News

  Bloomberg Brazil’s Senate confirmed Ilan Goldfajn as the country’s next central bank chief, putting him in charge of controlling above-target inflation without exacerbating the worst recession in over a century. Senators voted 56 to 13 in favour of the former chief economist at Itau Unibanco Holding SA. Goldfajn won’t participate in the rate decision on Wednesday during which economists ...

  Bloomberg Soc. Quimica & Minera de Chile SA, the world’s most profitable major chemicals company, risks fines and losing permits after Chilean authorities said it breached environmental rules. The environmental regulator is charging SQM with setting up water pumps in parts of the Llamara salt-flats where it didn’t have permission, failing to monitor the site as agreed and failing ...

  Bloomberg Yahoo! Inc. is exploring the sale of more than 3,000 patents as part of an effort begun earlier this year to look into ways to monetize its intellectual property. The company has extended efforts on the divestiture of patents and pending patents held by its Excalibur LLC unit that include search, advertising and cloud-based technology, the company said. ...

  BLOOMBERG U.S. gasoline consumption is set to climb to a record this summer as the lowest pump prices in more than a decade encourage Americans to take to the roads. Demand, which typically peaks between the Memorial Day holiday in late May and Labor Day in early September, will average a record 9.5 million barrels during the second and ...

  Seoul / Bloomberg South Korea will bolster capital at policy banks through a fund to support restructuring of the nation’s shipping and shipbuilding industries, the government said on Wednesday. The plan is for the government and the Bank of Korea to create an 11 trillion won fund ($9.5 billion) to make sure state lenders can withstand losses as they ...

  Seoul / AFP Prosecutors on Wednesday raided Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co., one of South Korea’s three giant shipbuilders, as part of a probe into a $2 billion accounting fraud. Some 150 staff from the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office stormed DSME headquarters in Seoul and its Okpo shipyard on the southern island of Geoje, the company said. “This morning, ...

  Tokyo / Bloomberg Suzuki Motor Corp. Chairman Osamu Suzuki ceded the role of chief executive officer and one of his top deputies will resign after the automaker admitted to using unapproved fuel-economy testing methods in Japan. The 86-year-old Suzuki will decline the position of CEO and Executive Vice President Osamu Honda, 66, will step down as of the company’s ...

  New Delhi / Bloomberg India’s monsoon has finally arrived. The annual rains reached the southern state of Kerala on Wednesday, Sunitha Devi, an official with the India Meteorological Department, said by phone from Pune. The normal onset date for the monsoon is June 1 and the agency had said Tuesday that it would probably cover Kerala by June 9. ...

  Tokyo / AFP Japan’s economy expanded at a slightly faster pace than first thought, revised figures showed on Wednesday, knocking hopes that the central bank will unleash fresh stimulus this month. The data were unlikely to inspire renewed faith in Prime Minister’s Shinzo Abe’s faltering growth policies, after Tokyo last week said it would delay a tax hike to ...

  Bloomberg The European Central Bank started buying corporate bonds on Wednesday, according to people familiar with the matter. Purchases included €3 million ($3.4 million) of bonds sold by French utility Engie SA, along with 10-year notes from Telefonica SA, Spain’s biggest telecommunications company, and securities sold by Assicurazioni Generali SpA, Italy’s biggest insurer, said the people, who aren’t authorized ...