International News

  Bloomberg Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said the UK economy will grow more slowly than previously forecast in 2017 and the government will need to borrow more over the next five years, as he laid out the framework for a post-Brexit Britain. Outlining his first Autumn Statement to Parliament on Wednesday, five months to the day after Britain ...

  Bloomberg Filings for unemployment benefits in the U.S. rebounded last week from a four-decade low while remaining consistent with a firm labor market. Jobless claims rose by 18,000 to 251,000 in the period ended Nov. 19, a Labor Department report showed Wednesday. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey called for 250,000 applications. In the previous week that included ...

  Brussels / AFP European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker unveiled plans on Wednesday to tighten the code of conduct for former officials after a row over his predecessor Jose Manuel Barroso’s role with Goldman Sachs. The “cooling-off” period during which they must inform Brussels if they take a new job would be extended from 18 months to three years for ...

  Bloomberg Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Germans against turning to economic isolationism, saying she’s “not happy” about the possible collapse of the Trans-Pacific Partnership after US President-elect Donald Trump said he’ll withdraw from the trade accord. Fresh from announcing she’ll seek a fourth term in next year’s German election, Merkel used a speech to parliament in Berlin to acknowledge voters’ ...

  Bloomberg Euro-area economic growth accelerated to its fastest pace this year as growing order books prompted companies to add more workers and raise prices. A Purchasing Managers’ Index for manufacturing and services rose to 54.1 in November from 53.3 a month earlier, IHS Markit said on Wednesday. That’s the strongest level in 11 months and above the 50 mark ...

  AFP The uncertainty caused by Brexit and Donald Trump’s election will help spur talks on a long-stalled free trade accord between the EU and South American trade block Mercosur, Brazil’s foreign minister said Wednesday. “I think the possibilities of the Mercosur negotiations have a direct relationship with international insecurity,” Jose Serra told a news conference in Madrid when asked ...

  Bloomberg European Union policy makers intensified their criticism of Prime Minister Theresa May’s plans to leave the bloc, saying that the UK appeared clueless about the implications of Brexit. The pound sank to an intraday low after Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said it’s not clear that the UK knows what it wants and European lawmaker Manfred Weber demanded ...

  PARIS / AFP UK consumers’ view of the economy’s long-term prospects have deteriorated since the country voted in June to leave the European Union. IHS Markit’s index of economic optimism over the next 10 years dropped to minus 18.4 percent in November from minus 11.1 percent in August and minus 3.5 percent in July, it said on Tuesday. The ...

  Brussels / AFP The EU will require big foreign banks operating in Europe to set aside billions in reserve funds in a tit-for-tat move against the United States that could also affect post-Brexit Britain, a draft proposal seen by AFP said. The European Commission, the executive body of the 28-nation European Union, on Wednesday will announce a series of ...

  Bloomberg Brexit may have wounded London’s reputation as a leading hub for financial-technology companies, but now an unlikely hero is helping to protect its edge: the UK regulator. Take SETL, a startup that seeks to harness blockchain technology. The London-based firm says it became the first to use the digital ledger, which is the same architecture bitcoin uses, to ...