Fri, Dec 20, 2019 page10

• World Business Quick Take

  • Agencies
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  AVIATION

  Moody’s downgrades Boeing

  Boeing Co was downgraded by Moody’s Investors Service, as the grounding of the 737 MAX plane extends into next year, jeopardizing the company’s financial future. Moody’s cut Boeing one level to “A3,” four levels above speculative grade, due to uncertainty around when the company’s best-selling aircraft would return to service, analyst Jonathan Root said on Wednesday. The suspension would increase Boeing’s program costs, as well as claims for compensation by airlines and lessors, not to mention a potentially more lasting reputational risk, Root said. A further downgrade could occur if the grounding runs into the second half of next year, Moody’s said.

  JAPAN

  BOJ keeps rates unchanged

  The Bank of Japan (BOJ) yesterday left policy untouched as a government stimulus package, progress in US-China trade talks and signs of a bottoming of the global slowdown brightened the economic outlook. The central bank maintained its target for interest rates and asset purchases, it said in a statement, in line with the view of all 45 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The BOJ also kept its guidance on policy unchanged and outlined details of a stock-fund lending program aimed at improving the sustainability of its easing program.

  AUTOMAKERS

  Share Now paring service

  Daimler AG and BMW AG are withdrawing their joint vehicle-sharing service from North America and halting service in three European cities, citing rising costs and low ridership. The venture — branded Share Now after a merger of Daimler’s Car2Go and BMW’s DriveNow units — is to cease operations in Brussels, London and Florence, Italy, next year, leaving a network of 18 European cities, and wind down its remaining business in the US and Canada, they said in a statement on Wednesday. General Motors Co scaled back a similar service in April, while Ford Motor Co shut down one mobility unit in March and another earlier this month.

  STEEL

  US appeals WTO ruling

  Washington is appealing a WTO ruling in a dispute over import duties on Indian steel products, despite having recently forced the body’s appeals unit to suspend operations. Last month, a WTO panel found that Washington had failed to fully comply with a five-year-old ruling ordering it to bring the duties it slaps on certain steel imports from India into line with global trade rules. The US on Wednesday indicated it would discuss with India a way forward in the dispute, a trade official said. The two sides have been at odds over steel imports for years.

  INTERNET

  Amazon shows French taxes

  Amazon.com Inc on Wednesday published its French tax returns, showing it paid 250 million euros (US$278.25 million) last year, after accusations that the US e-commerce giant was not paying enough into the public coffers. “Amazon is growing in France and as that growth increases so do the contributions to public services, to the French social model,” Amazon France boss Frederic Duval said. Last year, “the compulsory deductions linked to Amazon’s activities in France amounted to more than 250 million euros,” the company said in a statement. Of that, about 150 million euros were classed as “direct deductions,” such as corporate tax and employer contributions. The rest was listed as taxes collected on behalf of the state, such as value-added tax and social security.
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