March, 2019

• 10 March

  BOE’s Saunders sees no rush to hike interest rates as Brexit fog persists

  

  Bloomberg The Bank of England doesn’t need to rush to raise interest rates until the uncertainty of Brexit lifts, according to policy maker Michael Saunders. In a speech in London, Saunders, considered one of the most hawkish members of the Monetary Policy Committee, said that tame inflation and a slowdown in growth meant officials could adopt a wait-and-see approach as ...

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• 10 March

  South Africa central bank seeks lower inflation

  

  Bloomberg South Africa’s central bank wants to see sustainably lower inflation to ensure cheaper borrowing costs in the economy, Governor Lesetja Kganyago said. “We have indicated that a consistently lower rate in the near term, at the midpoint of our target band — 4.5 percent — would lower long-term interest rates and be more supportive of balance in the economy,” ...

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• 10 March

  Europe’s taxpayers may pay the price for Airbus A380’s demise

  

  Bloomberg The biggest losers in Airbus SE’s decision to wind down production of its A380 superjumbo may be taxpayers in France, Germany, Spain and the UK, where governments made a big bet on the plane by lending more than 3.3 billion euros ($3.7 billion) to build it. Airbus agreed to reimburse the loans, together with interest, but payments were tied ...

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• 10 March

  John Lewis cuts bonus as UK retail crisis deepens

  

  Bloomberg UK retailer John Lewis Partnership Plc cut employee-owners’ annual bonus to the lowest level in more than half a century, underlining the depths of the crisis in the country’s shopping districts. The operator of department-store chain John Lewis and grocer Waitrose said it cut the bonus to reduce debt, maintain investment and retain cash as it wrestles with uncertainty ...

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• 10 March

  Global air freight market makes weak start to 2019

  

  Emirates Business The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released data for global air freight markets showing that demand, measured in freight tonne kilometers (FTKs), decreased 1.8% in January 2019, compared to the same period in 2018. This was the worst performance in the last three years. Freight capacity, measured in available freight tonne kilometers (AFTKs), rose by 4.0% year-on-year in ...

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• 10 March

  Ethiopian Air en route to Nairobi crashes, killing all

  Bloomberg A four-month-old Ethiopian Airlines Boeing plane en route to Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, crashed on Sunday, killing all 149 passengers and eight crew, the airline said in a statement. The crash is the second in five months involving a Max 8 after a Lion Air plane that had been delivered only 2 1/2 months earlier nose-dived into the Java Sea ...

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• 9 March

  Opec oil exports to US plunge to 3-decade low

  Bloomberg Opec crude oil shipments to the world’s largest economy sank to a thirty-year low as part of an effort by the cartel and its allies to balance supplies and counteract America’s shale boom. Opec supply cuts that started in 2017 were extended in 2018. The end result was Saudi Arabia cutting exports to the US by 9 percent to ...

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• 9 March

  Possible China-US gas supply deal predates trade war talks

  

  Bloomberg A new gas supply deal between the US and China that’s expected to be part of a broader trade agreement has been in the works since before the trade war began and was put on ice after tensions flared, according to people with knowledge of the matter. A deal between Cheniere Energy Inc. and China’s Sinopec, expected to be ...

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• 9 March

  Crescent Point takes $2 billion writedown

  

  Bloomberg Crescent Point Energy Corp., the Canadian oil driller that fended off an activist investor last year, wrote down the value of its assets by C$2.73 billion ($2 billion) and is putting more holdings on the block as its new chief executive officer targets core operations. The after-tax writedown reflects the fair value of its assets, many of which were ...

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• 9 March

  Defying slowdown with robot servers and AI menus

  

  Bloomberg KFC’s owner in China is pushing ahead with expansion plans, opening two stores a day in the world’s biggest consumer market and banking on technology to help it cut costs, even as carmakers and industrial companies signal demand there is deteriorating. Yum China Holdings Inc., the nation’s biggest fast-food chain, which operates the KFC and Pizza Hut brands, is ...

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