Italy's UniCredit Unveils New Strategy as Restructuring Ends
ROME-UniCredit SpA said it plans to expand by hiring staff and investing in digitization as part of a three-year strategic plan that includes share buybacks and bigger dividends.
The plan, the first since Chief Executive Andrea Orceltook the helm in April, targets annual revenue growth of about 2% and profit growth of 10% through 2024.
Amazon Fined $1.3 Billion in Italian Antitrust Case
Italy's antitrust regulator fined Amazon.com Inc. $1.3 billion for harming competitors by favoring third-party sellers that use the U.S. company's logistics services.
The fine of 1.13 billion euros comes as Amazon awaits the outcome of a similar investigation being carried out by the European Union. The EU last year separately filed antitrust charges against Amazon for allegedly using nonpublic data from third-party sellers to compete against them.
Rolls-Royce Returned to Positive Free Cash Flow in 3Q
Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC said Thursday that it restored positive free cash flow in the third quarter.
The British aerospace and defense company said that the gradual recovery in international flying, combined with market recovery in Power Systems and resilience in Defense, are driving improvements in its performance.
U.K. Imposes New Covid-19 Restrictions as Omicron Cases Double Every Few Days
LONDON-The British government warned that Covid-19 infections caused by the Omicron variant are doubling every two or three days, as it imposed new restrictions in England, including a work from home order and a requirement for proof of vaccination for indoor venues such as nightclubs.
The news is a sign of increasing concern over the trajectory of the Omicron variant, which British authorities say could crowd out the currently dominant Delta variant within weeks and result in over a million total Covid-19 infections by the end of the month. Britain has recorded 10.6 million cases over the course of the whole pandemic.
AstraZeneca Covid-19 Antibody Authorized by FDA as Novel Tool to Prevent Symptomatic Disease
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized a preventive antibody combination from AstraZeneca PLC that has shown strong efficacy in reducing risk of symptomatic Covid-19, offering a first-of-its-kind alternative for a minority of people for whom vaccines are considered less effective.
The antibody cocktail, called Evusheld, is aimed primarily for use in a minority of adolescents and adults age 12 and older with moderate to severely compromised immune systems. That may be because they have cancer or another illness or take medications or undergo treatments such as chemotherapy that inhibit an immune response to Covid-19 vaccines, the FDA said in a statement.
Justice Department Told Deutsche Bank Lender May Have Violated Criminal Settlement
The Justice Department has informed Deutsche Bank AG that the German lender may have violated a criminal settlement when it failed to tell prosecutors about an internal complaint in its asset-management arm's sustainable investing business, according to people familiar with the matter.
The complaint alleged that the asset manager, DWS Group, overstated how much it used environmental, social and governance criteria, known by the industry acronym ESG, to manage its assets. U.S. authorities learned of the issue in an August Wall Street Journal article, rather than from the bank, which had ongoing disclosure and compliance obligations under the earlier criminal settlement, according to people familiar with the matter.
Uber Workers Would Be Classed as Employees Under EU Proposal
Uber Technologies Inc., Amazon.com Inc.-backed Deliveroo PLC and other gig-economy companies could be forced to give more benefits to their drivers and delivery personnel under a European Union proposal that would reclassify many of their jobs as employment.
The draft bill, proposed Thursday by the EU's executive arm, would establish a presumption that many of the companies in what is often called the gig economy actually employ workers, depending on the level of control the companies exercise over how workers perform their jobs. Until now, most such companies have deemed the majority of their workers to be independent contractors.
German Exports Rose in October, Beating Forecasts
German exports increased in October, beating forecasts and surpassing pre-pandemic levels.
Exports rose 4.1% on month in adjusted terms, statistics office Destatis said Thursday. Economists had forecast a 1.1% increase in adjusted terms, according to a poll by The Wall Street Journal.
DS Smith 1H Pretax Profit, Revenue Rose; Increases Dividend
DS Smith PLC said Thursday that pretax profit and revenue rose for the first half of fiscal 2022 and that it has increased the interim dividend.
The packaging company made a pretax profit of 175 million pounds ($231.1 million) for the six months to Oct. 31 compared with GBP97 million a year earlier.
