March, 2018

• 10 March

  Apple to turn up audio ambition with new headphones

  

  Bloomberg Apple Inc.’s AirPods earphones have been a surprise hit. Now, the company is planning a push into the high end of the market. The Cupertino, California-based technology giant is working on noise-canceling, over-ear headphones that rival headsets from market leaders like Bose and even the company’s own Beats by Dre brand, according to people familiar with the product’s development. …

  Read More »
• 10 March

  Millions of music hits may soon be up for sale!

  

  Bloomberg Sony Corp. held preliminary talks to acquire a majority stake in EMI Music Publishing, according to people with knowledge of the matter, as its Abu Dhabi-based owner seeks to cash in on the booming market for streamed music. Mubadala Investment Co. has begun reaching out to potential suitors for the catalog of more than 2.1 million songs, which includes …

  Read More »
• 10 March

  Samsung’s Galaxy S9, S9+ launches in UAE

  

  Dubai / Emirates Business Samsung Gulf Electronics Co. introduced to the UAE the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+, the smartphones that reimagine the way people communicate, share and experience the world. The launch event took place at The Sofitel Dubai The Palm Resort & Spa. Made for an age in which consumers increasingly communicate and express themselves more with images, …

  Read More »
• 10 March

  ECB turns spotlight on riskiest assets at European banks

  

  Bloomberg European Central Bank President Mario Draghi turned a spotlight on banks’ riskiest assets when he said they need to reduce their holdings of hard-to-value investments. A decade after the financial crisis, lenders in the region are still sitting on billions of dollars of illiquid holdings that could include the kind of mortgage-backed bonds and bespoke derivatives that sank lenders …

  Read More »
• 10 March

  Fintech poses ‘do or die’ threat for second-largest Thai bank

  

  Bloomberg Siam Commercial Bank Pcl, Thailand’s second-largest lender, is going digital and slashing branches and headcount in a bid to survive competition from emerging financial players. “Even though we are a large bank, we think of it as do or die,” Chief Strategy Officer Arak Sutivong said in an interview, referring to a $1 billion technology investment program and its …

  Read More »
• 10 March

  Norges Bank may boost Krone as inflation crosses target

  

  Bloomberg Traders have been taking some profits on their long positions in the Norwegian krone this week, but the latest inflation data has given them a reason to rethink. Norway’s February headline inflation beat the highest analyst estimate and rose above the central bank’s recently lowered 2 percent target, triggering a rally in the currency of 0.7 percent against the …

  Read More »
• 10 March

  BOJ keeps monetary stimulus unchanged

  

  Bloomberg The Bank of Japan stayed the course with its monetary stimulus at Governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s final policy meeting before his new term begins next month. BOJ kept its yield-curve control settings and asset purchases unchanged, a result forecast by all economists surveyed by Bloomberg. And with inflation still far from the BOJ’s target, Kuroda made it clear that the …

  Read More »
• 10 March

  What central bankers say about Trump’s trade war threat

  

  Bloomberg Central bankers around the world are grappling with the prospect of a global trade war sparked by US President Donald Trump’s plan to slap tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum. Here are extracts of some of the recent comments by central bank officials: AUSTRALIA Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe, whose economy …

  Read More »
• 10 March

  Rolls-Royce’s 787 jet glitch ‘seriously disruptive’ to Virgin

  

  Bloomberg All 15 Boeing Co. 787 Dreamliner jets operated by Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. are affected by faults with Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc engines that power the wide-body planes, according to the carrier. Grounding the Trent 1000 turbines for fixes has been “seriously disruptive,” forcing Virgin to find a number of workarounds, including calling on partner Delta Air Lines Inc. and …

  Read More »
• 10 March

  IndiGo plans to order 50 Airbus A330 planes

  

  Bloomberg IndiGo, India’s biggest airline, plans to order as many as 50 Airbus SE A330 wide-body jets as it seeks to expand beyond short-haul flights, people with knowledge of the matter said. The carrier aims to take the upgraded A330neo version of the plane, according the people, who asked not to be named as the discussions aren’t public. The deal …

  Read More »