Bloomberg Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny plans to fly home from Berlin, where he’s been recovering from a poisoning attack he blames on the Kremlin, facing arrest on arrival and heralding fresh confrontation between Moscow and the West. Navalny, 44, whom Russian authorities have vowed to detain as soon as they can for violating the terms of a suspended jail ...

Bloomberg Surging house prices in the UK are making it more difficult for younger generations to follow the most common path for accumulating wealth, widening a gap between the rich and the poor. Homeowners are benefiting from the coronavirus crisis, with cheap borrowing and government tax cuts driving real estate prices to an all-time high last year. The cost of ...

Bloomberg Italy’s government expects debt to rise more than expected this year, as it gets ready to boost fiscal stimulus to support its battered economy. The Treasury, led by Finance Minister Roberto Gualtieri, expects Italy’s debt to rise to 158.5% of output in 2021, up from 155.6%, while the country’s budget deficit would be 8.8%. The new forecasts, first reported ...

Bloomberg American automakers are asking the US government to help solve a debilitating shortage of computer chips that is closing auto factories worldwide and could restrict production until the fall. The American Automotive Policy Council — a lobbying organisation for General Motors, Ford Motor and the US operations of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles — is agitating with the US Commerce Department ...

Bloomberg UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak is planning to give a one-time benefit payment of 500 pounds ($680) to nearly six million people to help ease the economic fallout from a third coronavirus lockdown, the Times of London reported. The plans come ahead of an April deadline when last March’s 20 pound-per-week uplift to universal credit payments is ...

Bloomberg The European Union (EU) has set out plans to strengthen the international role of the euro, as its seeks to erode the dominance on the US dollar and lessen the bloc’s vulnerability to financial risks, including US sanctions. The plan includes measures to help protect against currency shocks, and allow greater scrutiny of foreign takeovers, according to a draft ...

Bloomberg Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is formally instructing Canada’s finance minister to re-establish a firm budgetary target after the Covid-19 crisis and avoid creating any new permanent spending. In a so-called mandate letter to Chrystia Freeland, who is also deputy prime minister, Trudeau said she should spend as much as need to tackle short-term economic challenges but avoid any new ...

Bloomberg They know about the stretched valuations and everything that must go right to keep stocks aloft. And yet rather than shy away from frothy markets, plenty of investors are only now jumping in. The reason, it appears, is how far out of the market they had been prior to the latest and greatest leg of the run-up, the one ...

Bloomberg Private equity firms are refusing to be left out of the initial public offering boom. With technology IPOs sometimes doubling on day one, buyout shops are hoping to capture some of the buzz for their slower growth and higher leverage assets. Two private equity-backed companies went public on US exchanges this week, with two more filings on Friday for ...

Bloomberg Oil slid by the most in three weeks as a stronger dollar and weak US economic data stoked concerns over an economic rebound. Futures in New York tumbled 2.3% after a rally in oil earlier in the week pushed the benchmark into overbought territory. The US dollar strengthened, reducing the appeal of commodities priced in the currency. US consumer ...