April, 2019

• 17 April

  Oil and non-oil sectors set to drive UAE’s economic growth this year

  

  Emirates Business Economic activity in the UAE is set to accelerate to 2.2% in 2019, up from an estimated 1.7% in 2018, according to ICAEW’s latest Economic Insight report. This will be buoyed by a pick-up in non-oil activity, rising public spending at the Federal and Emirate levels, higher investment ahead of the highly anticipated Expo 2020 and continued regional …

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• 17 April

  Reliance mulls 25% refinery stake sale to Saudi Aramco

  

  Bloomberg Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd. is considering selling as much as 25 percent of its refinery business in a deal that could fetch at least $10 billion, people with knowledge of the matter said. Reliance is sounding out potential investors including state-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Aramco) to gauge the interest, according to the people, who asked …

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• 17 April

  ‘Days of surprises’ are over as problems exposed: Eskom CEO

  

  Bloomberg Almost 15 months into the job, and the boss of South Africa’s state-owned electricity company is getting to grips with issues spanning corruption to defective power plants that threatened to collapse the grid. “The days of surprises are over,” Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. CEO Phakamani Hadebe said in an interview. “We just have to speed up the process of …

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• 17 April

  Merkel opens Baltic’s biggest wind park

  

  Bloomberg Angela Merkel will leave Brexit worries by the shoreline as she cuts the opening ribbon on a giant wind farm out in the Baltic Sea, a move that will do little to gloss over her tarnished reputation as Germany’s climate chancellor. The Arkona wind park, a joint venture of utility EON SE and Norway’s oil and gas giant Equinor …

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• 17 April

  Sunlight, mirrors still seen in Aussie future power mix

  Bloomberg An Australian energy startup says it has found a solution to the problem that has dogged some thermal solar technology projects, removing instability in the process of storing the generated electricity. Vast Solar’s technology differs from rivals because it uses liquid sodium as a heat transfer agent, improving control of the sunlight bouncing off specialised mirrors, according to Chief …

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• 17 April

  Earnings whipsaw US stocks; Treasuries rise

  

  Bloomberg The latest batch of corporate earnings whipsawed US stocks as investors sought clues on the strength of the economy after a likely slowdown in the first quarter. The 10-year Treasury yield pushed above 2.6 percent. The S&P 500 Index erased early gains, with healthcare shares again under pressure as concerns mount over potential policy changes. Netflix Inc advanced even …

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• 17 April

  Malaysian ringgit reels after index, fund

  

  Bloomberg It was a one-two punch that’s turned the Malaysian ringgit into Asia’s worst performer this month. FTSE Russell said it may drop Malaysian debt from the FTSE World Government Bond Index because of concern about market liquidity, roiling the nation’s currency and bonds. And less than two weeks ago, Norway said its sovereign wealth fund will cut emerging-market debt …

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• 17 April

  Powell adopts whites-of-the-eyes inflation stance Yellen shunned

  

  Bloomberg Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and his colleagues have made an important shift in their strategy for dealing with inflation in a prelude to what could be a more radical change next year. The central bank has backed off the interest-rate hikes it had been delivering to avoid a potentially dangerous rise in inflation that economic theory says could …

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• 17 April

  Big US banks lean on main street for profit

  

  Bloomberg The biggest US banks have leaned on retail banking businesses to offset a prolonged slump in trading and drive record profits. Now comes the question of whether they can keep it up. The lenders, led by JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp., are delivering on the promise that the stockpiles of deposits they spent years attracting …

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• 17 April

  Citi, Goldman assure revamping units that dragged down results

  

  Bloomberg Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. both delivered better-than-expected earnings. Instead of celebrating, executives were assuring investors they’ll make more progress on revamping units that are dragging down results. Growth stalled at Citigroup’s consumer unit, so executives pointed to green shoots in a digital bank effort. Goldman Sachs had the biggest first-quarter trading decline among banks that have …

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