Author: TI Editor

(Bloomberg) — New Zealand Finance Minister Nicola Willis said she is taking advice on how to compel the central bank to loosen bank capital rules. Her comments, first reported by the New Zealand Herald and confirmed by her office Friday in Wellington, follow the surprise resignation of Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr earlier this week. Orr championed the capital rules.  Willis said she was taking advice on the amount of capital banks hold “as it’s something that I believe could make a difference to the productivity and growth of the New Zealand economy, and therefore to New Zealanders’ incomes.” “My…

March 6 (Reuters) – Apparel retailer Gap forecast annual and first-quarter sales below estimates on Thursday, joining a growing number of companies that expect subdued consumer spending amid rising inflationary woes. Consumers are reining in spending on non-essentials such as apparel and accessories to prioritize necessities like groceries, as high interest rates and rising costs of living have been forcing households to tighten their belts. Gap expects net sales growth for fiscal 2025 to be between 1% and 2%. The midpoint of this range is slightly below the 1.7% rise analysts estimated, according to data compiled by LSEG. The company’s…

(Bloomberg) — The cockpit voice recorder on a medevac plane that crashed in Philadelphia earlier this year contained no data from the fatal flight and likely hadn’t been capturing audio “for several years,” the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report on Thursday.  The Learjet 55 operated by Jet Rescue Air Ambulance crashed on Jan. 31, killing all six people on board and one person on the ground while injuring several others. It’s unclear why the plane’s cockpit voice recorder — a device commonly known as a “black box” — had not been operating, and the NTSB’s report…

(Bloomberg) — The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed Alphabet Inc. and its CEO Sundar Pichai as part of its ongoing investigation into the biggest tech companies’ relationships with the Biden administration. The subpoena, issued Thursday, specifically seeks documents related to Alphabet’s communications with the previous administration, which Republicans have alleged amounted to an effort to censor Americans’ speech.  The committee has also set a March 28 hearing with Pichai, according to a copy of the subpoena the panel released on Thursday.  José Castañeda, a Google spokesperson, said the company will “continue to show the committee how we enforce our policies…

(Bloomberg) — A former Credit Suisse Group banker who pleaded guilty to engaging in a $2 billion fraud and money-laundering scheme in Mozambique avoided a prison term after serving as the government’s star witness at two US trials. Andrew Pearse was sentenced on Thursday in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, over what became known as the tuna bond scandal for its dubious maritime projects including a fishing fleet. He was sentenced to time served, referring to the brief period when he was in the government’s custody. “I hope one day I will be remembered not as the poster child…

(Bloomberg) — Leon Black’s lawsuit against a New York law firm that represented a woman who accused the billionaire of sexual assault was dismissed by an appeals court Thursday. The Apollo Global Management co-founder sued Wigdor LLP in New York state court in August 2023, accusing the firm of not properly investigating “false, life-ruining” allegations and attempting to harass Black. Wigdor represented Russian model Guzel Ganieva, who accused Black of sexually assaulting her. A panel of appellate judges in Manhattan on Thursday threw out Black’s case against Wigdor, saying the law firm was exercising its constitutional rights to free speech…

President Donald Trump said he directed cabinet secretaries to use a “scalpel” rather than a “hatchet” to make personnel cuts, a directive aiming to quell blowback after waves of job cuts have roiled the federal workforce. “I have instructed the Secretaries and Leadership to work with DOGE on Cost Cutting measures and Staffing,” Trump said in a social media post on Thursday, referring to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency effort. “As the Secretaries learn about, and understand, the people working for the various Departments, they can be very precise as to who will remain, and who will go.” “It’s…

(Bloomberg) — Citadel Securities reported its largest ever trading haul, surpassing the tally at some of Europe’s biggest banks to cement itself among the world’s trading behemoths. Full-year trading revenue rose 55% to $9.7 billion from the previous year, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing private information. That topped a previous record of $7.5 billion set in 2022. The haul vaults Citadel Securities ahead of lenders including Deutsche Bank AG and Barclays Plc after it steadily expanded from a small group built alongside Ken Griffin’s hedge fund into one of the biggest…

Dealmakers see pickup in M&A activity in second half of 2025 Potential buyers and sellers worried about market volatility Dealmakers blame policy uncertainty for M&A slowdown By Abigail Summerville, Milana Vinn and Svea Herbst-Bayliss NEW ORLEANS, March 6 (Reuters) – Facing unexpected market volatility and geopolitical uncertainties, normally optimistic dealmakers are sounding a more cautious note for the coming weeks and months but are confident the pace of mergers and acquisitions will pick up later this year. “Our clients are waiting and seeing to see how things work out,” said Paul Weiss partner Scott Barshay, one of Wall Street’s most…

(Bloomberg) — Dealmakers gathered at an annual conference in New Orleans this week to catch their breath and try to look for reasons to be optimistic about a mergers and acquisitions market that has disappointed so far in 2025. “People want to do deals,” Audra Cohen, co-managing partner at law firm Sullivan & Cromwell’s general practice group, said during a presentation Thursday at Tulane University’s Corporate Law Institute event. She was speaking against a backdrop of falling deal values, with activity in part impacted by US President’s Donald Trump’s policies on the economy and foreign affairs.  “Things like the tariffs…