Business and technology quick bites

Updated version at 8.46 am

The highlighted words in red are links to the news article.

March 15, 2021,

Business News 

1. Inflation nerves return. The US Dollar duly reversed its intraday sell-off, finishing the session on a strong note. Most interestingly, from Jefferey’s point of view, was gold.
2. India FX surpassed Russia’s to become the world’s fourth largest, as the South Asian nation’s central bank continues to hoard dollars to cushion the economy against any sudden outflows.
3. Lay Hong Bhd under investigation following the detection of Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) in eggs exported from one of its farms in Jeram.
4. British airline Virgin Atlantic, which has been hammered by the Covid-19 pandemic like much of the sector, is set to raise £160 million (US$222.75 million) in new financing, a spokeswoman for Richard Branson’s airline said in an emailed statement.
5. Carmaker Volkswagen plans to cut up to 4,000 jobs at its plants in Germany by offering early or partial retirement to older employees in a move that could cost several hundred million euros.
6. Singapore is discussing the possibility of an air travel bubble which will allow residents of Singapore and Australia to travel between both countries without the need for quarantine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
7. Dutch health officials said they had suspended the use of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine for two weeks after “possible side effects” were reported in Denmark and Norway.

Technology News 

1. Panasonic Corp‘s outgoing chief executive officer (CEO) Kazuhiro Tsuga has said the company will need to reduce its heavy reliance on Tesla Inc by making batteries more compatible with electric vehicles from other global carmakers, the Financial Times reported.
2. Digital payments company Stripe raised US$600 million in its latest round of funding, valuing it at US$95 billion, the company said in a statement.
3. Six months after the Trump administration dealt a crushing blow to Huawei Technologies Co.’s smartphone business, the Chinese telecommunications giant is turning to less glamorous alternatives that may eventually offset the decline of its biggest revenue contributor.