January, 2019

• 2 January

  Gold opens new year with fanfare

  

  Bloomberg Gold’s year-end rally is pushing into 2019, with bullion advancing for a fifth straight day as equities posted fresh losses after the worst year since the financial crisis. The metal hit a six-month high nearing $1,300 an ounce, even as some daily technical indicators highlighted the potential for a reversal after recent gains. The advance came as fresh figures …

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• 2 January

  Jet Airways misses payment to lenders, rating cut to default

  

  Bloomberg Jet Airways India Ltd. has missed a payment to Indian lenders in the latest sign of mounting strains at the country’s second largest airline by passengers, after losses worsened a cash crunch. The setback underscores a lack of progress lining up sufficient funds for debt payments after the beleaguered carrier approached banks for a moratorium on loans and asked …

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• 2 January

  Amazon to expand Whole Foods stores

  

  Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc shares gained after a report said the company plans to expand its Whole Foods grocery stores in the US. The e-commerce giant aims to add locations to suburbs and other areas where the organic grocer is adding more customers since it was bought by Amazon last year, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited a person …

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• 2 January

  US restaurants see tough year ahead over food, wage costs

  

  Bloomberg It’s not going to get much easier for the restaurant industry. After facing stagnant sales and weak customer traffic in 2018, US restaurants will encounter more headwinds this year, including rising food and wage costs, that may stall profit and hinder efforts to jump start growth. Even the industry stalwarts are dealing with such issues in a fiercely competitive …

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• 2 January

  Cathay Pacific sold $16,000 flight ticket for $675 in error

  

  Bloomberg Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. made a mistake selling first- and business-class tickets at a steep discount. Now, the lucky few who made the bookings will travel in style after all. The Hong Kong-based airline said on its Twitter and Facebook pages on Wednesday that it would still welcome passengers that bought the business-class tickets from Vietnam to Canada and …

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• 2 January

  Oil sands rebound hinges on rail, output cuts, pipeline woes

  

  Bloomberg The Canadian oil industry could be in for another turbulent year in 2019, depending on how some pivotal events pan out. Government-mandated production cuts and the potential startup of a key crude pipeline are among key developments to watch for this year. While the announcement of production curtailments by Premier Rachel Notley has succeeded in lifting Canadian crude prices …

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• 2 January

  India floats tender for Kashmir solar power projects

  

  Bloomberg India issued a tender to build 7.5-gigawatt of solar power projects in Jammu and Kashmir, state-run Solar Energy Corp of India said on its website. The request is part of a larger plan to build 23 gigawatts of solar capacity in Ladakh, a region in the country’s extreme north bordering China. The capacity is offered in as many as …

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• 2 January

  Sydney’s housing slump to deepen as prices drop

  

  Bloomberg The downturn in Sydney’s property market is set to deepen this year as tighter lending standards and the worst slump in values since the late 1980s cause nervous buyers to sit on the sidelines. Average Sydney home values have fallen 11.1 percent since their 2017 peak, according to CoreLogic Inc. data — surpassing the 9.6 percent top-to-bottom decline when …

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• 2 January

  RBI surprises by reversing its debt revamp stance

  

  Bloomberg India’s central bank will permit lenders to restructure stressed loans to small companies, breaking from a five-year-old policy of eschewing sweeping corporate debt overhauls. The Reserve Bank of India will allow one-time restructuring of loans to micro, small and medium-sized companies that are in default, the regulator said in a statement. To be eligible for the program, the loan …

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• 2 January

  Fed gauge points to interest rate cuts for first time since 2008

  

  Bloomberg A market indicator watched by the Fed as one of the most accurate gauges of economic health is pricing in lower rates for the first time in more than a decade. The little-known near-term forward spread, which reflects the difference between the forward rate implied by Treasury bills six quarters from now and the current three-month yield, fell to …

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