News

  Bloomberg Germany posted a record trade surplus in 2016, which may further fuel accusations by the Trump administration that Europe’s largest economy is exploiting a “grossly undervalued” euro. Exports climbed 1.2 percent last year to 1.2 trillion euros ($1.3 trillion), the Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden reported on Thursday, while imports rose 0.6 percent to 954.6 billion euros. That ...

  Bloomberg Home price gains accelerated in the fourth quarter, with increases reported in 89 percent of US metropolitan areas, as competition heated up for a record-low supply of listings, the National Association of Realtors said. The median price of an existing single-family home rose from a year earlier in 158 of the 178 areas measured, the group said in ...

  Bloomberg Nokia Oyj agreed to buy Comptel Oyj for 347 million euros ($370 million) to add technology that helps phone carriers manage their networks, part of a push into software and services as network-gear sales sputter. Comptel shareholders will get 3.04 euros a share in cash, Espoo, Finland-based Nokia said in a statement Thursday. That’s 29 percent more than ...

  Bloomberg Interest from UK house buyers slipped to a five-month low in January amid waning affordability and a diminishing supply of properties for sale. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said its measure of new buyer inquiries fell to 5 percent from 6 percent a month earlier. That came as instructions from sellers also declined, remaining in negative territory ...

  Bloomberg Thyssenkrupp AG, the German steelmaker in the midst of a corporate transformation, dropped the most in three months after reporting negative free cash flow widened in the first quarter. While the company posted better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter profit as steel prices recovered, negative free cash flow before mergers and acquisitions doubled to 1.74 billion euros ($1.86 billion) due to ...

  Bloomberg Total SA raised its dividend by 1.6 percent and said it may give the go-ahead for almost a dozen new projects in the next 18 months after fourth-quarter profit beat analysts’ estimates. “We’re going to propose to increase the dividend as we have confidence in the future,” Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne told reporters in Paris. “My goal ...

  Bloomberg Norway’s economic growth picked up slower than anticipated in the fourth quarter as western Europe’s biggest crude producer emerges from a protracted slump in its oil industry. Mainland gross domestic product, which excludes oil, gas and shipping, grew 0.3 percent from the previous quarter, Statistics Norway said on Thursday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had estimated a gain of ...

  Bloomberg SoftBank Group Corp. is aiming to close the first round of investment in its planned $100 billion technology fund by the end of this month, giving Chief Executive Officer Masayoshi Son an enormous war chest to go on the hunt for deals, according to people familiar with the matter. The initial investments will likely include $45 billion from ...

  Bloomberg The board of Infosys Ltd., India’s second-largest technology services company, is facing questions over executive compensation and corporate governance in a letter sent by at least three of its founders, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Narayana Murthy, Nandan Nilekani and Kris Gopalakrishnan have signed the document asking why Chief Executive Officer Vishal Sikka’s compensation was ...

  Bloomberg PT Bumi Resources will post its first annual profit in five years as a rally in fuel prices help Asia’s biggest exporter of thermal coal push through a debt restructuring. The company, controlled by the family of Indonesian politician Aburizal Bakrie, had net income of $101.6 million last year, compared with a net loss of $2 billion in ...