June, 2018

• 20 June

  China has high hopes for the ‘automated farm’

  

  As rich countries welcome autonomous cars, trucks and boats onto their roads and waterways, the developing world is grappling with a humbler revolution: automated farming. What was once the world’s most labour-intensive profession may be soon run by smartphones. And that could change agriculture as profoundly as mechanisation did last century. This shift will affect how food is grown and ...

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• 20 June

  Facebook follows users into every nook with ads

  

  Facebook Inc. keeps finding new and potentially annoying places to sell advertisements in its digital hangouts. That’s good news for the company’s bottom line, but it also may signal weakness. Along with Facebook’s controversies of late have been a steady drip of disclosures about fresh spots for Facebook’s paid commercial messages. The company recently started testing different types of ads ...

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• 20 June

  Banks in EU win battle to soften new crisis rules

  

  Bloomberg Banks in the European Union won a battle to soften new rules on how failing firms are restructured, as the bloc’s parliament staked out its position on a sweeping overhaul of rules for the financial industry. Lawmakers backed a cap on the loss-absorbing liabilities that regulator can force troubled banks to hold. The ceiling could help to hold down ...

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• 20 June

  Norway firming up plans for first interest rate hike in 7 years

  

  Bloomberg Norway’s central bank is seen firming up plans to lift interest rates “after summer” as the richest Scandinavians leave their oil shock behind them. As Norway moves from a recovery to an outright expansion, policy makers in Oslo are becoming less focussed on the krone and are preparing to tighten ahead of colleagues in Frankfurt and Stockholm. “Norges Bank ...

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• 20 June

  PBOC to use tools ‘comprehensively’ as trade war with US sparks sell-off

  

  Bloomberg China’s central bank called for investors to remain calm and pledged to use monetary policy “comprehensively,” after an escalation of the stand-off with US sent the nation’s benchmark stock index plunging. The People’s Bank of China Governor, Yi Gang, said in an interview with the Shanghai Securities News published on the central bank’s website that policy makers are prepared ...

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• 20 June

  Bank of England could target UK productivity goal

  Bloomberg The Bank of England’s remit should be overhauled to include a 3 percent target for productivity growth, according to a report commissioned by the UK’s opposition Labour Party. The central bank should also have its toolkit expanded to include credit guidance and greater use of macro-prudential policy, said the study, led by GFC Economics’ Graham Turner. The proposals, for ...

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• 20 June

  Morocco central bank holds rates, citing inflation prospects

  

  Bloomberg Morocco’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged despite rising inflation that’s prompted a damaging product boycott. The central bank kept the key rate at 2.25 percent, citing medium-term inflation and growth prospects. Last month the general affairs minister said the economy could withstand annual price growth of as much as 3 percent, above the 2.7 percent reached ...

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• 20 June

  StanChart sees bigger revenues from Africa

  Bloomberg Standard Chartered Plc expects Africa to account for a bigger slice of revenue if the region is able to put in place policies that will further spur economic growth, Chairman Jose Vinals said. “If they do the right thing, they’ll grow faster than other countries which are more advanced,” he said in an interview in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital. ...

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• 20 June

  Taiwan poised to keep benchmark interest rate unchanged

  

  Bloomberg Taiwan’s central bank will keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged on Thursday as a brewing trade war adds to risks facing the export-oriented economy, according to a Bloomberg survey. A majority of 33 economists said Taiwan will hold the discount rate for banks at an eight-year low of 1.375 percent, while only three predicted an increase of 12.5 basis ...

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• 20 June

  Boeing lands $6.6bn FedEx deal as freight demand grows

  

  Bloomberg Boeing Co. landed a deal for 24 cargo aircraft from FedEx Corp. worth $6.6 billion as the revival in the air freight market continues to grow. The package-hauler plans to add 12 of Boeing’s medium-size 767 freighters and 12 of the larger 777 cargo aircraft to its order book, the Chicago-based planemaker said in a statement. FedEx is already ...

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