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Bloomberg The airline industry can’t afford to wait for a vaccine. That’s the message from the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) chief medical adviser, David Powell. On top of face masks, regular hand washing and sanitising of high-touch surfaces, carriers should work with regulators to introduce reliable coronavirus testing systems for passengers before they board in order to get people …

Bloomberg Investors searching for any hints that a retail recovery is underway got a glimmer of hope, with struggling department-store operator Macy’s Inc inching back to normalcy. The department store chain is still losing money as sales remain well below pre-pandemic levels, but CEO Jeff Gennette said demand is picking up across all of its brands. Its adjusted net loss …

Bloomberg Arla Foods amba, one of Europe’s top milk producers, reported a 34% jump in profit in the first half of the year as consumers stockpiled products including butter in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis. The pandemic sparked increased dairy consumption in homes, which helped offset declines in the food service sector, according to Arla’s chief executive officer, Peder …

Bloomberg Spain’s CaixaBank SA and Bankia SA are exploring a merger to form the largest lender in the country and kickstart consolidation in one of the hardest-hit European economies during the pandemic. The firms are examining an all-share transaction, CaixaBank said in a statement overnight, in a deal that would create a lender with a combined market value of about …

Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG has dropped its pursuit of Wirecard AG’s banking unit and related assets after balking at the price sought by the payments company’s insolvency administrator. Wirecard’s insolvency administrator, Michael Jaffe, had been seeking at least $119 million to proceed with a sale of the assets rather than a liquidation. Deutsche Bank had submitted a bid for some …

Bloomberg Asia’s wealthy are readying cash to take advantage of opportunities in financial markets and private equity once the impact of the coronavirus pandemic subsides, according to the head of private banking at Southeast Asia’s largest lender. Clients have increased cash holdings to about 40% of their portfolios in recent months, up from about 30% before the pandemic, Joseph Poon, …

Bloomberg The Bank of Japan (BOJ) is likely to consider upgrading its economic assessment amid signs of a rebound from the economy’s worst contraction on record last quarter, people familiar with the matter said. Any changes would acknowledge that Japan’s slump has bottomed, rather than indicate optimism about the outlook, according to the people. BOJ officials continue to see Japan’s …

Bloomberg The European Central Bank’s (ECB) emergency stimulus program is endangering the region’s climate-change objectives by “feeding a natural gas frenzy,” according to environmental campaigners. The central bank is buying bonds from fossil-fuel project developers including Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Total SE and Engie SA, Paris-based Reclaim Finance said in a statement. The Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de …

Bloomberg UK home buyers returning to the market after the coronavirus lockdown are finding they’re not benefiting from record-low central bank interest rates. Five months after the Bank of England (BOE) slashed its benchmark to 0.1%, mortgage rates have barely changed as banks fret about risks. For people with smaller deposits, average borrowing costs actually increased by more than half …

Bloomberg Apple Inc. has asked suppliers to build at least 75 million 5G iPhones for later this year, roughly in line with last year’s launch, in a sign that demand for the company’s most important product is holding up in the midst of the global pandemic and recession. The Cupertino, California-based technology giant anticipates shipments of these next-generation iPhones may …