Wednesday , 17 December 2025

Covid-19: Amazon closes US apparel returns warehouse

Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc has extended the shuttering of a warehouse dedicated to returning apparel after three workers tested positive for Covid-19, the first known instance of the online retailer indefinintely idling a US facility in response to the pandemic. The move comes after employees expressed concern that returning to work to process returned sneakers and wristwatches wasn’t worth the risk …

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Lululemon slips over ‘forecast’

Bloomberg Lululemon Athletica Inc reported an acceleration of sales growth in the latest quarter, but refrained from offering an outlook for the current year because of the uncertainty caused by the coronavirus outbreak. The Vancouver-based retailer, which has closed many locations amid the health crisis, said the key metric of comparable sales, a gauge of retail success, accelerated to 20% …

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Oil market broken as virus ravages global economy

Bloomberg The global oil market is broken, overwhelmed by an unmanageable surplus as virus lockdowns cascade through the world’s largest economies. Onshore tanks in many markets are full, forcing traders to store excess oil in idle supertankers. Refineries are starting to shut down because nobody needs the fuels they produce. In physical oil markets, barrels are already changing hands for …

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Saudi extends suspension of work, flights

RIYADH / WAM The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announced on Sunday that it will extend the suspension of workplace attendance in both public and private sectors and international passenger flights among efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus. In a statement issued by an official source at the Ministry of Interior, all domestic flights, trains, buses and taxis also …

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Pipelines ask US oil drillers to curb output as tanks fill up

Bloomberg American pipeline operators have begun asking oil producers to voluntarily ratchet back their output in the clearest sign yet that a growing glut of crude is overwhelming storage capacity. Plains All American Pipeline LP, one of the biggest shippers of crude in the US, sent a letter last week asking its suppliers to scale back production. The notice came …

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Buffett-backed BYD to supply electric car parts to rivals

Bloomberg BYD Co, the Chinese electric-vehicle maker backed by Warren Buffett, will start offering a full suite of EV components to rivals and aspiring auto manufacturers to diversify its revenue sources amid sputtering car demand. Among the parts that the Shenzhen-based company makes and now sells are electric-car batteries, powertrains and lights, founder Wang Chuanfu said in an online press …

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Russia’s Rosneft sells Venezuelan assets

Bloomberg Russian oil giant Rosneft PJSC sold its assets in Venezuela to the Russian government, in what may be a maneuver to avoid any US sanctions in an escalating fight between Caracas, Washington and Moscow. Rosneft is selling local production, service and trading assets to a state-owned company, it said in a statement. The move is to protect shareholders’ interests, …

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Carbon market’s virus blow softened by Brussels technocrats

Bloomberg The carbon market’s automatic stabilisers are set to kick in, softening the blow of the economic slump in the European Union caused by the spread of the coronavirus. The system, known as the Market Stability Reserve and introduced last year, will absorb some of the supply of allowances that factories and utilities need to buy to cover their greenhouse …

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Namibia halts mining, quarrying operations

Bloomberg Namibia halted mining and quarrying operations to curb the spread of the Covid-19 outbreak, according to Minister of Mines and Energy Tom Alweendo. The semi-arid southwest African nation is the world’s top producer of marine diamonds and the fifth-biggest of uranium. While minimal operations and critical maintenance work will be allowed, employers should ensure that “preventative measures such as …

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HSBC warns of virus credit losses even with BOE help

Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc warned it still expects to book higher credit losses on the back of the coronavirus pandemic, even after regulators gave it more leeway to deal with unpaid loans. Europe’s largest bank also put its job-cutting programme on hold. In an update to investors contained in the prospectus for its latest debt sale, disclosed in a US …

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