April, 2020

• 22 April

  BOC Aviation tests bond markets as travel halted

  

  Bloomberg BOC Aviation Ltd, a Singapore-based aircraft leasing company, is testing bond markets at a time when global passenger airlines are nearly shut due to the coronavirus pandemic. The unit of Bank of China Ltd is marketing dollar bonds at significantly wider spreads than similar debt sold in January. Since that time, the crisis has plunged the aviation industry into …

  Read More »
• 22 April

  Stuck-at-home shoppers not using e-comm

  

  Bloomberg The coronavirus outbreak has stalled American retailers’ e-commerce growth, sparked traffic declines and pushed many to lower quarterly guidance, according to a survey published on Wednesday by CommerceNext, which organises conferences for retail and direct-to-consumer marketers. Since mid-February, when coronavirus began impacting the US, about half of retailers said their e-commerce traffic has been trending downward. This is a …

  Read More »
• 22 April

  SAA administrators asked to suspend job cut program

  Bloomberg South African Airways’ (SAA) administrators will be asked to suspend a legal process to dismiss the airline’s entire workforce, a labor union said. Unions with members at the state-owned airline met with South Africa’s public enterprises, labour and tourism ministers in a video conference today after the administrators said they would start talks on retrenchments after the government cut …

  Read More »
• 22 April

  Australian retail sales soar the most in March

  Bloomberg Australian retail sales soared by the most on record in March as households embarked on a buying frenzy, led by massive purchases of toilet paper, ahead of an expected lockdown to contain the coronavirus. Preliminary sales advanced 8.2% last month, exceeding the previous record of 8.1% ahead of the introduction of a consumption tax in 2000, the Australian Bureau …

  Read More »
• 21 April

  InCountry selects Abu Dhabi’s Hub71 for Mideast headquarters

  

  Abu Dhabi / WAM Abu Dhabi’s Hub71, the tech ecosystem powered by Mubadala, has been selected by the top US data residency hosting platform, InCountry, to be the home of its Middle East headquarters. This new development marks a strategic move to capitalise on the UAE’s growing cloud market, which Gartner predicts is set to increase by 21 percent year …

  Read More »
• 21 April

  Kremlin says crude’s crash isn’t apocalypse for Russia

  

  Bloomberg The Kremlin put on a brave face as prices for Russia’s benchmark crude closed in on levels last seen in a devastating 1998 financial crisis. “The pandemonium with futures is absolutely speculative, just a trading issue,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday, referring to negative prices on some US futures contracts. “There’s no need to give this …

  Read More »
• 21 April

  Emirates steps up its safety measures

  Dubai / Emirates Business Emirates is stepping up precautionary measures at the airport and on board to ensure the health and safety of its employees and customers. All cabin crew, boarding agents and ground staff in direct contact with passengers will now don personal protective equipment (PPE) which includes a protective disposable gown over their uniforms, and a safety visor, …

  Read More »
• 21 April

  Indonesia hires tankers to store fuel, seeks bargains

  

  Bloomberg Indonesia is hiring tankers to store refined fuels at sea as it seeks to take advantage of plunging prices of oil products such as gasoline and diesel. State-owned PT Pertamina has provisionally chartered at least three long-range tankers to store clean fuels, said people with knowledge of the matter. The move comes as Indonesia, one of Asia’s biggest refined …

  Read More »
• 21 April

  Shares are pricing in too much bad news, says Sasol investor

  

  Bloomberg Sasol Ltd’s shares, down more than 80% in 2020, are trading as if the market expects years of bad news around oil and that the South African fuel and chemicals giant will struggle to escape its balance sheet constraints. Old Mutual Investment Group doesn’t share that pessimism, said Meryl Pick, a money manager who helps oversee the firm’s 10 …

  Read More »
• 21 April

  Germany produces record solar power as skies clear

  

  Bloomberg Germany’s solar panels produced record amounts of electricity, exacerbating market forces that were already hammering the profitability of the country’s remaining coal plants. Gin-clear skies over central Europe helped photovoltaic plants produce 32,227 megawatts on April 20, beating the previous record on March 23. Bright conditions are expected to continue this week, according to Germany’s DWD federal weather service. …

  Read More »