Daily Briefing: Singapore retail sales decline 3.2%; Home sales rise to 8-month high

Airbus sets up Singapore academy.

Singapore retail sales dropped 3.2 percent in February from a year ago, defying economists’ predictions for an expansion in the industry and providing more evidence of a slowing economy. The contraction followed growth of a revised 7.6 percent in January, Statistics Singapore said in an e-mailed statement on Friday. Read more here.

Singapore developers sold the highest number of homes in eight months, helped by the successful marketing of two new projects. Developers sold 843 units in March, more than double the revised 303 units in February, and 38 percent higher from a year ago, according to data released Friday by the Urban Redevelopment Authority. Find out more here.

Airbus Group SE is setting up its second academy to train pilots in Asia, where a rash of startup airlines and new aircraft coming in is causing a surge in demand for captains and first officers. Airbus will open the center in Singapore Monday in partnership with Singapore Airlines Ltd. The facility -- with eight simulators -- will add to the three the European planemaker has already set up in Toulouse in France, Miami and Beijing. Read more here.