International News

  Bloomberg The UK risks facing a deluge of residency applications as European Union citizens dash to formalize their right to stay in the wake of the Brexit vote. The warning comes from the University of Oxford’s Migration Observatory, which said in a report that registering more than 3 million European nationals already living in the U.K. would present a …

  Brussels / AFP Eurozone economic activity managed a small gain in July despite Britain’s shock vote in June to quit the European Union, a closely watched survey showed on Wednesday. Data monitoring company IHS Markit said revised figures for its Composite Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for July came in at 53.2 points, up from 53.1 points in June. The …

  Bloomberg German logistics group Deutsche Post said on Wednesday it had achieved its strongest-ever second-quarter operating result, boosted in large part by online shopping. “Our Post, eCommerce and Parcel division in particular contributed to the positive trend” that saw Deutsche Post increase its net profit to 541 million euros ($606 million), a 66-percent leap over the same period in …

  Washington / AFP Letitia stands on a metro station platform in downtown Washington, waiting for a train that she now realizes is not going to come. “I will be walking home tonight and all the nights to come,” said the 28-year-old woman, who works as a cashier at a 24-hour supermarket. In the US capital city, an urgently needed …

  Frankfurt / AFP Car parts supplier Continental upped its forecast for 2016 on Wednesday after strong performance in its tyres business. Chief executive Elmar Degenhart said the group would target an adjusted operating profit of “over 11%”, where previously the target had been set at “around 11%”. Continental’s net profit in the second quarter grew to 905mn euros, up …

  Bloomberg The long-feared Chinese hard landing has become a reality in rustbelt Liaoning. The northeastern province, ground zero in China’s multi- year slowdown, saw its economy contract 1 percent in the first half of 2016 as factories splutter and the coal industry groans under the weight of overcapacity. But the hardship remains localized, with regional data for the first …

  Bloomberg Indian stocks dropped the most in a month amid losses in emerging-market equities and as investors turned cautious before lawmakers began debating the unified sales tax bill. The S&P BSE Sensex tumbled 1 percent at the close in a fourth day of losses, the longest losing run in seven weeks. A gauge of mid-cap stocks had its steepest …

Bloomberg Not for the first time, a long-awaited plan by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has fallen flat with investors. The Topix slumped 1.6 percent on Tuesday after Abe returned to the fiscal-stimulus lever with a 28 trillion yen ($277 billion) spending-and-lending package to sooth concern that his Abenomics program isn’t working. It dropped another 2.2 percent on Wednesday. The …

  Bloomberg China’s futures exchange is planning to relax the restrictions on stock-index contracts that sparked a 99 percent plunge in trading and heightened concern over the government’s intervention in markets, according to people familiar with the matter. The bourse is considering allowing non-hedging accounts to open 100 new positions a day on a single contract, the people said. Currently, …

  Washington / AFP Ever since the IMF participated in the first Greek bailout six years ago, the stinging suspicion has been that the Fund is under Europe’s thumb. Now the International Monetary Fund is again under pressure to come to the aid of Athens, providing likely fodder for critics. Europe forged an 86 billion euro ($96 billion) aid package …