Business in 60 Seconds

China's industrial production and retail sales surge

China's industrial output has surged sharply in the first two months of the year, underscoring the country's recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Official figures show industrial production jumped 35-percent from a year ago, marking its biggest bounce in decades. Meanwhile, retail sales also rose nearly 34-percent in January and February, beating analysts' expectations.

Stripe valuation soars to $95B after latest funding round

Online payments technology provider, Stripe, has raised 600-million dollars in its latest funding round, boosting its valuation to 95-billion dollars. That makes Stripe the most valuable private company out of Silicon Valley. Stripe says it will use the proceeds to expand its business in Europe and beef-up its global payments and treasury network.

Danone ousts Emmanuel Faber as chairperson and CEO

Danone's board of directors has decided to oust Emmanuel Faber as chief executive and chairperson. The move comes after months of pressure from shareholders about the French food giant's underperforming share price. Gilles Schnepp, the former CEO of industrial group Legrand, has been appointed as new chairperson and will lead the search for a new CEO.

OECD revises up global growth forecast for 2021

The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development has revised up its forecast for global growth this year because of the relatively rapid rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. The OECD now predicts a 5.6-percent expansion, led by a recovery in the US, China and India. It has also increased its growth forecast for the Turkish economy by 3-percentage points to 5.9-percent this year.

Zoom founder transfers stock worth more than $6B

Zoom founder Eric Yuan has transferred more than 6-billion dollars' worth of his stake in the video-conferencing company. Filings show Yuan - who's also Zoom's chief executive - donated around 40-percent of his shares to unspecified beneficiaries last week. He's the latest in a number of the world's mega-rich to have transferred stock recently, including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

GameStop shares surge more than 40% on e-commerce plans

GameStop shares have surged more than 40-percent on news the world's largest video game retailer is developing an e-commerce strategy with Chewy dot-com founder, Ryan Cohen. Cohen, who made a large investment in the company last year, has been pushing for a move away from the traditional brick-and-mortar model since joining the board in January.

Microsoft hack tied to China leaves thousands vulnerable

Microsoft is blaming the Chinese- government backed hacking group, Hafnium, for an attack on its servers that has so far compromised at least 60-thousand accounts. Most of the victims are small and medium sized businesses but some government institutions have also been affected. This is the eighth time the software giant has been targeted by hackers from the mainland in the past 12 months.

Oil prices jump after attack on Saudi energy facility

Oil prices have risen above 70-dollars a barrel for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. That's after the world's top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, said its energy facilities had been attacked. Prices had risen almost 7-percent last week as OPEC and its allies announced their decision to keep current production levels unchanged.

Deliveroo reports narrowing losses ahead of IPO

Deliveroo has announced it plans to make its debut on the London Stock Exchange later this year.. targeting a valuation of up to 10-billion dollars. The online food delivery start-up managed to boost its sales by 54-percent in 2020 and reduce its losses.. as lockdowns forced restaurants to close, leading to a surge in online orders.

US suspends tariffs on UK goods seeking to resolve dispute

The United States has agreed to suspend retaliatory tariffs imposed on UK goods over a long-running dispute over aircraft subsidies. The tariffs on a range of products including Scotch whisky, biscuits and clotted cream will be halted for a period of four months. The UK had earlier dropped its tariffs on some US goods, as it looks to seal a post-Brexit trade deal with Washington.

Lufthansa reports record loss of $8.1B in 2020

Lufthansa has suffered its worst annual loss in its history, as the COVID-19 crisis ravages the aviation industry. Net loss came in at 8-point-1 billion dollars for 2020, after global travel restrictions wiped-out passenger demand. The German carrier has also warned that air traffic would not return to pre-pandemic levels before the middle of the decade.

Deliveroo seeks $10B valuation in London IPO

Deliveroo is planning a London stock market listing that could value the British food delivery firm at up to 10-billion dollars. The IPO could mark the biggest new share issue in the UK in three years. Deliveroo will adopt a dual-class share structure for its market debut, giving its founder and CEO Will Shu more control over the direction of the company.

Turkey's inflation rate rises to 15.6% in February

Turkey's annual inflation rose to 15-point-6 percent in February, maintaining pressure for tight monetary policy. The cost of household equipment jumped the most, with prices rising 23-and- a-half percent year-on-year, followed by transportation, which rose 22-percent. In January, annual inflation stood at just under 15-percent.

Rio Tinto chairman resigns after cave blast disaster

Rio Tinto chairman Simon Thompson is stepping down over the destruction of two ancient caves in Australia. In May last year, the world's biggest iron ore miner knowingly destroyed the 46-thousand- year-old Aboriginal rock shelters as part of a mine expansion. The incident has already led to the departure of former CEO Jean-Sebastien Jacques.

Stellantis expects improved profitability in 2021

Stellantis says profitability and vehicle sales are expected to improve this year, after it was formed through a merger of Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot-maker, PSA Group in January. The world's fourth- largest carmaker says it's targeting an adjusted operating profit margin of up to 7-and- a-half percent. The company is also forecasting 6-billion- dollars in annual savings from the merger.

