News

Bloomberg China’s oil refining giant said its trading unit lost almost $700 million last year after being wrong-footed by zigzagging markets, revealing one of the biggest losses by a commodity trader in the last decade. Sinopec blamed the losses at its Unipec unit in part on “inappropriate hedging techniques” and said it closed its positions after discovering the problem. Oil ...

Bloomberg America’s gasoline producers can run, but they can’t hide from a plunge in refining profit margins that sanctions against Venezuelan crude would only worsen, analysts said. The biggest US refiners are expected to report strong fourth-quarter earnings thanks to profits from diesel processing in a strong US economy, as well as a drop of about 40 percent in crude ...

Bloomberg Heavy Canadian crude isn’t getting any cheaper — but that hasn’t stopped companies from splurging on costly rail shipments. Rail-car loadings hit a record 356,000 barrels a day in the week ended Jan. 11, up from a daily average of 296,000 barrels in December, according to Genscape Inc., which monitors some of the larger crude-by-rail terminals in Western Canada. ...

Bloomberg The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating whether Nissan Motor Co accurately disclosed its executive pay in the US, according to several people familiar with the matter, compounding the carmaker’s woes as it grapples with the aftermath of former chairman Carlos Ghosn’s arrest. The US financial regulator is examining whether Nissan’s executive-pay disclosures were accurate and whether the ...

Bloomberg Pakistan will raise $500 million in March through a fund aimed at its nationals living overseas, as South Asia’s second-biggest economy seeks investment after averting a balance-of-payment crisis. Pakistani citizens living abroad will be asked to invest in the fund managed by the Board of Investment and the central bank, Haroon Sharif, the chairman of the state-run agency, said. ...

Bloomberg Exports from Hong Kong fell more than expected in December as the impact of US-China trade tensions deepened in the port city, the first time sales abroad have contracted in consecutive months since 2016. December exports tumbled 5.8 percent from a year ago to HK$339.9 billion ($43.3 billion), while imports slid 7 percent to HK$391.2 billion in the same ...

Bloomberg Takeda Pharmaceutical Co is planning what would be the biggest single-tranche Japanese corporate yen bond sale in an effort to extend its debt obligations following its $62 billion purchase of Shire Plc, according to people with knowledge of the discussions. The drug maker is planning to sell as much as 500 billion yen ($4.6 billion) of hybrid notes in ...

Bloomberg A last-ditch bid by Siemens AG and Alstom SA to win approval from the European Union’s top antitrust regulator for their planned rail merger isn’t good enough to allay concerns about competition, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. The fresh concessions, first reported by Bloomberg January 25, come too late and fall short of the bold ...

Bloomberg The French government is preparing to toughen access for equipment makers to its future 5G telecommunications networks. The government is readying an amendment to the appropriate law with a view to make the vetting process for gear more stringent and increase the oversight of suppliers and locations by the concerned authorities, according to the Finance Ministry. The new rules ...

Bloomberg Germany’s industrial slump worsened at the start of 2019, dragging the euro-area economy into its worst performance in more than five years. IHS Markit’s monthly index showed manufacturing in Germany shrank for the first time in four years. In euro area it barely grew, and a broader measure of activity dropped to weakest since 2013. The euro fell after ...