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  Frankfurt / AFP Volkswagen announced on Wednesday that its top executives were willing to accept “sharp reductions” in their annual bonuses as the embattled carmaker struggles to stem the fallout from its massive engine-rigging scandal. “The supervisory and executive boards are in agreement that given the current situation, a signal should be sent regarding the issue of management board pay,” ...

  Paris / AFP France said on Wednesday it was on track for modest growth this year at the same rate as earlier projections and also left its public deficit forecast untouched. Gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the eurozone’s second biggest economy is expected to be 1.5 percent in 2016 and the same next year, the finance ministry said. That’s ...

  Bloomberg Poland has returned to the international debt market with a reopening of the 20-year euro-denominated bond it sold in January, days before a shock credit rating downgrade left investors nursing losses on Polish assets. The country is offering bonds maturing in January 2036 with guidance of about 130 basis points above midswaps, according to a person familiar with ...

Bloomberg Russia’s ruble advanced for a fourth day, the longest winning streak in almost three months, as investors turned their attention to a weekend meeting between oil producers that’s driving up the price of crude on speculation suppliers may freeze output. The currency strengthened 0.4 percent to 65.486 against the dollar in Moscow, bringing the gain over the past four ...

  Bloomberg Two years ago, BP Plc said international sanctions against Russia could hurt its business there. Didn’t happen. Instead, London-based BP has found a haven in Russia, buttressed by a falling ruble, lower taxes and the lowest operating costs among the world’s biggest oil companies. BP earned 22 percent of adjusted pretax profit from its share in Moscow-based OAO ...

  Bloomberg Some of the world’s top agricultural commodities traders say the era of slumping prices and low volatility isn’t over yet. Crop prices that slid in the past three years still aren’t low enough to encourage output cuts, Matt Jansen, the chief executive officer of trader Cofco Agri, said on Tuesday at the Financial Times Commodities Global Summit in ...

  Bloomberg Schlumberger Ltd. will reduce activity in Venezuela after the world’s largest oil services provider failed to collect enough payments from the national oil company. The reduction will take place this month in close coordination with all customers in Venezuela to continue servicing those with available cash flow, the Houston- and Paris-based contractor said in a statement Tuesday. Venezuela, ...

AP Businesses reduced their stockpiles for a second straight month in February, while sales fell for a seventh month. Business inventories dropped 0.1 percent, matching the decline in January, the Commerce Department reported on Wednesday. Sales fell 0.4 percent in February after an even bigger 0.8 percent decline in January. Sales have been heading south since August. The weakness in ...

  Bloomberg A record $8 billion intervention by Brazil’s central bank couldn’t keep the real from climbing to the highest level since August amid bets that president Dilma Rousseff will be impeached. The central bank sold 160,000 foreign-exchange reverse swaps in five different auctions Tuesday, moves that are equivalent to buying dollars in the futures market. It was the biggest ...

  Bloomberg Amid the worst political crisis in decades, Brazil’s federal government also faces a spiraling state debt crisis that could cost it as much as $89 billion in lost revenue. Brazilian states, hit by a two-year recession that has depressed tax revenues, are seeking to apply simple rather than compound interest on debt owed to the federal government. The ...