March, 2018

• 5 March

  Barclays’ partnership with India post office pays off

  

  Bloomberg Barclays Plc’s attempts to scale up its cash management business in India via a tie-up with the country’s post office are starting to bear fruit, according to the UK bank’s local corporate banking head. The deal with the 164-year-old mail service, first agreed in 2015, allows Barclays to offer its cash management services via some 8,000 postal branches spread …

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• 5 March

  Sticky inflation mars Nigeria’s rate-cut hopes

  

  Bloomberg Nigeria’s long-awaited interest rate-cutting cycle risks being short-lived, if it starts at all. Governor Godwin Emefiele said last month the Central Bank of Nigeria may reduce its benchmark from a record-high 14 percent before July if inflation drops closer to single digits. But with fuel costs surging and government spending swelling before next year’s election, he may struggle to …

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• 5 March

  Collapse in Asia’s favoured bonds drives biggest bank away

  

  Bloomberg How have the mighty fallen. A year ago foreign funds including Franklin Templeton Investments were piling into Indian bonds. A record-long slump has now prompted the nation’s biggest bank to say enough is enough. India’s 10-year bonds dropped for a seventh month in February, the longest-losing streak in data compiled by Bloomberg starting in November 1998. Government-run lenders such …

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• 5 March

  Emirates upgrades business class cabin on its Boeing 777

  

  Dubai / Emirates Business Emirates has unveiled a brand new Business Class cabin and configuration on its Boeing 777-200LR aircraft, with new wider seats laid out in a 2-2-2 configuration for the first time. The airline has invested over US$150 million to refurbish the 10 existing 777-200LR aircraft in its fleet. The newly refurbished Emirates 777-200LR aircraft is set in …

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• 5 March

  Walmart takes on food chains by adding meals

  

  Bloomberg Walmart Inc. will start offering prepared meals at its stores for the first time, a move that could help the nation’s biggest grocer sell more food while siphoning customers from restaurant chains. Ten different meals are now available in 250 stores, and the programme will expand to 2,000 locations by year’s end, Walmart executives said. The company also is …

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• 5 March

  Airbus signals job cuts for troubled jumbo

  

  Bloomberg Airbus SE is preparing to announce jobs cuts at two troubled aircraft programmes that have been weighing on earnings for years. The planemaker’s management will meet with its European Works Council on Wednesday to explain reductions in the manufacturing rates of the A380 superjumbo and A400M military-transport programmes and “discuss associated implications for the workforce,” it said in a …

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• 5 March

  Airlines back a startup bringing friendliness back to the skies

  

  Bloomberg Volantio Inc., the Atlanta-based startup that helped United Airlines Inc. manage its overbookings in the wake of the Dr. Dao scandal last summer, is telling investors it’s cracked a seemingly impossible code: generate more money for airlines while improving customer satisfaction. Eight months into its lifespan, the company—which helps airlines preventatively rejigger inventory by offering buyouts to flexible passengers—closed …

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• 4 March

  Yen emerges as currency-market winner as trade tensions mount

  

  Bloomberg President Donald Trump is touting the virtues of a trade war. In the $5.1 trillion-a-day currency market, the yen has emerged as a clear winner from the escalating rhetoric. The latest move pushes forward the administration’s trade agenda, after it took similar actions on other goods this year and jawboned the dollar lower. The potential hit to US and …

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• 4 March

  Quick dips, 1% days new normal in 2018 stocks

  

  Bloomberg If you don’t like the weather, wait a few minutes. That’s how it’s been in the 2018 stock market, where the S&P 500 just rebounded from a 1 percent intraday loss for a third time this year. The turnaround followed three consecutive days of 1 percent declines, a stretch not seen since the start of 2016. It’s not just …

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• 4 March

  Gulf stock markets mixed

  Reuters Gulf stock markets were mixed at Sunday’s close, with Abu Dhabi and Dubai ending the day in a narrow range, while the Saudi stock market dropped 0.57 percent, amid weakness in energy and financial stocks. The Gulf market took little respite from a rise in oil prices and a rebound for Wall Street stocks on March 2 and following …

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