International News

  Agua Clara / AFP Panama has sent a giant, Neopanamax-class cargo ship through its canal to test expansion work costing billions of dollars and whose official opening is to be marked with a ceremony late this month. “The tests are going very, very well. We’re pleased,” Giuseppe Quarta, head of the Grupos Unidos por el Canal (GUPC) consortium behind ...

  Bloomberg Investors are showing little appetite for repeating the rebellion against record-low government bond yields in Europe that peaked this time last year. As faith in central bankers’ ability to boost economic growth and revive inflation diminished, German 10-year bund yields slid to a record this week. The previous low set in April 2015 was followed by a spike ...

  Washington / AFP Credit agency Fitch left Britain’s rating unchanged at “AA+” but warned that if the country votes in favor of exiting the European Union, the rating could be lowered. Fitch said the country merits its second-highest credit grade due to its wealthy, diversified and flexible economy, its solid policy management and the global strength of the British ...

  Paris / AFP France’s main union said that striking transport workers had been instructed not to block football fans from reaching the Paris stadium for the Euro 2016 kick off. “All the supporters will be able to reach the Stade de France stadium this evening,” CGT union leader Philippe Martinez, adding that despite an ongoing train strike “there are ...

  Bloomberg Less than two weeks before the U.K. votes on whether to remain in the European Union, traders are piling into more options on the pound that protect against a decline versus a gain. The bias toward the downside, the most in at least 13 years, coincided with sterling depreciating for a second week as opinion polls signaled the ...

  Bloomberg The campaign for Britain to leave the European Union took a 10 percentage-point lead in a poll published late Friday, less than two weeks before the country votes in a referendum. The survey of 2,000 people by ORB for the Independent newspaper found 55% in favor of a so-called Brexit, up 4 points since a previous poll in ...

  Bloomberg Mario Draghi’s foray into corporate bonds with junk ratings was an “aggressive” effort in monetary stimulus, but it still may not be enough to jump-start the region’s economy, according to Putri Pascualy at Pacific Alternative Asset Management Co. “It was a very aggressive move,” Pascualy, managing director and credit strategist for Paamco, said of the European Central Bank ...

  Bloomberg Mercedes-Benz will start selling a fuel-cell electric version of its GLC sport utility vehicle next year, an effort to broaden the appeal of the technology with the first publicly available battery that can be charged both with hydrogen and at a wall socket. Able to drive about 500 kilometers (310 miles) before recharging, the car is part of ...

  Bloomberg Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne hit back at claims he’s scaremongering in his campaign to keep Britain in the European Union, saying “there is a lot to be scared about.” Osborne rejected accusations he had misrepresented Treasury analysis of the consequences of a vote to leave the EU on June 23 and overstated the impact of an ...

  Bloomberg The U.K.’s 10-year government bond yield dropped to a record before an auction of index-linked debt, the final sale before the nation’s referendum on European Union membership. The yield could fall further to 1 percent in the event that the U.K. votes to leave the world’s biggest single market on June 23, according to Daniela Russell, a portfolio ...