January, 2023

• 23 January

  Germany budgets 43.2b for next-generation fighter jet

  

  Bloomberg The German government has earmarked about €40 billion ($43.2 billion) in spending by 2040 for its next-generation fighter jet, part of a European effort to upgrade the region’s defense capabilities. The German-French project, called Future Combat Air System (FCAS), was among discussion points between German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, said the people, asking ...

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• 23 January

  Air India’s mega jet deal held up by engine-cost debate

  

    Bloomberg Air India Ltd.’s order for as many as 500 aircraft from Airbus SE and Boeing Co. is being held up by an impasse with engine makers powering the 737 Max, dragging out what stands to be one of the biggest single purchases in civil aviation history. CFM International, the General Electric Co. and Safran SA joint venture, is ...

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• 23 January

  China air travel returns to pre-pandemic levels

    Bloomberg Air travel in China has returned to January 2019 levels ahead of the important Lunar New Year holidays, according to aviation data provider Cirium. Airlines in China are scheduled to operate 99.8% of January 2019’s flights this month, Cirium said, although the recovery has been largely driven by domestic travel. Domestic seating is 9.5% higher than 2019 levels, ...

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• 23 January

  UK braces for high borrowing costs to linger for longer time

  

    Bloomberg The Bank of England is likely to keep interest rates in painful territory through this year or longer even as the economy falls into recession. Inflation is running five times above the BOE’s target, and Governor Andrew Bailey is concerned that worker shortages are feeding wage pressures. The market is betting on another 1 point increase in the ...

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• 23 January

  Google cuts most jobs at ‘Area 120’ incubator

    Bloomberg Alphabet Inc.’s Google has cut most of the jobs at Area 120, its in-house incubator for new projects, as part of a broad wave of layoffs across the company. Three projects in the incubator will “graduate” later this year, meaning they will be folded into Google, a company spokesperson said Friday. “We have made the difficult decision to ...

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• 23 January

  Asda owners plan £10 billion merger with petrol stations

    Bloomberg EG Group is exploring a merger of its petrol forecourts with Asda Group Ltd. to create a business valued at more than £10 billion ($12 billion), according to the The Times. The Issa brothers and London-based TDR Capital are considering the combination with the supermarket chain to help refinance £7 billion of debt due in 2025, the paper ...

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• 23 January

  US can slow inflation without unemployment spike, Fed says study says

  

    Bloomberg The US and other industrialized countries may be able to bring inflation down without triggering the huge jumps in unemployment that economists may have predicted prior to the pandemic, according to new research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. If correct, that might improve the chances for a soft landing of the US economy as the Fed ...

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• 23 January

  UK’s Sunak looks to pay deals to avert February strike chaos

  

  Bloomberg UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will look to begin closing a series of pay deals with trade unions, as the government enters 10 days of crunch talks ahead of coordinated strike action planned for early February. Members of the Cabinet have told Sunak he must act fast to avoid a week of strikes that threaten to bring the country ...

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• 23 January

  ZF’s $3b chip factory in Germany to power EVs

    Bloomberg Auto supplier ZF Friedrichhafen AG and Wolfspeed Inc. plan to build a $3 billion wafer factory in Germany’s Saarland to make chips for electric vehicles and other applications, a boon for a region dependent on combustion-engine components, said people familiar with the matter. The go-ahead for the project is subject to commitments on subsidies amounting to a quarter ...

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• 23 January

  Austin warns US allies time is short before Russian offensive

  

  Bloomberg Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said time is running out to give Ukraine the advanced weapons it needs before an expected Russian offensive in the spring, as both the US and Germany hold out against Kyiv’s requests for their most powerful battle tanks. Austin said allied officials agreed at a meeting in Germany on Friday they would ensure that ...

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