February, 2017

• 21 February

  Wal-Mart earnings fall, but online sales surge

  

    BENTONVILLE / AP Wal-Mart says fourth-quarter earnings fell nearly 18 percent, hurt by its investments in e-commerce and stores. But the world’s largest retailer saw its U.S. business accelerate during the period that covers the holiday shopping season. The Bentonville, Arkansas-based company said on Tuesday it earned $3.76 billion, or $1.22 per share in the three months ended Jan. ...

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• 21 February

  Deliveroo records 23% increase in lunchtime orders

    Dubai / Emirates Business As Deliveroo, the growing on-demand food delivery company, celebrates four years in business, it reveals new figures that demonstrate how the platform is helping restaurants in the UAE win new customers and generate more revenue. With more than 800 restaurant partners in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, restaurant owners have reported a sustained growth in meal ...

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• 21 February

  Boeing chief builds cozy relationship with Trump

  

    Bloomberg Few companies have been as successful as Boeing Co. in building a cozy relationship with President Donald Trump. The question is how close is too close. The company found itself in an awkward position this week after Bloomberg reported that Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg had listened in on a phone call last month between Trump and the ...

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• 21 February

  HSBC warns of risks to world economic growth as profit dives

  

    HONG KONG / AP London-based bank HSBC reported on Tuesday that its annual profit slumped following a year it said would be remembered for “unexpected economic and political events” and warned of risks in 2017 to the global economy’s continuing recovery. Europe’s biggest bank said net profit for 2016 tumbled 82 percent to $2.5 billion from $13.5 billion a ...

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• 21 February

  Credit Suisse bets on rich Europeans trading

  

    Bloomberg Credit Suisse Group AG is seeing a pickup in its private banking business in Europe as clients seek counsel on how to protect fortunes from shock election outcomes. “Clients need advice,” on how to manage political uncertainty, Iqbal Khan, head of international wealth management, said in an interview at the bank’s headquarters in Zurich. “I would expect Europe ...

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• 21 February

  Mexico’s central bank may face slowdown

  

    Bloomberg Mexico’s central bank should be prepared for a slowdown in its economy while growth in the U.S. accelerates, with potential implications to the path of benchmark interest rates in the coming months, the newest member of the central bank board Alejandro Diaz de Leon said. A series of rate increases by the central bank in the past year ...

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• 21 February

  RBS rises to one-year high

    Bloomberg Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc rose to a one-year high after the bank said it will scrap the planned sale of its Williams & Glyn consumer-banking unit. The shares gained as much as 6.4 percent and were up 11.2 pence to 254 pence as of 8:58 a.m., the highest among British banks in London trading on Monday. ...

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• 21 February

  Chinese banks’ off-book wealth products exceed $3.8trn

  

    Bloomberg Chinese banks had more than 26 trillion yuan ($3.8 trillion) of wealth-management products held off their balance sheets at the end of December, a 30 percent increase from a year earlier, according to the central bank. The expansion of this form of shadow banking, with money eventually being diverted to quasi-loans and bonds, outpaced the 10 percent growth ...

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• 21 February

  Robots rule Swiss factories

  

    Bloomberg In the shadows of the Alps, Swiss companies are confronting a new reality: They won’t be adding manufacturing jobs in the country anytime soon — not for humans, anyway. Faced with an unsinkable franc and among the highest average annual wages in the world, Swiss companies looking to expand face a simple choice: add robots or leave. Fragrance-maker ...

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• 21 February

  Smart technology that starts from home

  

    DUBAI / Emirates Business The GCC is on course to rapidly evolve into one of the most sustainable and technologically advanced regions in the world due to smart technology, and given this trajectory, there is anxiety that people would become more overwhelmed with keeping up with technology and neglect their personal relationships. However, if used correctly, smart technology improves ...

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