BUSINESS
Bitcoin volume jumps as us spot ETFs tied to token begin trading
Bitcoin’s price advanced as much as 3.8% to reach an intraday high of $47,705 on Thursday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg
WORLD
Davos World Economic Forum: Here’s where to eat and drink
The marquee attendees will not be making spontaneous reservations; they’ll be sitting at white-cloth-covered tables at restaurant takeovers and private events that were booked months ago.
TECHNOLOGY
CES highlights: Climate-centric future of consumer tech
WORLD
Elton John will auction millions in art and antiques from Atlanta home
Eight separate sales at Christie’s New York will feature around 900 lots estimated at more than $10 million total.
WORLD
Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives in Estonian capital amid tour of Baltic states
The Ukrainian president is being accompanied by Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, according to a statement posted Thursday on social media platform X by Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna.
BUSINESS
RBI’s Shaktikanta Das warns against ‘Algorithm-based’ lending by banks
Model based, algorithm lending can “lead to a potential crisis,” Das said in a speech at an annual banking event hosted by Mint newspaper in Mumbai on Thursday. Banks and non-bank financial companies “must appraise robustness of models used for lending,” he said.
WORLD
Singapore, Malaysia weigh passport-free travel to boost commerce
The pact to establish the area — where companies operate with little regulation or government interference — in Malaysia’s southern Johor state will boost business activity and improve connectivity, according to a joint statement.
WORLD
These are the world’s most powerful passports in 2024
For the past five years Singapore and Japan have boasted the world’s most powerful travel documents, granting their citizens access to more countries without a prior visa than anyone else. This year, however, things have changed.
WORLD
Google lays off hundreds in hardware, voice assistant teams
Among the affected workers are those working on the voice-based Google Assistant and at the augmented reality hardware team. Workers in the company’s central engineering organization were also hit by the cuts, the company said.
WORLD
Cathie Wood says Gensler ‘denigrated’ crypto with his statement
Gensler, who has been open about his dislike for crypto, reiterated in a statement on Wednesday that the agency does not endorse digital assets.
WORLD
China is fast losing its place as must-have in global portfolios
An analysis of filings by 14 US pension funds with investments in Chinese stocks show most of them have reduced their holdings since 2020.
WORLD
Xi Jinping elevates China’s ties with record number of nations to counter US
The geopolitical benefits are on display this week with Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu’s first state visit to China, breaking convention with previous Maldivian leaders and handing Xi a victory over regional rival India.
BUSINESS
Amazon laying off hundreds in Prime Video, Studios in latest cuts
Mike Hopkins, who runs the streaming video and studios division, which includes the MGM unit the company acquired last year, announced the cuts in an email to employees
BUSINESS
GQG’s initial bets in Adani Group soar to $4.3 billion in value
The value of GQG Partners’ investments in Adani stood at more than $7 billion at the end of November
BUSINESS
Fake news danger becomes top Davos worry in year of elections
Widespread use of misinformation and disinformation may undermine the legitimacy of newly elected governments, fuel violent protests and potentially even terrorism, according to the WEF.
BUSINESS
ICICI Bank ends Axis’ 16-year run as rupee bond market king
India’s second-largest lender by market value managed 980.3 billion rupees ($11.8 billion) of offerings in 2023, including self-led transactions.
WORLD
Thailand moves to ban recreational use of cannabis in setback for nascent industry
Smoking of marijuana and its use in any other forms for recreation will be banned under the draft bill that was published by the Health Ministry on Tuesday. The use of cannabis plant or its products will be limited for medical and health purposes.
BUSINESS
Rice prices poised to climb higher as market remains tight
The grain is vital to the diets of billions and further price gains would stretch household budgets. Thai white rice 5% broken — an Asian benchmark — rallied to a fresh 15-year high at the end of last year of $659 a ton.
BUSINESS
US trade deficit unexpectedly narrows as services surplus rises
The deficit in goods and services trade shrank 2% from the prior month to $63.2 billion, Commerce Department data showed Tuesday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a $64.9 billion gap.
BUSINESS
Microsoft’s OpenAI ties face potential EU merger investigation
The European Commission said it’s examining whether Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI might be reviewable under the bloc’s merger rules.
BUSINESS
Zee said to miss $200 million cricket fee deadline to Disney
The Mumbai-based media firm didn’t pay the installment due early January citing a cash crunch, the people aware of the development told Bloomberg, asking not to be named as the information is not public.
WORLD
JD.com unit dives 46% after disclosing ‘suspicious’ revenue
Dada Nexus Ltd. said it may have overstated roughly 500 million yuan of sales from online advertising and marketing, and about the same amount of operating and support costs.
WORLD
Xi Jinping vows ‘no mercy’ as he deepens graft fight in key sectors
The Chinese leader singled out the finance, energy, pharmaceutical and infrastructure sectors, as well as state-owned enterprises, as targets of fresh scrutiny at a meeting of the Communist Party’s anti-graft agency on Monday, according to state media.
WORLD
Saudi Arabia borrows $12 billion as EM nations load up on bonds
The kingdom added to the almost $25 billion of bonds that developing nations had sold since the start of the year, the biggest of those being a $7.5 billion offering from Mexico. The Saudi deal is equivalent to more than half the fiscal deficit the government is projecting for this year.
