Emirates cancels major order from Airbus

PARIS » Airbus suffered a major blow to its latest commercial jet program on Wednesday after one of its largest customers, Emirates Airlines, said it had decided to cancel a multibillion-dollar order for 70 long-range planes.

The news comes just months before the new jet, the A350-XWB, is due to enter service, prompting some analysts to wonder whether the decision by Emirates could presage a slowdown in aircraft orders from Persian Gulf carriers. Those airlines have been among the most voracious buyers in recent years of wide-body planes from both Airbus and Boeing.

In a statement, Airbus said that Emirates would not take the planes — 50 of a 300-seat model, the A350-900, and 20 of the larger A350-1000 jets — which had been slated for delivery beginning in 2019.

The Emirates order was valued at roughly $16 billion when it was placed in 2007; at current list prices, it would be worth more than $21 billion. The reasons for the decision by Emirates were not immediately clear.

Amazon to unveil music streaming service

Amazon is planning to introduce a limited music streaming feature as early as Thursday, according to several people briefed on the company’s plans.

The new feature, which has been rumored in the music industry for months, will give subscribers to Amazon’s Prime service access to thousands of songs free and without interruptions from advertising. But it will omit most new releases, and will not include the catalog of the Universal Music Group, the world’s largest music company, according to these people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Brazil, other markets no longer ‘Fragile Five’

NEW YORK » Soccer fans will focus on Brazil and the start of the World Cup Thursday, but investors have been entranced by that nation’s stock market for months.

Brazil has company. From Sao Paulo to Mumbai, investors are regaining their faith in emerging markets this year.

It’s a big shift from 2013, when investment in those markets dried up because of worries about their slowing economic growth. It got so tough that five big developing markets — Brazil, South Africa, India, Indonesia and Turkey — were dubbed the "Fragile Five" by analysts at Morgan Stanley. Now those countries are much more appealing to investors. Some have taken actions to strengthen their economies. Others have gone through political changes that have bolstered investor confidence. At the same time, slower growth in the U.S. has made investing overseas more alluring.

U.S. recorded $130B budget deficit in May

WASHINGTON » The U.S. government’s monthly budget returned to deficit in May after a big April surplus. But the overall imbalance so far is far smaller than it was the same period last year, putting the country on track for the lowest annual deficit in six years.

The Treasury Department said Wednesday that the May deficit totaled $130 billion after a surplus of $106.9 billion in April, a month when the government usually runs surpluses because of a flood of tax revenues.

For the first eight months of this budget year, the deficit totals $436.4 billion, down 30 percent from $626.3 billion for the same period in 2013. It was the smallest imbalance since 2008. The Congressional Budget Office is forecasting a deficit of $492 billion for the full budget year ending Sept. 30.

EU probes Apple, Starbucks, Fiat tax deals

AMSTERDAM » The European Union’s antitrust regulator has launched an investigation into tax deals that Apple, Starbucks and Fiat struck with some European countries, the start of a wider push to keep multinationals from taking advantage of loopholes. EU antitrust commissioner Joaquin Almunia said Wednesday a preliminary probe by his office has found the tax deals the companies have with Ireland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg could amount to illegal state aid.

Apple has a deal with tax authorities in Ireland, Starbucks has one in the Netherlands and Fiat’s financing arm has one in Luxembourg as part of their strategy to minimize the taxes they pay.

Target shareholders OK 10 board nominees

NEW YORK » Target shareholders elected all 10 nominees to the company’s board despite recommendations from a prominent proxy advisory firm to get rid of the majority in the wake of a massive data breach.

Institutional Shareholder Services last month targeted seven members who serve on the company’s audit or corporate responsibility committees because they failed to spot the security threat. Included on that list were Anne Mulcahy, former chair and CEO at Xerox, and James A. Johnson, who was once the CEO at Fannie Mae.

Target said it’s searching for a permanent leader after ousting its CEO Gregg Steinhafel in late April.

ON THE MOVE

The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii has announced that Mark E. Agne, an investment banker with Goldman Sachs, has joined its board of trustees. Agne is also a managing director for Equites in Japan as well as co-head of the APAC Equity Trading for Goldman Sachs.

The Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau has promoted Robyn Basso to senior director of travel industry partnerships. Basso joined HVCB in 2008 and previously held travel trade and sales positions at The Travel Institute, ResortQuest Hawaii and Castle Resorts and Hotels and began her career as the director of national accounts at HVCB.

The Queen’s Medical Center-West Oahu has received a $3 million grant from the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation. The money will help meet the increasing need for quality health care in the West Oahu community. Since the hospital opened last month, the numbers show the demand there is for medical care. In the first seven days, there were 126 inpatient admissions and 940 emergency room visits.