Two Americans extradited to Japan for allegedly aiding Ghosn

Two American men have been handed over to Japanese authorities for allegedly helping the former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn flee the country. The father-and-son duo had been fighting to stop extradition proceedings in the US since their arrest last May. In 2019, Ghosn escaped from Japan to Lebanon in a box, while he was awaiting trial on financial misconduct charges.

South Korea proposes extra $13.4B fund for small businesses

South Korea has unveiled an extra budget of 13-point-4 billion dollars, to support small businesses and protect jobs. The move comes after a coronavirus resurgence prompted the government to uphold social distancing restrictions. The new spending plan is in addition to record stimulus packages totalling around 285-billion dollars launched by the government since the start of the pandemic.

Goldman Sachs reportedly to relaunch cryptocurrency desk

Goldman Sachs is reportedly relaunching its cryptocurrency trading desk, prompted by a surge in the value of Bitcoin. According to Reuters, the US banking giant will start dealing bitcoin futures and non-deliverable forwards for clients from next week. The desk was first set up in 2018, just as bitcoin's price was falling from record highs.

France's ex-president Sarkozy given jail term for corruption

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to three years in jail, with two of them suspended, over corruption charges. The 66-year-old who led France from 2007 to 2012 was found guilty of trying to bribe a judge for information on an inquiry into his 2007 campaign. Sarkozy faces a seperate trial later this month over the alleged illegal financing of his 2012 presidential campaign.

China's manufacturing activity drops for a third month

China's manufacturing activity slowed for a third month in February as the Lunar New Year and a fresh wave of COVID-19 hit demand. Manufacturing PMI fell to 50.9 from 51.5 the previous month, the lowest level in nine months. The data comes ahead of this week's annual budget, which will include a recovery plan from the fall-out of the coronavirus crisis.

Brazos Electric files for bankruptcy after Texas outage

The largest power firm in the US state of Texas has filed for bankruptcy protection after last month's historic outages. Brazos Electric has blamed a 1.8-billion dollar disputed bill from the state's grid operator for blackout-related charges. State-wide power outages left more than 4-million people without heat or electricity last month.

US weekly unemployment claims fall sharply to 730,000

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell more than expected amid an easing of COVID-19 infections. Another 730-thousand people lodged jobless claims last week, compared with 841-thousand in the week prior. But the number is still well above the 665-thousand peak recorded during global financial crisis more than a decade ago.

Qantas shares rise despite $820M loss in first half

Qantas Airways swung to an 820 million dollar first-half underlying loss, compared with a 615 million dollar profit a year ago. Earnings were hit by strict quarantine restrictions and limits on travel due to the pandemic. But the Australian carrier has laid out a plan to resume most international flights from October, sending its shares up as much as 5 percent.

Netflix to spend $500M in South Korea this year

Netflix is planning to spend half-a-billion dollars on original movies and television shows in South Korea this year. Since entering the country in 2016, the US streaming giant has already invested 700 million dollars to expand its slate of Korean content. Netflix said it had 3-point-8 million paid subscribers in South Korea as of the end of last year.

Top executives resign from Texas power grid operator

Top executives of Texas's power grid operator have stepped down after millions of homes lost electricity during a deadly winter storm last week. The chairperson of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas and four other board directors have resigned with immediate effect. State lawmakers are scheduled to hold hearings on the crisis on Thursday.

GameStop CFO quits after stock trading frenzy

GameStop's chief financial officer Jim Bell has resigned after a Reddit-fuelled stock trading frenzy saw the struggling US video game retailer skyrocket in value. The company says Bell will step down in March, but hasn't given any reason. GameStop shares soared as much as 1,900 percent earlier this month, as retail investors looked to counter a short squeeze on the stock.

Singapore developer CapitaLand reports $1.2B loss

Singapore's largest developer, CapitaLand, has reported its first full-year loss in almost two decades. That's after the pandemic forced the company to write down the value of some of its properties. Net loss came in at 1-point-2 billion dollars for 2020, compared with a net profit of nearly 1-billion dollars in the prior year.

UK unemployment hits highest level in almost five years

Unemployment in the UK has reached its highest level in nearly five years after a coronavirus resurgence prompted tougher lockdown measures. The Office for National Statistics says the jobless rate rose to 5-point-1 percent in the final three months of 2020. The Bank of England expects the rate to peak at 7-point-8 percent in the third quarter of this year

HSBC further shifts focus to Asia as annual profits plunge

HSBC has unveiled a further strategic shift from developed markets to Asia's faster-growing economies. Europe's largest bank, which already generates the bulk of its revenues in Asia, has pledged to invest 6-billion dollars to expand in Hong Kong, China and Singapore. The plans come as the lender posted a 34-percent fall in annual profits due to the pandemic.

Sudan devalues its currency to try to secure debt relief

Sudan's central bank has sharply devalued its currency as it unified the official and black market exchange rates. The bank set the official rate at 375 Sudanese pounds to the dollar, from a previous rate of 55-pounds. The change was demanded by international lenders and is part of Sudan's efforts to secure debt relief and ease an economic crisis.