not stopping the social media giant from trying to open a center in the country to support local startups. Facebook set up a Chinese subsidiary, Facebook Technology (Hang Zhou) Ltd., earlier this month, according to a filing with the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System. The subsidiary, ...

Bloomberg SoftBank Group Corp. plans to announce within days that it will start a mobile digital payments service in Japan by the end of 2018 as billionaire founder Masayoshi Son seeks to expand in the sector, people familiar with the matter said. The service, a collaboration with Indian startup Paytm, will make extensive use of artificial intelligence for mobile payments ...