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Bloomberg A world-beating stock gain is quickly unraveling in Hong Kong, showing how fast sentiment can change as protests convulse the city. The Hang Seng Index lost 0.8% on Wednesday. It had surged 2.9% in two days, with volatility sinking 11% in that time. Short-selling volume reached 16% of total equity turnover — near a record of 20% in August …

Bloomberg Europe’s wealthiest man is spending more than $1 billion on a Paris department store at a time when other shops are going out of business and consumers are turning to Amazon.com Inc. La Samaritaine, part of billionaire Bernard Arnault’s LVMH luxury empire, is set to reopen next April after a 15-year renovation. The company gave reporters a tour of …

Bloomberg Nestle SA expects to get about a quarter of a billion dollars in extra revenue from Starbucks-branded products this year after it began selling items including Nespresso-compatible capsules under a partnership with the US coffee giant. Starbucks-branded merchandise will add about 250 million Swiss francs ($252 million) to sales this year, a spokesman said in response to questions. Last …

Bloomberg South Africa’s government ruled out an intervention in the ongoing battle between the struggling state airline and unions leading a strike, with public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan refusing to step in to fund wage demands. The state has already given South African Airways (SAA) more than $1.4 billion over the past three years, Gordhan said in an emailed statement. …

Bloomberg EasyJet Plc plans to become the first carrier to offset carbon emissions from all its flights as the aviation industry responds to a growing outcry over its contribution to climate change. “It’s not to say that this is the perfect solution, we know it’s an interim step before new technologies come into play,” CEO Johan Lundgren told Bloomberg TV. …

Bloomberg The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommended that the Boeing Co 737 NG (Next Generation) be redesigned to prevent a repeat of a fatal accident last year in which an engine part broke off in flight, killing a passenger. More than 7,000 so-called 737 Next Generation planes could be affected by the recommendation that the inlet to the …

Bloomberg Air Botswana plans to reduce its workforce to 210 from 450 to prepare for the government’s latest attempt to privatise the loss-making state-owned carrier. The job cuts will come from separating the ground-handling operation into a new unit that could then be sold to private-equity firms, chairman Tebogo Masire told reporters in Gaborone. “Air Botswana must be lean and …

Abu Dhabi / WAM Global leaders convened at the Reaching the Last Mile Forum in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday to affirm their commitment to eradicate polio and pledge $2.6 billion as part of the first phase of the funding needed to implement the Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s Polio Endgame Strategy 2019-2023. This pledging event comes on the heels of a …

Bloomberg The trade war’s drag on the world’s largest two economies will gradually fade in 2020 as tariffs on imports from China have likely peaked, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The recent progress towards a partial trade deal and expectations of an extended truce implies that this drag will disappear, which will also benefit the global economy, Goldman Sachs …

Bloomberg Boeing Co. secured orders for 50 737 Max narrow-body planes, padding its tally at the Dubai Airshow while building momentum for the grounded aircraft ahead of its potential return to the skies in coming weeks. Kazakhstan’s Air Astana signed a letter of intent for 30 jets, Boeing announced on Tuesday, while an undisclosed customer bought 20, according to a …