International News

  London / AFP Britain’s referendum vote to quit the European Union is starting to bite hard, with the property sector fast losing investor confidence and banks offered a helping hand to boost lending. Data meanwhile has shown the British economy taking a knock already in the run-up to Brexit, with business confidence hitting a 3.5-year low in June, according ...

  Bloomberg The U.K.’s vote to leave the European Union will make it harder for British seafood exporters to compete with other countries, according to the United Nations’ Food & Agriculture Organization. Four of the top five importers of British seafood exports are nations in the EU, according to data from industry group Seafish. While it’s uncertain what kind of ...

  Bloomberg Global cross-border investment will probably decline by as much as 15 percent this year as trade remains sluggish, China’s commerce minister said after a Group of 20 trade ministers meeting Sunday. The G-20 representatives pledged to increase their efforts to facilitate trade and urged other World Trade Organisation member nations to do likewise to enable global commerce, Gao ...

  Bloomberg China’s factory-gate deflation eased for the sixth straight month, adding to evidence that falling prices have turned a corner after more than four years of declines. The producer-price index fell 2.6 percent, compared with a 2.8 percent drop a month earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Sunday. The decline was the smallest since late 2014. The ...

  Bloomberg Has China bitten off more than it can chew when it comes to making chips? That’s where Orbotech Ltd comes in: To make sure the billions are well spent. Orbotech makes inspection and repair tools that help factories avoid errors as they pump out increasingly complex chips for smartphones and tablets. Its market capitalization surpassed US$1 billion in ...

  Bloomberg As higher energy prices buoy currencies of commodity producers, one is swimming against the tide. Even after losing more than half its value against the dollar in two devaluations last year, Azerbaijan’s manat is struggling to find a bottom. In fact, it just had its worst month since the height of the crisis in oil markets in January. ...

    Bloomberg The world’s biggest iron ore shipper cut its outlook for prices next year by 20 percent as the global market remains well supplied, loss-making miners are holding out and steel output in China will shrink further. Iron ore is seen at US$44.80 a metric ton next year, Australia’s Department of Industry, Innovation and Science said in a ...

  Bloomberg President Barack Obama said he expects the U.K. will abide by the wishes of British voters and carry out plans to leave the European Union, and urged both sides to conduct the departure with minimal disruption. “We have to assume that a referendum having been passed with a lot of attention” and relatively high participation rate “is going ...

  Bloomberg Health insurers including WellCare Health Plans Inc. and Centene Corp. have offered to buy assets that Aetna Inc. may have to sell to gain regulatory approval for its proposed $37 billion takeover of Humana Inc., a person familiar with the matter said. WellCare and Centene have separately bid for Aetna’s Medicare Advantage policies that are up for sale, ...

  Bloomberg Brazil’s consumer prices rose less than analysts forecast in June as new central bank chief Ilan Goldfajn pledges to bring inflation to the government’s target by the end of next year. The benchmark IPCA consumer price index climbed 0.35 percent after a 0.78 percent rise the previous month. That was lower than the median forecast for a 0.37 ...