News

AGENCIES OPEC on Tuesday forecast higher demand for its oil in 2018 and pointed to signs of a tighter global market, indicating its production-cutting deal with non-member countries is helping to tackle a supply glut that has weighed on prices. In a monthly report, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said the world would need 32.83 million barrels per ...

Bloomberg Oil steadied near $48 a barrel as refiners on the US Gulf Coast continued to recover following two strikes from Hurricane Harvey, while Irma weakened further after moving inland. Futures slipped 0.5 percent in New York after rising 1.2 percent. US refiners closed by Hurricane Harvey more than two weeks ago continue to restart, including the nation’s largest, operated ...

BASRA / BAGHDAD / Reuters Worsening clashes among tribes and a political void is threatening security at oil installations in Iraq’s main southern oil producing region, officials and security sources said. Iraq has concentrated security forces in the north and west of the OPEC oil producer in the biggest campaign since the US-led invasion in 2003 to retake territory lost ...

DUBAI / Reuters The government of Bahrain is expected to offer investors significant premiums over its outstanding debt when it issues bonds this week because of growing concern over its finances in an era of cheap oil, portfolio managers said. A triple-tranche issue may follow, including a long seven-year sukuk issue maturing in 2025, a 12-year conventional bond and, subject ...

Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc. is hiring by the hundreds in China to fill jobs ranging from internet software engineers to designers for Alexa, positioning the company to recoup some of the market share it lost to Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. in the world’s largest online shopping arena. The online retail giant lists almost 400 Chinese-based openings on its careers website and ...

Bloomberg Self-censorship is kicking in fast on WeChat as China’s new rules on message groups casts a chill among the 963 million users of Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s social network. Regulations released on September 7 made creators of online groups responsible for managing information within their forums and the behaviour of members. While they don’t take effect until October, authorities have ...

Bloomberg A Beijing court has sentenced the owner of the firm behind China’s biggest online lending fraud to life in prison. Ding Ning, the chairman of Yucheng Group, was also fined $15 million for fundraising fraud, smuggling precious metals, and owning guns illegally, according to a judgment handed down by the Beijing First Intermediate People’s Court on Tuesday. Yucheng ultimately ...

Bloomberg Its sovereign bonds don’t yield much more than US Treasuries, they cost less to insure than Spanish notes and its currency is more stable than China’s managed yuan. In a sign of how the flood of money into emerging markets is upending conventional wisdom, military-run Thailand with a credit rating just three levels above junk at Moody’s Investors Service ...

­­­­­­­­­­­Bloomberg Theresa May’s plans for taking Britain out of the European Union remain on track after members of Parliament cleared the way for her Brexit law to advance — but threatened to re-write it later. In a vote after midnight, lawmakers agreed to allow the EU withdrawal bill to continue its progress through Parliament, by 326 votes to 290. The ...

Bloomberg American business enthusiasm in Southeast Asia is bent but far from broken even as the region grapples with a new trade framework and less US government involvement, according to a survey by the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore. Eighty percent of executives see their firms’ level of trade and investment in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ...