October, 2019

• 21 October

  Marks & Spencer is starting to look more like Whole Foods

  

  Bloomberg For a taste of CEO Steve Rowe’s ambitions to transform Marks & Spencer Group Plc, look no further than its newly refurbished shop in London’s Clapham neighbourhood. The store looks more like a Whole Foods Market than one of the 135-year-old British retailer’s more traditional outlets. Alongside piles of avocados and herbs grown with the help of artificial intelligence …

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• 21 October

  Shell quits Kazakh oil projects

  

  Bloomberg Royal Dutch Shell Plc abandoned two oil projects off Kazakhstan after stubbornly high costs made them uneconomic. Shell has exited the Khazar field, while North Caspian Operating Co. — a joint venture including Shell — has quit the Kalamkas-Sea project, according to TOO PSA, an entity run by the Kazakh Energy Ministry. The retreat from the fields — both …

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• 21 October

  Protests in Chile may disrupt copper supply

  Bloomberg Anti-government protests that have shaken the world’s largest copper producing nation Chile for the past three days have spread to the mining sector as unions call for stoppages. Workers at BHP Ltd.’s Escondida mine will hold a “warning stoppage” for 10 hours in solidarity with protests. The stoppage risks disrupting copper supply from the world’s largest producer, with ports …

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• 21 October

  Stocks rise with US equity futures as bonds decline

  

  Bloomberg US equity-index futures advanced alongside European and Asian shares as investors awaited fresh developments on foreign trade and this week’s slew of results from major companies. Bonds dropped. Contracts on the S&P 500 Index rose, pointing to a firm open that would keep the American benchmark within sight of a fresh all-time high. Boeing fell in the pre-market amid …

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• 21 October

  Brexit clarity makes UK stocks investable, says Morgan Stanley

  

  Bloomberg The British Parliament may have delayed voting on PM Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal, but according to Morgan Stanley, there is enough of a reduction in political uncertainty to boost UK and European equities. Morgan Stanley economists believe that despite the hurdles in Parliament, the odds are now in favour of the Brexit agreement being ratified by Christmas. And with the …

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• 20 October

  Kuwait sees neutral zone oil pact with Saudis soon

  

  Bloomberg Kuwait expects to sign an agreement with Saudi Arabia to restart oil production from the neutral zone along their border within 30 to 45 days, according to a person familiar with the matter. The pact, reached after months of intensive negotiations, won’t be final until it’s signed, the person said, asking not to be identified as the talks are …

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• 20 October

  ‘UAE’s aviation sector open to global investors’

  

  Dubai / Emirates Business Investors are keen to capitalise on the increasing opportunities in the aviation sector globally, according to industry experts. “Over the past decade, as the global economy has improved, airlines have grown in profitability, matured in terms of employing better capacity management and cost controls, and have benefitted from the explosion in demand for passenger air travel,” …

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• 20 October

  Saudi stocks lead Gulf gains after Aramco IPO delayed

  

  Bloomberg Saudi Arabian stocks rose the most in the Gulf as the country’s oil giant delayed a long-awaited initial public offering (IPO), easing a sell-off of other stocks intended to fund purchases in the share sale. The Tadawul All Share Index climbed as much as 2.3%, recovering from a loss of 0.8% last week and trimming losses in October to …

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• 20 October

  Global finance chiefs pledge to use all tools to aid growth

  

  Bloomberg Global finance ministers and central bankers pledged to use all their tools, including fiscal policy, to support demand amid a “highly uncertain” outlook and elevated risks. “The outlook is highly uncertain and subject to elevated downside risks,” including trade tensions, policy uncertainty and geopolitical risks, according to a communique issued by the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC), the …

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• 20 October

  HSBC mulls equity pullback in London, New York, Germany

  

  Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc may partially exit stock trading in some developed Western markets as part of a cost-cutting drive by Noel Quinn, the interim chief executive who wants the top job on a permanent basis. Equities sales and trading units in France, Germany, US and the UK are likely to be scaled back, according to people familiar with the …

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