News

  Bloomberg The pound halted a decline versus the euro before the Bank of England announces its latest policy decision and economic forecasts. Sterling has weakened 0.8 percent versus the 19-nation shared currency this month, after strengthening in April in its first monthly gain since November. Its drop resumed as data from construction to manufacturing added to evidence that growth ...

  Bloomberg Growth in the European Union’s biggest eastern economies probably slowed last quarter, as household spending failed to offset ebbing aid funds and weakening export demand, surveys show. Romania will probably be alone in reporting faster annual growth in January-March among five countries in the region preparing to release fresh statistics, according to Bloomberg surveys of economists for each. ...

  Bloomberg Ioannis Plotas doesn’t share his prime minister’s belief that the start of debt-relief discussions on Monday is a step forward for Greece. Rather, the 52-year-old is worried that the latest hikes in income tax and social security contributions passed by Greek lawmakers on Sunday to appease creditors will drive the dry cleaning shop he runs with his sister ...

  Bloomberg For Janet Yellen’s Fed, 2016 is beginning to look all too familiar — another saga of disappointment and downgrade. Last year, Federal Reserve officials started off signaling two interest-rate increases but those plans didn’t work out: Weak first-quarter U.S. growth delayed action in June, international concerns took September off the table and liftoff finally happened in December. This ...

  Bloomberg America’s egg crisis is over. Not only have shortages disappeared, but there are signs of an emerging glut. U.S. prices have tumbled 75 percent from a record in August, after the biggest bird-flu outbreak ever forced farmers to destroy flocks. Since then, the laying-hen population has rebounded faster than expected while demand languished from home chefs to food ...

  Bloomberg Brevan Howard Asset Management LLP is closing down its dedicated Argentina fund after the country resolved a legal dispute with creditors that had pushed the nation into default. The Argentina Master Fund produced net returns of 18 percent since it was opened to outside investors in January 2015, when the nation was in the midst of its second ...

  Buenos Aires / AFP General Motors will invest $740 million in its plant in Rosario, Argentina, to produce the Chevrolet Cruze II mostly for export, the US carmaker announced on Thursday. The news came as President Mauricio Macri visited the factory 280 kilometers (174 miles) north of Buenos Aires. The plant expansion will make it possible to produce the Cruze ...

  Bloomberg Oi SA, Brazil’s most indebted phone company, said its first-quarter loss widened as customers jumped ship for bigger competitors in the wireless segment. Oi posted a net loss of 1.64 billion reais, according to a statement sent to Brazil’s securities regulator Thursday. That compares with a loss of 880.7 million reais projected by analysts, the average of three ...

  Bloomberg The Chilean peso weakened the most among emerging-market currencies as international investors offload their positions on the currency following weak data from China. Foreign investors have increased short positions in the Chilean peso forwards market by $1.2 billion in the past week while local investors, mostly pension funds hedging their currency exposure, have refrained from adding to their ...

Bloomberg Treasury 30-year bond returns pushed past 10 percent for 2016 as the U.S. prepares to sell $15 billion of the securities on Thursday. The long bonds yield 2.60 percent, more than any other benchmark maturity in the U.S., the U.K., Germany or Japan. Thirty-year debt is leading a rally in Treasuries as traders push back bets for when the ...