August, 2020

• 5 August

  American offers plan to limit pilot layoffs

  

  Bloomberg American Airlines Group Inc is offering additional programs to encourage more pilots to leave the carrier, stepping up efforts to avoid forced furloughs later this year as the coronavirus pandemic guts travel demand. The options include a plan to alternate months of flying and unpaid time, leaves of absence of as long as three years and a voluntary early-exit …

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• 5 August

  David Einhorn buys Atlas Air stake in bet on cargo boom

  

  Bloomberg Hedge fund manager David Einhorn said he bought a stake in Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings Inc in the second quarter, betting that the cargo carrier will benefit from a shortage of airfreight capacity caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Passenger planes handled about half the world’s airborne cargo before the pandemic, with most of it on long international flights, the …

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• 5 August

  PizzaExpress to shut scores of outlets, overhaul debt

  

  Bloomberg Britain’s troubled PizzaExpress chain announced a rescue plan that’s likely to close scores of restaurants, put hundreds of pizza chefs and waiters out of work and hand control of the business to creditors. As part of the proposals, the company will implement a legal process known as a company voluntary arrangement that may permanently close about 15% of UK …

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• 5 August

  Boeing 737 Max’s Europe flight test process on hold

  Bloomberg Travel restrictions brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic continue to slow the re-certification process for Boeing Co’s 737 Max in Europe, even after US aviation regulators moved a step closer to allowing the grounded jet to fly again. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency said it’s still working with Boeing and the US Federal Aviation Administration to find a …

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• 5 August

  Creditors at odds over Seven & i deal

  Bloomberg The debt market is showing concern about Seven & i Holdings Co’s $21 billion deal to buy Marathon Petroleum Corp’s gas-station business, even as equity investors grew more positive on the purchase. The credit rating of the world’s largest convenience store operator was cut by Moody’s Investors Service from A1 to A2, the sixth-highest level, citing “an expected spike …

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• 5 August

  PBOC’s attempt to exit crisis mode faces a $500 billion test

  

  Bloomberg China’s banks need about $500 billion in fresh liquidity this month to roll over existing debt and buy government bonds, complicating the People’s Bank of China’s efforts to exit crisis measures. Monetary policy makers have been signalling for weeks that abundant funding made available to tide the world’s second-largest economy through the coronavirus slump will soon be reined in, …

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• 5 August

  Japan banks on track for profit goals despite bad-loan setback

  

  Bloomberg It’s early days, but Japan’s biggest banks are broadly on course to meet their modest profit goals this fiscal year after bad-loan costs remained within their expectations in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. and Mizuho Financial Group Inc. all saw quarterly profit decline after increasing provisions for soured debts during Japan’s …

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• 5 August

  Thai central bank holds rates steady, sees gradual recovery

  

  Bloomberg The Bank of Thailand held its benchmark interest rate at an all-time low and said it was prepared to use “additional appropriate monetary policy tools” to support an economy suffering the biggest blow in Asia from the coronavirus pandemic. The central bank kept its policy rate at 0.5% in a unanimous decision Wednesday. All but two of the 26 …

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• 5 August

  RBA offers to buy $359mn of bonds

  

  Bloomberg Australia’s central bank is returning to the government bond market after a three-month hiatus as it aims to re-anchor yields on the three-year security that it targets through its purchasing program. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) offered to purchase $359 million of federal government securities maturing in April 2023 on Wednesday, under its program to lower yields. Governor …

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• 5 August

  India rate cut is too close to call on CPI risks, says survey

  

  Bloomberg The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) policy decision this week is a tricky one to call, with economists split over whether Governor Shaktikanta Das will lower interest rates again to support a fragile economy and banking sector in the face of above-target inflation. Of the 44 economists surveyed by Bloomberg, 22 expect a 25 basis-point rate cut on Thursday, …

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