International News

  Bloomberg U.K. manufacturing unexpectedly shrank for the first time in three years in April, dealing a shock blow to the economy after growth slowed in the first quarter. Markit Economics said its factory Purchasing Managers Index dropped to 49.2 from 50.7 in March, below the key 50 level that divides expansion from contraction. Economists had forecast an increase to ...

  Bloomberg The European Commission predicts Italy will fail to meet its debt-reduction goal this year and sees the country’s economy growing less than PM Matteo Renzi’s government estimates. Italy’s debt ratio will remain at 132.7 percent of gross domestic product in 2016, the same level as last year, the European Union’s executive branch said on Tuesday in its spring ...

  Bloomberg More expensive iPhones, fewer foreign home buyers and a whole lot of unknowns — that’s what some U.K. corporate bosses say the country can expect if it votes to leave the European Union. In February, nearly 200 chief executive officers signed a letter calling for Britain to stay. Others say the country should leave, though many have declined ...

  Bloomberg U.S. gasoline demand rose at the fastest annual rate in almost 40 years in February as stronger economic growth and cheap fuel prices spur driving in the world’s biggest oil consumer. The Energy Information Administration said late on Friday that U.S. gasoline demand rose to 9.2 million barrels in February, up 556,000 barrels a day from a year ...

  Bloomberg Foreign corporations would dramatically scale back their plans to invest in the U.S. if billionaire Donald Trump is elected president, according to a survey conducted in January for global management consulting firm A.T. Kearney. The election of a populist such as Trump or Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders would prompt fewer companies to increase their spending in the U.S. ...

  Bloomberg Chile’s jobless rate rose more than expected in the first quarter as two years of sluggish growth finally caught up with the labour market, signaling stronger headwinds for South America’s wealthiest economy. Unemployment rose to 6.3 percent from 5.9 percent in the month-earlier period and from 6.1 percent the year earlier, the statistics agency reported, compared with the ...

  Bloomberg Brazil’s real led losses among its most-traded peers as the central bank intervened to weaken the currency in a bid to slow this year’s rally and support exporters. The real dropped 1.9 percent to 3.5017 on Monday, making it the world’s worst-performing currency after Libya’s dinar. The loss came after the monetary authority sold 40,000 reverse swaps, a ...

  BANGKOK / AP Japan’s foreign minister announced a multibillion-dollar initiative on Monday to promote development in Southeast Asia’s Mekong region, which encompasses parts of Vietnam, Laos and Thailand through which the river flows. In a speech at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Fumio Kishida affirmed the importance of Southeast Asia’s economic prosperity to Japan. He pledged 750 billion yen ($7 ...

  New Delhi / AFP Hundreds of taxi drivers protested in New Delhi on Monday against a ban on diesel cabs, the latest initiative aimed at improving air quality in the world’s most polluted capital. India’s top court on Saturday ordered taxis run on the dirty fuel off the city’s roads, refusing industry requests for more time to switch to ...

  New Delhi / Bloomberg India’s one-year interest-rate swaps dropped to a more than two-week low on optimism the central bank will add more funds to tackle the liquidity deficit in the financial system. The cost to lock in payments on borrowings for one year fell one basis point to 6.66 percent as of 12:30 p.m in Mumbai, the lowest ...