European gasoline diverted to Texas to ease supply crunch

Bloomberg Five gasoline tankers that were enroute to the US East Coast diverted to the Port of Houston to help ease a supply crunch after last month’s freeze crippled the region’s refineries. Major refineries along Gulf Coast, the nation’s refining hub, shut gasoline units during the February deep freeze and power failures. Operators have gradually begun resuming production since the ...

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Post-Brexit finance fight puts everyone at risk

The post-Brexit war over financial services — and to what degree Europe can lure business away from the City of London — is far from over. The latest battle is derivatives clearing. But compromise is possible and would serve everyone best. Set up in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, central counterparty clearing houses (CCPs) act as middlemen between ...

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Would the future of money be digital?

The idea that much of today’s cash use will shift to digital tokens is neither faddish nor outlandish, as long as you don’t start equating the future of money with Bitcoin. Sure, governments will borrow some elements of the distributed ledger technology behind private cryptocurrencies, but they will very much want to retain control of what circulates as money in ...

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What you don’t recall about the taper tantrum

The jump in global bond yields this past month has drawn many analogies to the so-called taper tantrum of 2013, a market upheaval triggered by comments from then-Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke about gradually reeling back quantitative easing. Unfortunately, these references don’t accurately capture that pivotal episode, or the circumstances around it. Without fully understanding what unfolded almost a decade ...

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Joe Biden should press harder on Nord Stream 2

The Biden administration has opted for now not to impose new sanctions on Nord Stream 2, the pipeline that will double the amount of natural gas Russia transports directly to Europe. For the time being, the decision allows the US to avoid a confrontation with Germany, the project’s main supporter. It also risks inflaming Congress and handing a geopolitical victory ...

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Marks & Spencer to expand online reach in overseas foray

Bloomberg Marks & Spencer Group Plc (M&S) will launch websites in 46 new overseas markets to try to revive an international business that’s languished for years in spite of multiple turnaround efforts. The British seller of food, clothing and housewares said the expansion into nations from Nepal to Bolivia and Uzbekistan would extend its online reach to more than 100 ...

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UK aviation industry seeks for financial aid

Bloomberg Heathrow airport, unionised workers and ground-handling staff issued a joint plea to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson for more state funding to help the aviation industry survive Covid-19 travel restrictions that put demand at just 2% of its usual level. A June estimate by the New Economics Foundation said a further 124,000 jobs in the UK were at risk ...

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Walmart’s foray into finance makes a friend of an old foe

Bloomberg One of Walmart Inc.’s longtime foes conceded the retailer’s latest foray into banking could end well for consumers. “There are still a lot of people who want a physical location to go to for their banking services, and Walmart could provide that with all its stores,” said Sheila Bair, who oversaw the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. when the retail ...

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United plane’s broken fan blade last inspected in ’16

Bloomberg The fan blade that broke on a United Airlines plane over suburban Denver last month failed well before it was required to receive its next routine inspection, investigators said. The blade that fractured, triggering the February 20 failure, had 2,979 cycles — each of which represents a flight or any time the engine was started — since its last ...

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Boeing reeled from ‘terrible’ press after first Max crash

Bloomberg Boeing Co. leaders were stunned by a barrage of negative articles after a 737 Max plunged into the Java Sea in October 2018, killing all aboard, according to internal communications. The messages, under court order, show that executives and board directors worried about media coverage and indications that pilots on the Lion Air flight were caught unaware by an ...

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