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  Bloomberg United Continental Holdings Inc.’s first-quarter profit exceeded analysts’ estimates as tumbling oil prices handed the carrier a break on fuel costs. Adjusted earnings fell to $1.23 a share, the airline said in a statement. That topped the $1.18 average of 15 estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales declined 4.8 percent to $8.2 billion, matching analysts’ expectations. The Chicago-based carrier ...

  JOHANNESBURG / Reuters South Africa’s Steinhoff has increased its stake in Darty to 20.4 percent, it announced after a frantic bidding war with French rival Fnac for Europe’s third-largest electric goods retailer. Five new offers in less than 24 hours lifted Darty shares by more than 23 percent this week to their highest since the end of 2010 and ...

  NEW YORK / Reuters The US aviation regulator has ordered an urgent fix for General Electric engines on upto 150 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, a step to avoid engine failure in icy conditions. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it was requiring modifications to prevent fan blades from rubbing against the engine casing, which can cause “damage and a possible ...

  Bloomberg Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA is seeking US backing for an expansion of its UK-based long-haul operations that would allow the discount carrier to offer services such as South Africa to New York via London. A successful outcome following an application to the US Department of Transportation could lead Norwegian Air to exercise an option to buy 10 more ...

  Bloomberg The U.S. consumer might be the engine of global growth — just not the roaring V12 it used to be. From the fourth quarter of 2003 through 2006, amid the real estate bubble, personal consumption expenditures grew at an average annual clip of 3.5 percent. Since the S&P/Case-Shiller Composite 20-City Home Price Index bottomed out in March 2012, ...

  Bloomberg It’s a good time to be a tenant in Singapore. Rentals across the city-state’s home, office and retail properties dropped in the quarter ended March as an oversupply and weak demand dragged down prices sought by landlords. Singapore’s home rental index dropped 1.3 percent in the three months ended March 31 from the previous quarter, data from the ...

  Bloomberg Home sales in New York’s Hamptons fell to the lowest level in three years as would-be buyers of beachside mansions stayed on the sidelines during a turbulent first quarter on Wall Street. Purchases in the Long Island resort towns, a second-home market popular with financiers and celebrities, totaled 437 in the three months through March, down 19 percent ...

  Bloomberg Blackstone Group LP, with real estate assets that have surpassed $100 billion, is considering tapping individual investors as it expands its push into owning high-quality buildings with steady income streams. “The prospects for growth in that business are huge,” Chairman and CEO Steve Schwarzman said on the company’s first-quarter earnings conference call. “At some point as we move ...

  Bloomberg The Australian state of Victoria will more than double a property tax for foreign buyers in a move that may undermine surging home prices in the nation’s second-largest city. The stamp duty surcharge will increase to 7 percent from 3 percent and will apply to contracts signed on or after July 1, according to a statement from state ...

Bloomberg Denys Laroche has been trying to sell his 18th century one-bedroom apartment just off the Champs-Elysees for six months. If the €3.75 million Paris home doesn’t attract a buyer soon, he may decide to wait for a new president next year. “We have a socialist president who’s increased taxes,” said Laroche, a business owner who’s about to retire and ...