Bloomberg Palladium prices are shattering record highs, and investors are betting that tight supplies mean the bull run is just getting started. The metal, used in pollution-control devices in cars, has jumped almost 9 percent this year in New York, the best performance among major metals. Demand is roaring thanks to China, which is on a mission to reduce smog ...
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Pence-Xi showdown at Apec shows US-China divide widens
Bloomberg US Vice President Mike Pence traded sharp barbs with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in back-to-back speeches at a regional summit, showing that neither country appears to be giving ground in an escalating trade war. Xi received applause on Saturday when he told the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Papua New Guinea that implementing tariffs and breaking up supply ...
Read More »California fires: PG&E crisis deepens with $12bn market wipeout
Bloomberg The implications are unsettling: 15 minutes before a fire was reported among the trees north of Sacramento — the spark that would explode into the deadliest blaze in California history — a PG&E power line in the area went offline. A week later, at least 56 people have been found dead — and PG&E Corp is facing its gravest ...
Read More »Uber revenue slows as Q3 loss hits $1.1bn
Bloomberg Uber’s sales are dramatically slowing even as the ride-hailing company is spending more to fuel global growth, particularly in its food delivery business. Revenue growth of 38 percent in the third quarter was almost half of what the growth rate was six months earlier, when the company was negotiating a $9.3 billion investment led by SoftBank Group Corp. That’s ...
Read More »European car sales slump in October
Bloomberg European carmakers had another difficult month in October with car registrations slumping once more, putting to the test a fourth-quarter bounce-back forecast by Volkswagen AG and Daimler AG. Deliveries of new passenger cars slid 7.4 percent in the European Union and European Free Trade Association in October from a year earlier, compounding a 23 percent drop during September, according ...
Read More »After GE, investors are watching these debt-laden companies
Bloomberg The good times are coming to an end in the corporate debt market, and the turmoil in General Electric Co (GE) credit is a sign that things can get much worse. That’s what a growing chorus of money managers are saying. About half of the $5 trillion market for investment-grade bonds now resides in the lowest tier of ratings. Many ...
Read More »May takes control of Brexit as ministers defy her plans
Bloomberg Theresa May rolled the dice with a dramatic reshuffle of her ministerial team as she battles to cling onto her job and stop her own party tearing up her Brexit deal. The prime minister reduced the power of her critics and promoted allies to key positions as she took personal charge of the final days of the UK’s divorce ...
Read More »WikiLeaks’ Assange charged, prosecutors reveal in filing goof
Bloomberg WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been charged by federal prosecutors in Virginia in a move that suggests the US government is determined to pursue his extradition, according to an inadvertent filing in an unrelated court case. It’s unclear what Assange, who’s been living in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London since 2012, has been charged with. The existence of the ...
Read More »Czech PM vows to never resign over fraud probe
Bloomberg The Czech Republic’s billionaire prime minister rejected intensifying calls for him step down as he tries to save his hard-won coalition from collapsing amid public outcry over an investigation into whether he committed fraud. The fraud probe has imperiled the political career of Andrej Babis since his upstart ANO party defeated its traditional mainstream rivals in elections a year ...
Read More »Modi heads to Maldives to reset ties
Bloomberg Prime Minister Narendra Modi will make his first-ever visit to the Maldives for the swearing-in of its new president, signalling a shift in the island nation towards India and away from China. The visit — the first by an Indian head of state since 2011 — is expected to reset strained ties with the Maldives as Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, ...
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