Bloomberg The franc may be close to the Swiss National Bank’s previous currency ceiling, but that doesn’t mean investors should expect an interest rate hike too soon. A monthly survey of economists shows they anticipate the Swiss central bank will keep its deposit rate at minus 0.75 percent the first nine months of 2019, before raising it by 25 basis ...

Bloomberg Inflation is showing signs of taking root in Japan. With price gains halfway to the Bank of Japan’s 2 percent target, domestic demand is picking up after years in which external factors such as energy prices did most of the work. As the economy continues to grow, this could open the door for the central bank to start adjusting ...

Bloomberg China’s home prices rose at the fastest pace in three months in March, fuelled by gains in smaller cities, even as the government maintained a two-year campaign to cool the housing market. New-home prices across 70 cities gained 0.42 percent from a month earlier, according to Bloomberg calculations based on data from the National Bureau of Statistics. That compared ...

DAMMAM / WAM The UAE needs to invest at least $33bn to meet its expected additional 16GW capacity requirement over the medium term, the Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (Apicorp) forecasted in its latest research report, published on Tuesday. The country is pushing strongly to diversify its energy sources in the power mix, and Apicorp estimates that nearly 10GW of capacity ...

Bloomberg US stocks rose amid better-than-expected earnings from several industry heavyweights, adding to evidence that the strengthening economy is lifting corporate profits. The S&P 500 Index pushed through its average price for the past 50 days, a level it hasn’t breached in a month. Netflix Inc. surged after subscriber growth topped estimates. Johnson & Johnson and UnitedHealth Group Inc. climbed ...

Reuters Saudi Arabia’s stock market continued a strong uptrend on Tuesday on the back of petrochemical and banking stocks, while rising telecoms shares boosted Egypt. The Saudi index closed 0.6 percent up at 8,096 points, having finished above 8,000 points on April 16 for the first time since August 2015. Petrochemicals giant Saudi Basic Industries rose 1.9 percent before going ...

Bloomberg Oil steadied after the biggest loss in more than a week as OPEC’s hints at extending output cuts fanned optimism and investors anticipated a drop in US stockpiles. Futures in New York were little changed after losing 1.7 percent. Kuwait said the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allied producers will discuss prolonging an agreement to curb oil output ...

FRANKFURT / Reuters Investment in new European wind farms and equipment is expected to increase this year after a sharp drop in 2017, helped by several large project auctions, according to a major industry body. Spending is forecast to rise 4 percent to 23.2 billion euros ($28.7 billion), WindEurope said in its financing report, after a 19-percent decline in 2017 ...

Oran / Reuters Eni plans “billions” of investments in Algeria over the next three years, the company’s CEO said on Tuesday, as the Italian energy firm said it had agreed to extend its partnership with Algerian state firm Sonatrach. “We need to invest more because Algeria still has a lot of gas,” Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi told anenergy conference in ...

Bloomberg Vermilion Energy Inc. agreed to buy Spartan Energy Corp. for about C$1.08 billion ($860 million) in stock, adding to its production and acreage in southeast Saskatchewan in the largest oil and gas company takeover in Canada this year. Spartan holders will get 0.1476 of a Vermilion share for each Spartan share, Vermilion said in statement. That represents a premium ...