January, 2019

• 14 January

  UBS sees two fed hikes in 2019

  

  Bloomberg UBS Global Wealth Management predicts the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates twice this year despite markets pricing in little chance of that happening. An expanding US economy and low recession risk may provide opportunities for the Fed to keep ratcheting up borrowing costs, said Min Lan Tan, head of the chief investment officer for Asia Pacific in Singapore. ...

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• 14 January

  Monte Paschi drops amid ‘capital and profit issues’

  Bloomberg Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA dropped in Milan trading after the European Central Bank highlighted weaknesses in the Italian lender’s capital and profitability. The ECB told the bank that its inability to issue the second tranche of a junior bond issue last year hurt its capital position, Monte Paschi said in a statement. The Italian bank plans ...

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• 14 January

  L’Occitane inks $900mn Elemis deal in luxury skincare boom

  

  Bloomberg Luxury cosmetics firm L’Occitane International SA agreed to buy beauty and skincare brand Elemis for about $900 million, its biggest deal on record as the maker of organic lotions looks to expand in the US and UK. The Hong Kong-listed L’Occitane agreed to buy the privately-held Elemis from Steiner Leisure Limited, according to a statement from the companies. Steiner ...

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• 14 January

  Lufthansa to cancel 400 flights on strike

  

  Bloomberg Deutsche Lufthansa AG will cancel at least 414 flights due to a strike on Tuesday by security staff at eight German airports, including the airline’s hubs in Frankfurt and Munich. The cancellations include 386 flights within Europe and 28 intercontinental services, Lufthansa said. Airport-security workers in Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Hanover, Bremen, Dresden, Leipzig/Halle and Erfurt plan to walk out ...

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• 14 January

  America’s biggest supermarket chain says shoppers wary about future

  

  Bloomberg America’s biggest supermarket chain is seeing signs that US shoppers are getting nervous about the future. “It’s fascinating right now from a customer standpoint. They feel incredibly good about the economy but very nervous about where things are headed,’’ Kroger Co Chief Executive Officer Rodney McMullen said in an onstage interview at the National Retail Federation’s annual trade show ...

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• 14 January

  Snowstorm in Washington leads to flight cancellations

  

  Bloomberg Washington DC could get another four inches (10 centimetres) of snow from a storm that’s already caused hundreds of flight cancellations and several deaths as it cuts a wide swath across the US from St. Louis to the mid-Atlantic. Washington’s Reagan National Airport had recorded 5.4 inches of snow, AccuWeather reported. The nation’s capital hadn’t received more than 4.1 ...

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• 14 January

  Crashed Lion Air plane’s cockpit voice recorder found

  

  Bloomberg Indonesia found the cockpit voice recorder from the Lion Air plane that crashed in October, giving investigators a real chance at solving the mystery of what brought down a modern jet. The CVR of the Boeing Co 737 Max aircraft was intact when it was recovered in the Java Sea, according to said Agung Nugroho, a spokesman for Indonesian ...

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• 13 January

  Geopolitics of energy transformation draws spotlight at Abu Dhabi forum

  

  ABU DHABI / WAM The third-annual Atlantic Council Global Energy Forum in Abu Dhabi, held as part of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, convened regional and global policymakers and industry leaders to discuss the geopolitical and economic impact on the energy agenda. This year’s forum focussed on four major themes — the future of oil, the digitisation of energy, diversification within ...

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• 13 January

  DP World to acquire Chile ports operator for $502m

  

  DUBAI / WAM DP World on Sunday announced that it entered into an agreement to acquire 71.3% stake in Chile port operator Puertos y Logistica SA (Pulogsa) from Minera Valparaiso and other shareholders associated with the Matte Group. Pulogsa is listed on the Santiago stock exchange, and the acquisition will be effected via a tender offer to acquire all outstanding ...

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• 13 January

  Dubai records 4.6% rise in new licences in 2018

  

  DUBAI / WAM The Department of Economic Development (DED) in Dubai issued 20,467 new licences during the year 2018 as the emirate continued to enhance its appeal as a destination for sustainable business growth. Overall, 248,769 business registration and licensing transactions were recorded in the ‘business map’ digital platform of DED in 2018 — an increase of 4.6% over 2017 ...

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