International News

Bloomberg Euro-area businesses shed jobs at the start of the year after strict lockdowns pushed the economy into a double-dip recession. Employment in the 19-nation region falls by 0.3% in the first quarter after two consecutive gains. The economy shrinks 0.6% in the same period, matching an initial estimate. Since then, the outlook for the euro zone has improved. Coronavirus ...

Bloomberg The Biden administration is set to announce it’s reached a truce in a dispute with the European Union (EU) over metal tariffs, sparing iconic products from a doubling of EU duties next month, people familiar with the matter said. A resolution could be announced as soon as Monday, said the people. At issue is a high-profile dispute that started ...

Bloomberg US President Joe Biden’s pension bailout might do more than just support troubled retirement plans. It could also spur tens of billions of dollars in demand for corporate bonds with the lowest investment-grade ratings, according to Citigroup Inc. Struggling multi-employer pensions, which are often tied to unions, will be able to apply for special financial assistance, thanks to the ...

Bloomberg Brazil’s economy czar has a candid assessment of his three-year relationship with Jair Bolsonaro: both men trust each other and continue to push for key reforms, although the president’s support for his minister’s pro-market agenda has been waning. Paulo Guedes told Bloomberg News that key proposals to overhaul the country’s tax system and curb public-sector costs will be approved ...

Bloomberg Colombia’s economy grew much faster than expected at the start of the year, with record low interest rates supporting a revival in domestic demand. Gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 2.9% in the first three months of the year from the previous quarter, more than three times the 0.9% median forecast from analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. GDP rises 1.1% from ...

Bloomberg Facebook Inc lost a court fight over an initial order from a European Union (EU) privacy watchdog threatening its transfers of users’ data across the Atlantic. An Irish court rejected the social network’s challenge, saying it didn’t establish “any basis” for calling into question the Irish Data Protection Commission’s decision. The dispute is part of the fallout from July’s ...

Bloomberg The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) is facing a fresh crisis when the pandemic recedes, with 4.7 million people stuck waiting for care, and will require significant spending and reform to survive, the government will say this week. Prime Minister Boris Johnson will vow to tackle the unprecedented backlog — which officials say is likely to get worse as ...

Bloomberg France’s junior minister for European affairs threatened the UK on financial services if Britain failed to grant licenses to French fishermen. Clement Beane said France would retaliate in sectors like banking in the European Union to which the UK wants access, according to an interview published on Sunday in the Journal du Dimanche. French fishermen are still owed 40 ...

Bloomberg The world’s most powerful economies agreed to back plans for so-called vaccine passports in a bid to pull the travel and tourism industry out of a pandemic-fuelled slump. Tourism ministers from the Group of 20 threw their weight behind the new certificates, stressing that a resumption of normal activity for the sector is crucial to global economic recovery, according ...

Bloomberg The US job market is suffering from growing pains as the economy rapidly reopens. While economists are optimistic about future growth, employers are facing hiring challenges as well as supply chain disruptions and higher costs. The jobs report from the Labour Department showed the US added 266,000 jobs in April, far short of the 1 million gain economists had ...