International News

Bloomberg French inflation accelerated in November to the quickest pace in more than a decade as surging energy and manufactured goods prices offset a fall in fresh food costs. After Germany recorded a 6% surge in prices in the same period, the inflation data for the euro area’s second largest economy adds to concerns over the ECB’s insistence that the ...

Bloomberg The Italian economy is likely to recover from the pandemic faster than previously forecast, growing by as much as 6.4% this year, according to a study by Confindustria, the country’s federation of employers. A strong third quarter should allow 2021 gross domestic product to increase by 6.3%-6.4%, the study showed, well above the official government forecast of 6%. That ...

Bloomberg Unfilled jobs surpassed one million in Canada, a sign that employers are having difficulty finding workers as they ramp up hiring. There were 1,014,600 job vacancies in September, Statistics Canada reported in Ottawa. That represents about 6% of all jobs, a vacancy rate that’s up from as low as 3% last December. Employers in high-contact industries like food services ...

Bloomberg German unemployment extended its decline in November as businesses added staff to work off a backlog in orders. Unemployment in Europe’s largest economy falls by 34,000, beating economists’ forecast for a drop of 25,000. That pushed the jobless rate to 5.3%. “Consequences of the current, worrying corona situation in Germany have hardly shown up so far,” Federal Labour Agency ...

Bloomberg The new coronavirus variant is set to test European economy’s recent ability to withstand fresh restrictions on activity. With the new strain from South Africa looming as a threat to public health, adding to the existing headache of rising infections that have already forced Austria and Slovakia to impose lockdowns, a pandemic that countries around the region had previously ...

Bloomberg Euro-area business activity unexpectedly quickened, though the region’s recovery faces headwinds from a fresh wave of Covid-19 infections and “record inflationary pressures.” IHS Markit’s composite Purchasing Managers’ Index rises to 55.8 in November from 54.2 in October, according to a survey of purchasing managers by IHS Markit published. While that defies the median estimate in a survey of analysts ...

Bloomberg California’s ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach delayed charging fines on containers that sit on the docks for too long for a second time this month, arguing the threat alone is helping clear lingering boxes from space-constrained terminals. The plan to charge carriers at least $100 daily for each container waiting nine days or more for trucks to ...

Bloomberg Poland will temporarily cut taxes on household energy bills in a bid to help the central bank stem surging inflation that has become a major concern for the nationalist ruling party’s electorate. The government rolled out a 10-billion-zloty ($2.4 billion) plan to lower the value-added tax on electricity and gas for three months from January. It will also reduce ...

Bloomberg Quebec’s economic recovery has opened room for the government to dole out cash to dull the bite of inflation, help train workers for sought-after jobs and shore up the Canadian province’s bottom line. In a budget update in Quebec City, the government said it expects a deficit of $5.4 billion in current fiscal year, nearly half its March estimate. ...

Bloomberg Argentina’s tech sector is a bright spot that’s adding jobs even as many companies shut down in a hostile environment of anti-business policies, high inflation and lack of access to international credit markets. Tech is the only major private industry that’s gained new employers since a three-year recession began in 2018, according to data from tax agency AFIP. Manufacturing, ...