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Bloomberg United Continental Holdings Inc will stop publishing charts showing the miles needed to obtain tickets through its frequent flyer program, allowing for a wider — and more expensive — range of prices. The move follows a similar decision by rival Delta Air Lines Inc in 2014 to scrap fixed tables in favour of dynamically pricing award tickets. The change …

Bloomberg Target Corp is boosting its minimum starting wage for the third time in as many years, distancing itself from rival Walmart Inc in a tight labour market. The cheap-chic retailer will move to $13 an hour in June, providing tens of thousands of workers a raise, the company said, without specifying exactly how many staffers would benefit. This follows …

DUBAI / WAM The smart city concept has the potential to boost the economic development of global cities by over five percent and deliver at least $20 trillion in additional economic benefits by 2026, reveals a a report titled “Role of Smart Cities for Economic Development.” The numbers were released as discussions on the economic impact of smart cities have …

Bloomberg The market power of corporations is rising across rich economies and could eat into economic growth if the trend intensifies, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said. Corporate market power increased moderately between 2000 and 2015, with price markups increasing by 8 percent, the IMF said in an analysis accompanying its latest World Economic Outlook. The increase was concentrated outside …

Bloomberg Oil rose near $70 a barrel in London, a level last breached in November, as global crude supplies tightened while hopes for an end to the US-China trade impasse lifted financial markets. Brent crude’s rapid recovery this year — with the biggest quarterly gain in almost a decade — is a victory for the production cuts made by Opec …

Bloomberg US stocks advanced and bonds retreated globally as upbeat economic reports from China to Europe and renewed hopes for a Sino-US trade deal attracted investors to riskier assets. The euro and pound strengthened. The S&P 500 climbed for a fifth day, equaling the longest winning streak in two months. The Dow briefly erased gains after a gauge of US …

Bloomberg Italian stocks extended their 2019 rally on Wednesday, with the FTSE MIB benchmark set to enter a bull market, boosted by positive economic data. The benchmark gauge rose 1 percent and has gained 20 percent since reaching a two-year low on December 27 in a broad-based advance led by stocks including Ferrari NV and UniCredit SpA. March’s composite PMI …

Bloomberg Banco Santander SA pledged to cut 1.2 billion euros ($1.4 billion) of annual costs and ramp up investment in digital and its prized Brazilian business as the Spanish lender seeks to revive its moribund share price. The Spanish banking group plans to achieve the incremental cost cuts over three to four years while investing 20 billion euros in digitalisation, …

Bloomberg UniCredit SpA is nearing an agreement with US authorities over allegations that the bank provided dollar-clearing services to Iranian clients in violation of US sanctions, people with the knowledge of the matter said. The deal would cost the Italian lender about $900 million but spare it from criminal prosecution, the people said. A settlement of that size would be …

Bloomberg Zimbabwe’s lenders, which include units of Standard Bank Group Ltd and Ecobank Ltd, appealed to the central bank to raise interest rates that have been capped at 12 percent for the past two years, saying this would increase lending in the collapsing economy. They also proposed that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe introduce an overnight rate to facilitate lending …