February, 2023

• 20 February

  Ohio senator blames corporate greed for train crash, toxic spill

    Bloomberg Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown said corporate maneuvers that favor shareholders and company executives are to blame for safety lapses leading up to a train derailment that spilled toxic chemicals in a town in his home state. “This is the same old story — corporations do stock buybacks, they do big dividend checks, and they lay off workers,” Brown ...

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• 20 February

  European gas price rises with late-winter cold snap in sight

    Bloomberg European natural gas prices rose on the prospect of a late-winter cold snap, after falling last week to the lowest level in almost 18 months. Benchmark futures advanced as much as 5.4% after dropping below €50 on Friday. Temperatures in cities including London and Madrid could fall from unseasonably high levels by the end of the week, with ...

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• 20 February

  Bill Gates sees IRA driving ‘healthy’ growth in new energy technology

  

    Bloomberg US government incentives to promote investments into nascent technologies such as green hydrogen will have a “healthy” impact, even as they risk distorting the trade in electric cars between Europe and the US, Bill Gates said. Speaking in a podcast interview with the head of Norway’s $1.3 trillion sovereign wealth fund, Nicolai Tangen, Gates extolled government policies for ...

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• 20 February

  Danish industrial workers reach wage deal

    Bloomberg Denmark’s industrial workers reached a new pay deal with employers to offset falling purchasing power in the first of a string of wage agreements expected in the coming months. The deal, which covers 230,000 workers, is expected to set the tone for talks in other industries under the Danish model where employers and unions agree on work conditions ...

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• 20 February

  Uniqlo’s quest to conquer US, one cashmere sweater at a time

  

    Bloomberg The biggest challenge to Japanese fashion giant Uniqlo’s plan to take on the US? Getting more Americans to know who they are. The apparel maker, known for its affordable cashmere sweaters and solid basics, wants to go big in one of the world’s toughest consumer markets. Although Uniqlo is a fixture in shopping streets of New York and ...

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• 20 February

  Biden meets Zelenskiy on surprise Kyiv trip nearly year into war

  

    Bloomberg US President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv and met with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy, declaring “unwavering support” in a dramatic show of solidarity as Russia’s invasion nears the one-year mark. Biden, who was originally slated to visit neighboring Poland this week, appeared in the Ukrainian capital at 8 a.m. on Monday as police sealed ...

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• 20 February

  China blasts US for ‘hegemony’ as ties sour

  

    Bloomberg China laid out a fresh laundry list of problems it has with how the US uses its power, underscoring how tensions between the two nations have worsened over issues from the alleged spy balloon dispute to Russia’s war in Ukraine. The official Xinhua News Agency published a 4,000-word article on Monday titled “US Hegemony and Its Perils” that ...

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• 20 February

  North Korea fires more ballistic missiles as Kim warns US

    Bloomberg North Korea fired a barrage of suspected ballistic missiles and issued a warning to the US over joint military exercises, less than two days after Pyongyang launched a long-range rocket designed to hit the American mainland. South Korea’s Joint Chief of Staff said North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles between 7 and 7:11 a.m. on Monday from ...

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• 20 February

  Chinese banks hold rates as analysts bet easing to come

  

  Bloomberg Chinese lenders followed the central bank by keeping their benchmark lending rates unchanged on Monday, with analysts expecting possible reductions in coming months to support the economic recovery. The one-year loan prime rate was held at 3.65% for a sixth consecutive month, in line with the forecasts from all 13 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The five-year rate, a reference ...

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• 20 February

  StanChart to hire up to 500 staff in Hong Kong

  

    Bloomberg Standard Chartered Plc plans to hire 300 to 500 staff in Hong Kong this year, in anticipation of an increase in wealth management and lending as the city reopened its borders to mainland China. The lender expects “double-digit” growth in wealth management income and “single-digit” loan growth, according to a spokeswoman. The lender’s headcount in Hong Kong has ...

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