International News

  Bloomberg Long before President Donald Trump has made good on his pledge to spend $1 trillion on US infrastructure projects — including using only American metal in new pipelines — investors already are seeing a big payoffs from domestic steel producers. The VanEck Vectors Steel ETF delivered an 82 percent return in the past year as shares surged in ...

  Bloomberg Central London office values will probably fall as much as 20 percent this year as the economy slows and investors are deterred by uncertainty in the face of the UK’s exit from Europe and increased business rates, according to Deutsche Bank AG’s asset management unit. Spending on properties in the British capital slowed sharply before and after the ...

  Bloomberg Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said the UK economy will grow faster than previously forecast this year as he set the course for government spending with Britain preparing to leave the European Union. Opening his Budget speech in Parliament on Wednesday, Hammond said the Office for Budget Responsibility now sees 2017 economic growth of 2 percent compared ...

  Bloomberg State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., the largest U.S. property-casualty insurer, said annual profit fell 94 percent on car insurance claims costs. Net income dropped to $400mn from $6.2bn in 2015, when results included one-time gains in the stock portfolio tied to pharmaceutical deals, the Bloomington, Illinois-based firm said. The underwriting loss from auto insurance widened to $7bn ...

  Bloomberg The European Union will for the first time bring its military operations under a single command in a symbolic move that signals the bloc’s renewed push to cooperate on defense matters. EU governments are showing a readiness to pull together military resources and decision-making capabilities as statements from the US have called into question American commitment to European ...

  Bloomberg Yingde Gases Group Co. Chairman Zhao Xiangti’s agreement to sell his stake to a private equity firm undermined the chance of a better deal from other potential buyers, according to an expelled founder fighting to regain management control. The allegation against Zhao is among the latest in the war of words between the three estranged founders of the ...

  Bloomberg Russia has exited recession, with a little help from the boys in uniform, a major statistical revision – and the global oil price. And not just any recession, but its longest in two decades. So what happened? Is the economy really out of the woods? Actually, the contraction ended a few quarters earlier than previously estimated, according to ...

  AP Comcast NBCUniversal is paying $2.3 billion to buy out its partners to take full ownership of Universal Studios Japan. The company said Tuesday that it had agreed to purchase the 49 percent stake in the theme park from its partners, including Goldman Sachs, a US hedge fund and an Asian private equity firm. Comcast NBCUniversal says the purchase ...

  Bloomberg Asian countries should pursue a Pacific trade pact even after the US walked away, and its standards should be incorporated into other regional deals, according to a report authored by half a dozen former trade envoys. Donald Trump withdrew from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership in one of his first acts as US president, throwing an agreement that covered ...

  Bloomberg India’s sugar production may be lower than previously forecast as mills in the main growing areas of Maharashtra and Karnataka closed earlier than usual after dry weather cut cane output. Production may total 20.3 million metric tons in year that began Oct. 1, compared with 21.3 million tons estimated in January and 23.4 million tons predicted in September, ...