Soaring stock prices are propelling credit and debit card companies Visa Inc and Mastercard Inc up the market value charts, where they currently rank 7th and 11th among companies in the benchmark S&P 500 index. The stock prices of both Visa and Mastercard have gained roughly 50% in the past year. While the stocks may not keep up that torrid pace, Visa and Mastercard would each be worth over $1 trillion by 2023 if their average annual gains of the past three years were to continue, surging p...

Last week, you might have seen that SAP SE (ETR:SAP) released its full-year result to the market. The early response...

(Bloomberg) -- India’s annual budget on Saturday is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second opportunity in seven months to refresh policy priorities to support an economy on a downward spiral.Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to outline fiscal steps that may include higher spending in rural areas and possible tax cuts when she delivers her second budget speech in New Delhi. The government is expected to widen its fiscal deficit target for the year through March to 3.8% of gross domesti...

(Bloomberg) -- Volkswagen AG offered to buy the rest of Navistar International Corp. in a $2.9 billion bid to secure a bridgehead in the U.S. heavy-truck market and step up its challenge to Daimler AG and Volvo AB.The expansion was somewhat offset by Volkswagen’s first major divestment since the German automaker skidded into the diesel-emissions scandal in 2015. An agreement to sell industrial machinery unit Renk AG, valued at 760 million euros ($840 million), indicates VW is more inclined to...

(Bloomberg) -- Sign up to our Next Africa newsletter and follow Bloomberg Africa on TwitterThe bad news from Sasol Ltd.’s chemical project in Louisiana keeps stacking up.South Africa’s biggest fuel and chemicals producer said the Lake Charles Chemicals Project will make a smaller contribution to earnings, cutting its guidance for the second time in five months. The stock fell as much as 12% to the lowest level since November 2008. The shares are down 22% this year, the worst performer in an i...

(Bloomberg) -- Want the lowdown on European markets? In your inbox before the open, every day. Sign up here.Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings Plc secured a 500-million-pound ($656 million) lifeline to restore the balance sheet and help build a new sport-utility vehicle after agreeing to sell a minority stake to billionaire Lawrence Stroll.The deal agreed late Thursday gives the U.K. luxury carmaker much-needed breathing space as it looks to get back in track following a turbulent start to ...

(Bloomberg) -- Oil clawed back some losses after plunging to the lowest level in 18 years as investors grapple with demand shocks and an impending supply flood from some of the world’s biggest producers.Futures in New York advanced 2.8% as equity markets rallied on glimmers of optimism about the health sector’s efforts to deliver rapid testing for the new coronavirus. While oil climbed for the first time in four sessions, prices are still set for the worst month and quarter on record as the r...

The coronavirus crisis could become a protracted pandemic if lock-downs are terminated prematurely or prove less than fully effective.

(Bloomberg) -- At least there’s this: The average price for a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. has fallen below $2 for the first time in four years.That’s average -- which California is not. As crude oil prices have tanked, depressed by the coronavirus pandemic and the market-share war between Saudi Arabia and Russia, at least a dozen service stations in the Golden State are charging more than $4, according to the tracker GasBuddy. One unnamed location in Santa Clara, near the heart of Silicon ...

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- The U.S. is finally starting to take a sensible and proactive approach toward the Covid-19 pandemic. After a disastrous initial failure, coronavirus testing has now risen to levels similar to or higher than South Korea. Meanwhile, although he almost succumbed to the temptation to reopen the economy before shutdowns had time to quell the epidemic, President Donald Trump has wisely decided to recommend that social distancing continue through the end of April. And Congress...