International News

  Bloomberg For Britons in France, the upper lip is stiff no more. Louise Garavaglia, who has lived in France for more than two decades, is rushing to apply for a French passport before the June 23 “Brexit” referendum in the U.K. and has no time for “wait and see.” For his part, Paris-based financial consultant Paul Johnson-Ferguson is getting …

  Bloomberg As the economy again started off the year on a sour note, the glass-half-full crowd pointed to the strength of the U.S. jobs market as a reason not to worry. As long as payrolls are racking up monthly gains of 200,000 or more, the economy remains in fine fettle, or so the optimists would have it. Take a …

  Bloomberg UnitedHealth Group Inc., the biggest U.S. health insurer, posted first-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates as results from its Optum technology and consulting business helped overcome losses on Affordable Care Act plans. Although selling Obamacare plans represents a small portion of UnitedHealth’s revenue, the business has been under scrutiny because of its widening losses. The insurer plans to …

  Bloomberg Argentina plans to sell as much as $15 billion of bonds in its return to global bond markets after more than a decade of isolation, setting the stage for the biggest emerging-market sovereign sale since at least 1999. The nation reduced the yields it was initially offering investors after surveying potential buyers about their interest in the sale. …

  Bloomberg Peru kept borrowing costs unchanged for a second month as slowing inflation and a rally in the sol give policy makers more time to gauge the impact of earlier rate increases. The central bank board, led by bank President Julio Velarde, maintained the key rate at 4.25 percent, matching the forecasts of 11 of 14 economists surveyed by …

  Bloomberg Keppel Corp., the world’s largest builder of oil rigs, said it won’t resume work for a key Brazilian client until the customer restarts making payments on its orders. Sete Brasil Participacoes SA, embroiled in a corruption probe known in Brazil as Lava Jato and debating whether it should file for bankruptcy, stopped paying Keppel last year on its …

  Beijing / Bloomberg China, the world’s biggest producer and consumer of gold, started a twice-daily price fixing on Tuesday in an attempt to establish a regional benchmark and bolster its influence in the global market. The Shanghai Gold Exchange set the price at 256.92 yuan a gram ($1,233.85 an ounce) at the 10:30 a.m. session after members of the …

  Sydney / AFP Australian cattle firm S. Kidman and Co. on Tuesday said a Chinese-led consortium was the preferred buyer of most of its stations, with an offer worth US$288.8 million. Kidman, Australia’s biggest private landowner, has attracted keen interest from Chinese firms wanting to secure the sprawling pastoral empire. It said a consortium of Dakang Australia Holdings Pty. …

    Tokyo / Bloomberg Japan’s Norinchukin Bank bought more than $2.9 billion of UK mortgage-backed bonds sold by Cerberus Capital Management, according to people familiar with the matter. The cooperative lender, which serves as the central financial institution for Japanese farmers and fisherman, acquired senior-ranking notes in a 6.1 billion pound deal that priced earlier this month, said the …

  Melbourne / Bloomberg Telstra Corp. and a Ping An Insurance Group Co. unit said their agreement over the sale of a $1.6 billion stake in China’s Autohome Inc. is binding, indicating the transaction will go ahead despite the emergence of a higher management buyout proposal. Ping An Trust & Investment Co., which agreed to buy a 48 percent stake …