Vinci, Eiffage Raise Offer for France's Prado Tunnel Operator
French infrastructure company Vinci SA and civil-engineering firm Eiffage SA said late Wednesday that they have raised their price for a takeover of tunnel operator Societe Marseillaise du Tunnel Prado Carenage.
Vinci said they would file a takeover with the French market authorities for a price of 27 euros ($30.63) a share, up from EUR23 previously.
Mambu Valued at $5.3 Billion in Investment Led by Private-Equity Firm EQT
A group led by private-equity company EQT AB is acquiring a minority stake in banking-software firm Mambu, a deal that values the financial-technology company at more than $5.3 billion, the companies said.
The investment is the latest bet on European technology providers that are taking advantage of the switch to digital-banking services by consumers and businesses.
U.S. Moves to Tighten Iran Sanctions Enforcement as Nuclear Talks Stall
The Biden administration is moving to tighten enforcement of sanctions against Iran, according to senior U.S. officials, the first sign of Washington increasing economic pressure on Tehran as diplomatic efforts to restore the 2015 nuclear deal falter.
According to senior State and Treasury Department officials, the U.S. will send a top-level delegation, including the head of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, Andrea Gacki, next week to the United Arab Emirates. The U.A.E. is a top U.S. ally but also Iran's second-largest trade partner and a conduit for Iran's trade and financial transactions with other countries.
GLOBAL NEWS
Jobless Claims Are Stabilizing at Pre-Pandemic Levels
Worker filings for unemployment benefits are settling at pre-pandemic levels as a tight labor market keeps layoffs low.
Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expect jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, fell to 211,000 for the week ended Dec. 4 from 222,000 the previous week. The Labor Department will report last week's jobless claims figures on Thursday at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Market Can Weather Evergrande Crisis, China's Top Central Banker Says
Financial stress at China Evergrande Group and a few of its peers won't cause longer-term damage to the Hong Kong market, and broader problems with debt at Chinese property developers should be dealt with according to market principles, China's top central banker said.
Hong Kong-listed Evergrande, which is one of China's largest developers and has close to $20 billion in U.S. dollar bonds outstanding, didn't make overdue payments on some bonds before a final deadline Monday, potentially setting the stage for Asia's largest default. Fitch Ratings downgraded Evergrande and two key subsidiaries to a "restricted default" rating on Thursday, citing the missed coupon payments.
China Reopens a Funding Spigot for Property Developers
HONG KONG-Chinese regulators have quietly reopened an onshore funding spigot for the country's property developers, enabling some firms to tap into an obscure form of debt financing that helps pay their suppliers.
Over the past four years, real-estate developers from China Evergrande Group to Country Garden Holdings Co. were regular users of yuan-denominated debt instruments known in the industry as "supply chain asset-backed securities." Property firms were behind the equivalent of more than $38.6 billion in such bonds that were issued last year, according to Wind data, a huge jump from $12.4 billion in 2019. The actual totals are likely higher, because some deals from developers weren't classified as such.
China's Factory-Gate Inflation Softens in November
HONG KONG-China's factory-gate inflation ebbed in November after hitting a 26-year high, which economists say will give policy makers more room for easing to bolster a slowing economy.
The producer-price index rose 12.9% from a year earlier in November, down from 13.5% growth in October, which was the fastest increase since 1995, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics. The reading beats the 12% increase expected by economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.
Covid Spurs Biggest Rise in Life-Insurance Payouts in a Century
The Covid-19 pandemic last year drove the biggest increase in death benefits paid by U.S. life insurers since the 1918 influenza epidemic, an industry trade group said.
Death-benefit payments rose 15.4% in 2020 to $90.43 billion, mostly due to the pandemic, according to the American Council of Life Insurers. In 1918, payments surged 41%.
Senate Passes Legislation Aimed at Blocking Biden's Covid-19 Vaccine Rules for Employers
WASHINGTON-The Senate approved legislation aimed at nullifying President Biden's vaccine-or-test mandate for private employers, marking a significant rebuke even if lawmakers ultimately fall short of stopping the new Covid-19 rule.
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12-09-21 0634ET
