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1. Inflation Rises Again in the UK
Inflation in the United Kingdom increased from 3.9% to 4% year over year in December, the first increase since February 2023, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics.
The largest contribution to the increase was alcohol and tobacco, with the smaller contribution being food and non-alcoholic drinks. The Financial Times reports the uptick has caused “gilt yields to rise and traders to scale back expectations of how soon the Bank of England will start cutting interest rates.”
2. Judge Bars JetBlue’s Takeover of Spirit Airlines
Judge William G. Young of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts on Jan. 16 put the brakes on JetBlue Airways’ $3.8 billion takeover of peer carrier Spirit Airlines, saying the move would hinder competition “likely incentivize JetBlue further to abandon its roots as a maverick, low-cost carrier,” the New York Times reports.
The newspaper reports said the decision is a victory for the U.S. Department of Justice, which opposed the merger that would have created the U.S.’s fifth-largest airline. Analysis presented at the trail “showed that when Spirit introduces a new route, fares, including those on JetBlue flights, come down.”
3. European Voters Traumatized by ‘Five Crisis’ Points
In a year in which potentially 50% of the world’s population is going to the ballot box, the European Council on Foreign Relations has released a report stating that voters are divided into “five crisis tribes,” fretting over one or all of the following: climate change, the war in Ukraine, COVID-19, immigration and global economic turmoil.
Voters not getting any sleep at all might be suffering from a “polycrisis,” the report added, in which all “five crises are taking place more or less concurrently, that the shock of their cumulative interaction is more overwhelming than their sum.”
Elections in the European Union bloc of 27 countries will see 372 million people of voting age head to the ballot box. The U.K. likely will have a general election this year, although technically the government has until Jan. 28, 2025, in which to hold one.
4. Singapore’s GIC Puts Japanese Hilton on Market
Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC has put up for sale the 1,053-room Hilton Fukuoka Sea Hawk in Fukuoka, Japan, for a price of 85 billion to 90 billion Japanese yen ($580 million to $614 million), according to Asian real estate news source Mingtiandi. The sale process of what once was the largest Hilton in Asia started last summer.
Hilton’s hotel management agreement on the 25-floor hotel is due to end soon, according to the report. GIC has owned the hotel since it acquired the Hawks Town entertainment district in 2007, when the property was known as the JAL Resort Sea Hawk Hotel Fukuoka.
5. Christiansen Appointed CFO at Scandic Hotels
Scandic Hotels & Resorts has named Pär Christiansen as its new chief financial officer, with his role to begin officially on March 1. He also will be on the Swedish hotel company’s executive committee. Åsa Wirén, who started that role in April 2022, will leave the company immediately, according to a news release.
Christiansen previously has held financial roles at Euroflorist, SAS and Clas Ohlson.