International News

Bloomberg Google and Facebook Inc. are nearing agreements to pay domestic media companies for news, in a sign a regulatory standoff may be softening, Australia’s government said Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg held talks with Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg and Google counterpart Sundar Pichai over the weekend. “We’re very close to some very significant commercial deals,” Frydenberg told the ...

Bloomberg Norway’s economy grew much faster than expected at the end of last year, underpinning bets that its central bank will be the first in the rich world to raise interest rates this year. Mainland gross domestic product, which adjusts for Norway’s offshore industry, expanded 1.9% in the fourth quarter, the statistics office said. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected ...

Bloomberg US consumer sentiment unexpectedly declined to a six-month low in early February as outlook for personal income deteriorated and more Americans anticipated faster inflation in the year ahead. The University of Michigan’s preliminary sentiment index falls to 76.2 from 79 last month, data showed. The median forecast in Bloomberg’s survey of economists called for a modest improvement to 80.9 ...

Bloomberg A year of pandemic prudence is giving way to jumbo dealmaking in Europe for deep-pocketed private equity houses. Buyout firms have announced $29 billion of takeovers involving European companies this year, up 60% year-on-year and the most for this period on record, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s after months in which many large buyers, including Blackstone Group ...

Bloomberg Economists revised their growth estimates for Canada higher this year, though the recovery is expected to lag the US. Canada’s economy is expected to expand 4.7% in 2021, according to Bloomberg’s latest monthly survey of analysts. That’s up from a previous yearly estimate of 4.4%. Growth in 2022 is seen at 4.1%, little changed from the January survey. The ...

Bloomberg Switzerland is sinking into recession because of business closures to combat the pandemic, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg. While the nation has less-stringent rules on social distancing than neighbouring countries, shops, restaurants and leisure facilities are still closed at least until the end of February. The median forecast was for a 0.7% drop in GDP in final quarter ...

Bloomberg The UK economy grew at double the pace expected in the fourth quarter, showing signs of resilience to coronavirus restrictions at the end of a year that delivered the worst recession since 1709. Figures add some weight to the Bank of England’s view that while the economy will likely shrink in the first three months of the year, a ...

Bloomberg German companies from BASF SE to Volkswagen AG risk fines if their suppliers around the world breach human rights. Under new legislation agreed to by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government, companies will have to ensure their partners don’t engage in harmful practices and exploitation. In addition to penalties, German firms can also be excluded from public contracts. The so-called Supply-Chain ...

Bloomberg Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is examining the merits of carbon tariffs, a policy measure to tax goods from countries with weaker climate laws that’s won the support of Boris Johnson. The UK prime minister wants Group of Seven countries to discuss the idea of imposing levies on imported goods made in places that don’t have strong rules ...

Bloomberg UK businesses face a 50 billion-pound ($68 billion) “bombshell” unless a series of government pandemic aid programs are extended, the Labour opposition warned. With many firms running out of cash, the party urged Chancellor Rishi Sunak not to wait until his budget on March 3 to prolong business rates relief, a sales tax reduction and his flagship furlough program. ...