February, 2021

• 7 February

  Exxon Mobil in talks with DE Shaw over new directors

  

  Bloomberg Exxon Mobil Corp was expected to announce board changes, and talks were continuing with investor DE Shaw & Co that might lead to additional director nominations in the weeks ahead, according to people familiar with the matter. DE Shaw met with representatives from the oil giant and presented a list of potential directors, the people said, asking not to ...

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• 7 February

  China’s crude stockpiles at 1-year low

  Bloomberg China’s crude stockpiles fell to the lowest level in almost a year amid a global drawdown in inventories that’s being driven by a tighter supply-demand balance and higher costs to hoard oil. Inventories capped a seventh weekly decline last week, dropping to 990 million barrels, according to market intelligence firm Kayrros. While that’s the least since February 2020, stockpiles ...

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• 7 February

  Harris overshadows Biden’s first jobs day

  

  It took all of 15 seconds for Vice President Kamala Harris to render mostly irrelevant a data release that has long been considered one of the most important in the world. The latest read on the US labour market was disappointing, with nonfarm payrolls increasing by just 49,000 in January, falling short of the median estimate of a 105,000 gain ...

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• 7 February

  Uber, Deliveroo binged on wrong diet

  

  The lockdowns of the past year have tempted food delivery companies in the US and Europe to gorge. But they’re filling up on the equivalent of junk food — offerings that accelerate growth but have little nutritional value. Top of the list is grocery deliveries. Platforms such as Uber Eats and Deliveroo have capitalised on more people ordering groceries online ...

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• 7 February

  China opens its doors to foreign junk now

  Australia’s iron-ore miners could be excused for casting a nervous eye north. With little fanfare, China, the world’s biggest consumer of iron ore, opened its doors to 3,000 tons of Japanese scrap metal. It was the country’s first such import since it imposed a near-total ban on “foreign garbage” in 2019. It won’t be the last. In the short-term, that ...

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• 7 February

  Cancelling Keystone heralds end of oil age

  The demise of the Keystone XL pipeline heralds the beginning of the end for the oil age in the US and Canada. This is a necessary evolution, but it raises many challenges. Workers displaced by the shift away from oil will need new jobs, and energy industry clusters like Houston and Alberta will need new activities to sustain their economies. ...

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• 7 February

  Lufthansa’s tourism push puts Germany on spot after bailout

  

  Bloomberg Deutsche Lufthansa AG’s bid to tap a revival in tourism once coronavirus lockdowns ease has put the German giant on a collision course with its former leisure arm, Condor. Lufthansa is using surplus long-haul jets to target sunspots such as Mauritius, the Dominican Republic and Namibia that are expected to recover before the airline’s bedrock corporate markets. As a ...

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• 7 February

  CAA delays its decision on Heathrow fare rise

  

  Bloomberg London’s Heathrow airport may be allowed to raise airline fees on a limited basis after Britain’s aviation regulator dismissed the hub’s pitch for a more substantial hike during the coronavirus pandemic. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said it plans to reject Heathrow’s proposal, which the airport reckons would lift fares by 1.20 pounds ($1.44) per passenger, as disproportionate and ...

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• 7 February

  Blackstone, GIP unite on $4.7b Signature Aviation jet deal

  

  Bloomberg Rival bidders Blackstone Group Inc and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) joined together to buy Signature Aviation Plc for $4.7 billion, resolving their tussle over the world’s biggest operator of private-jet bases. The company agreed to a sweetened $5.62-per-share bid from the two major funds and billionaire Bill Gates, currently the largest investor in the company, according to a statement. ...

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• 7 February

  Amazon’s $1b in daily sales highlights market dominance

  

  Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc breached the $1 billion-a-day revenue mark in 2020, in another example of how the company’s massive growth and market dominance has made its stock a near-unanimous favorite on Wall Street. The e-commerce giant’s fourth-quarter results brought full-year revenue to $386 billion. According to an analysis of Bloomberg data, Walmart Inc is the only other US company with ...

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