January, 2021

• 17 January

  Exxon SEC probe highlights concerns over shale reserves

  

  Bloomberg The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been largely silent on the financial wreckage of the US shale industry in recent years, but that may be about to change. The top US financial regulator’s reported investigation into how Exxon Mobil Corp values shale assets follows years of concerns about the industry’s rosy projections, which have left hundreds of billions ...

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• 17 January

  Joe Biden’s Covid relief plan isn’t overkill at all

  

  The US never fully recovered from the Great Recession. One of the benefits of the $1.9 trillion Covid relief package unveiled last night by President-elect Joe Biden is that — in addition to helping Americans hurt by the pandemic — it could help America accomplish that goal. At that point, US politics can safely return to arguments about whether tax ...

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• 17 January

  Is mask mandate urgent for air travel?

  

  Shortly after the US Capitol was stormed, an American Airlines Group Inc flight from Washington to Phoenix faced its own insurrection. Despite entreaties from flight attendants, some passengers belligerently refused to wear masks and chanted “fight for Trump” and “USA!” The situation became so tense that the pilot took to the intercom and threatened to “put this plane down in ...

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• 17 January

  Macron can’t resist the supermarket politics

  French President Emmanuel Macron’s knack for top-down statist dirigisme hasn’t been very visible when it comes to rolling out Covid-19 vaccines, with the country’s immunisation campaign among the slowest in the world. But it’s now on full display in the supermarket sector. Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire took to the airwaves to pour scorn on a potential $20 billion bid ...

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• 17 January

  How not to tame rising global food inflation

  Agflation is back, and so are unhelpful fixes. Under pressure from falling incomes and higher inflation, Moscow has rushed to cap the cost of basic foods and introduced measures to curb wheat and other exports. President Vladimir Putin’s televised displeasure was a symptom of the strain governments are feeling everywhere. Fortunately, the problem is not yet at levels seen just ...

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• 17 January

  Boeing buoyed by $20bn of idled Max jets valued like new

  

  Bloomberg When Boeing Co ended a long commercial drought last month by handing over 737 Max jets to two top customers, the transactions marked a little-noticed break with tradition. The planes were built in 2019 but recorded as 2020 models when they were delivered, having sat dormant during the longest jetliner grounding in US history. The seemingly innocuous distinction could ...

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• 17 January

  Virgin Atlantic Air sells jets to pay off rescuer

  

  Bloomberg Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd sold two Boeing Co 787 jetliners to fund the repayment of a loan from hedge fund Davidson Kempner Capital Management that formed the basis of a hard-won rescue last year. The planes were bought by Griffin Global Asset Management and Bain Capital Credit, Virgin Atlantic said in a statement. The sale and leaseback deal, which ...

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• 17 January

  UK closes travel corridors; arrivals need negative test

  

  Bloomberg The UK said it will close its travel corridors with countries around the world, meaning all visitors from overseas will require a negative coronavirus test within 72 hours of travel to enter Britain. Visitors may be checked when they arrive in the UK and could face substantial fines if they don’t comply, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said at a ...

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• 17 January

  Searchers hunting for Indonesia jet recorder

  Bloomberg Indonesian divers retrieved the battered casing of the cockpit voice recorder from the Sriwijaya Air jet that plunged into the Java Sea on January 9, but not the crucial memory unit containing its data. The computer chips that store a recording of pilot communications and ambient sounds in the cockpit broke loose from the so-called black box’s exterior, the ...

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• 17 January

  In blow to retailers, Covid made online upstarts even stronger

  

  Bloomberg Digital brands looked headed for a reckoning a year ago, with bloated valuations, rising advertising costs and ever more competition. Then the Covid-19 pandemic hit the US and gave a giant gift to brands that mainly sell directly through the web. With their brick-and-mortar competition shuttered and the virus raging, Americans flocked online and loaded up on home goods, ...

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