March, 2016

• 13 March

  Canada banks to cap second gain, stocks rally with crude

  

  Ottawa / Bloomberg Canadian stocks rose, joining a rally in global markets as growing optimism on European stimulus overshadowed a surprise increase in Canada’s jobless rate. The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index rose 1.1 percent to 13,522 in Toronto, to the highest since December 1 while capping a second weekly increase. The resurgent S&P/TSX is one of the best-performing developed ...

  Read More »
• 13 March

  Blackstone agrees to sell hotels to Anbang for $US6.5 billion

  Bloomberg Blackstone Group LP agreed to sell Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc. to China’s Anbang Insurance Group Co. for about $6.5 billion, just three months after it purchased the U.S. luxury-resort company, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The price is about $450 million more than Blackstone paid for Strategic in December. The New York-based private equity firm ...

  Read More »
• 13 March

  Property prospectors invading Kiwi capital pose RBNZ dilemma

  

  Bloomberg Wellington real estate agent Gareth Robins says he’s taken more calls from Auckland investors in the past six months than he has in the past six years. With the housing boom in Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, showing signs of coming to an end, investors there are looking further afield, and they have more buying power than owners in ...

  Read More »
• 13 March

  Boeing delivered 200 jetliners to China in 2015

  

  BEIJING / Bloomberg Boeing Co. delivered a record number of airplanes to China last year, outpacing rival Airbus Group SE, and is predicting more wide-body orders this year as mainland carriers attempt to harness booming demand for international travel. Of the 200 jetliners Boeing delivered to airlines and lessors based in China last year, 28 were wide-bodies, Darren Hulst, the ...

  Read More »
• 13 March

  Air France’s low-cost unit may grow beyond Munich

  

  Bloomberg Air France-KLM Group’s Transavia discount arm plans to open a second base beyond its home markets of France and the Netherlands in summer 2017 after the first in Munich starts flights this month. Transavia has shortlisted a number of possible hubs, with more German locations under consideration, and will make its choice based on the availability of operating slots, ...

  Read More »
• 13 March

  China’s Juneyao Air to add up to 10 aircraft, eyes Russia route

  

  Bloomberg Juneyao Airlines Co. plans to add nine or 10 aircraft this year, as it considers opening routes to Thailand and Russia, company Chairman Wang Junjin said in an interview Sunday on the sidelines of the National People’s Congress in Beijing. Wang also said the company’s January-February revenue increased by 40 percent year-on-year, as it looks forward to further benefits ...

  Read More »
• 13 March

  US-based Gulf Oil LP to enter Mexico gas station market

  

  MEXICO / AP US-based Gulf Oil LP said it is entering Mexico’s gasoline retail market, becoming the first foreign company to do so under an energy overhaul that loosened more than seven decades of government monopoly in the sector. The company will open its first four gas stations in Mexico in June and July and aims to operate at least ...

  Read More »
• 13 March

  Instacart gets Red Bull and Doritos to pay your delivery fees

  

  Bloomberg Online shoppers hate paying delivery fees. So Instacart Inc. is getting Pepsi to foot the bill. The grocery delivery start-up is working with General Mills Inc., Nestlé SA, PepsiCo Inc., Unilever NV, and other consumer goods makers to cover the cost of delivery or provide other discounts when customers buy their products. In addition to the coupons, the companies ...

  Read More »
• 13 March

  Surging iron ore China’s next bubble?

  

  AFP With a huge global steel glut and slowing demand in China, an enormous recent spike in the price of iron ore has left analysts scratching their heads, with some even claiming a flower show might be to blame. But observers say the extraordinary movements for one of the world’s basic bulk commodities have been fuelled by something far more ...

  Read More »
• 13 March

  Robot concierges to ensure your comfy stays

  

  AFP In a hotel not in a galaxy far, far away, a robot bids you welcome as you pull into the driveway. Another hands out the keycard to your room, and a third gives you the password to the wifi network. Robots are making an entry into the hospitality industry that has until now always prided itself on delivering a ...

  Read More »