December, 2018

• 8 December

  China ramps up solar panel exports

  

  Bloomberg The world’s largest solar panel maker is selling a great deal more overseas to keep its domestic industry afloat. China’s exports in the third quarter soared 66 percent from a year ago after the government’s decision to cut support for the local solar power industry dented domestic demand. Shipments to Australia more than doubled and tripled to Mexico, making …

  Read More »
• 8 December

  N-power key to carbon cut goal, says Xcel CEO

  Bloomberg Xcel Energy Inc Chief Executive Officer Ben Fowke said keeping nuclear power plants open is key for the utility to meet its goal to slash greenhouse gases. The company, which pledged to cut carbon dioxide emissions 80 percent by 2030 and 100 percent by 2050, operates two reactors in Minnesota that will become increasingly vital as wind and solar …

  Read More »
• 8 December

  Retailers try payment apps to sidestep $90bn in third-party swipe fees

  

  Bloomberg Retailers have been trying for years to escape the clutches of the credit-card companies, which this year will levy more than $90 billion in swipe fees on an industry already struggling to navigate the shift online. Some believe the answer lies in payment apps. While shoppers have largely shunned mobile payments offered by third-party providers like Apple Inc., retailers …

  Read More »
• 8 December

  Scooter-rental startup Skip gets $100 million in debt

  

  Bloomberg Skip Transport, one of two companies that won licenses to rent scooters on the streets of San Francisco, received $100 million in debt and is seeking more funding from investors, said three people familiar with the matter. While it explores an equity deal, Skip plans to use the debt on a project to design and build scooters that would …

  Read More »
• 8 December

  Apple’s HomePod heads to China

  

  Bloomberg Apple Inc. said its HomePod wireless speaker will go on sale in China next year, potentially beating Amazon.com Inc. and Google to the world’s most-populous nation. On its website in China, Apple added a banner that said the speaker will go on sale in “early 2019”. The Hong Kong website announced a similar move. The speaker will cost HK …

  Read More »
• 8 December

  BYD plans battery IPO amid electric-car boom

  

  Bloomberg BYD Co., the electric-car maker backed by Warren Buffett, plans to list its battery business by 2022 to raise funds to expand as the global auto industry transitions away from the traditional combustion engine. The listing will occur sometime by the end of 2022 and the company hasn’t decided yet where the shares will be trading, Chairman Wang Chuanfu …

  Read More »
• 8 December

  ECB set to give long-term loans to banks next year

  

  Bloomberg The European Central Bank will offer new long-term loans to banks next year while going slow on interest rates to underpin the region’s increasingly fragile upswing, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists. Almost three-quarters of respondents said they expect an announcement of such funding by March, to be handed out three months later. A deposit-rate hike is still …

  Read More »
• 8 December

  Big deflation sparks talk of no rate hike in Brazil during 2019

  

  Bloomberg Bets that Brazil may hold interest rates at a record low throughout 2019 gained strength after the country posted its biggest monthly deflation in 1-1/2 years. Consumer prices measured by the benchmark IPCA index fell 0.21 percent in November, three times as much as economists expected. Swap rates on futures contracts, a barometer of expected interest-rate decisions, dove following …

  Read More »
• 8 December

  Canadian banks’ record earnings driven by gains abroad

  

  Bloomberg Canada’s eight big banks extended their record earnings streak this year, posting a 7.5 percent jump in annual profit fuelled by operations outside their home turf. Net income for the companies totalled C$45.9 billion ($34.3 billion) in the fiscal year ended October 31. Toronto-Dominion Bank and Bank of Montreal profited from their US consumer-lending divisions, while Bank of Nova …

  Read More »
• 8 December

  Kenyan bank-merger plan creates bigger rival for West Africa lenders

  

  Bloomberg Plans to merge two Kenyan banks will create a lender that can compete adequately with West African banks that are expanding into the region, Treasury Secretary Henry Rotich said. NIC Group Plc, one of Kenya’s mid-sized publicly traded banks, is in merger talks with Commercial Bank of Africa Ltd., the nation’s biggest closely held lender, the two said. The …

  Read More »