International News

  Bloomberg Brazil kept borrowing costs unchanged as a new central bank president is set to take over the challenge of slowing inflation to target without exacerbating the worst recession in over a century. Policy makers, led by departing bank President AlexandreTombini, on Wednesday voted unanimously to keep the Selic at a near-decade high of 14.25 percent for a seventh ...

  Bloomberg Dell Inc. paid up to sell $3.25 billion of junk bonds that will help finance its takeover of EMC Corp., just as it did last month in a $20 billion offering of investment-grade debt. The computer maker sold the longer part of its offering, $1.625 billion of eight-year bonds, for a yield of 7.125 percent, about 1.31 percentage ...

  Bloomberg The prospect of building an underwater pipeline from Texas to Mexico is making Sempra Energy’s Ienova one of the top-performing stocks south of the border. Infraestructura Energetica Nova SAB, as the unit is formally called, had the second-biggest gain on the Mexican Stock Exchange since announcing plans on May 19 to bid to develop the $2.1 billion project ...

  Bloomberg Chile’s inflation rate was unchanged in May, above the target range, as central bank President Rodrigo Vergara used price-growth to explain the bank’s continued tightening bias in monetary policy as unemployment rises. Prices increased 4.2 percent from the year earlier, the National Institute of Statistics reported on Thursday. In the month, prices gained 0.2 percent, the agency said. ...

  Bloomberg Oil advanced for a fourth day after government data showed U.S. inventories fell a third week and a new wildfire prompted Canadian producers to shut output. Futures gained as much as 0.9 percent in New York, rising from the highest close in 10 months and extending its run of advances to the longest since April 22. Crude stockpiles ...

  Hong Kong / Tribune News Service In a landmark for Asia, Hong Kong has been named the world’s most competitive economy for 2016, moving from second place last year to push the United States into third spot behind Switzerland. But while Asia might top the world in business, a separate report has shown the Nordic nations lead in life ...

  Tokyo / Bloomberg Japan’s peak power prices may ease as the country’s solar-power expansion taps scorching summers to displace fossil fuels. The resource-poor country, which has boosted solar capacity more than sevenfold since 2011, may follow a similar path as Germany, where electricity prices fell along with fossil fuel use during high consumption periods, according to Trevor Sikorski, an ...

  Seoul / AFP South Korea on Thursday cut its key interest rate to a record low 1.25 percent in a surprise move to address concerns over the impact of corporate restructuring on the sluggish economy. The Bank of Korea’s 0.25 percentage point reduction was the first in 12 months but there had been little hint of such a move, ...

  New Delhi / Bloomberg India will introduce competitive auctions for wind farms this year in a bid to fulfill Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s goal for 60 gigawatts of capacity by 2022. Varsha Joshi, joint secretary at the new and renewable energy ministry, said the auctions for 1 gigawatt of capacity will start in two months and have a minimum ...

  Tokyo / AFP Conservation activists on Thursday showed undercover video they say suggests that a “huge loophole” in Japanese law enforcement is hindering efforts to rein in illegal ivory trading. Experts say most illegal ivory heads for China, where it is seen as a status symbol. By some estimates the country accounts for as much as 70 percent of ...