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BLoomberg The pound sank below $1.39 for the first time since March 2009, while a gauge of anxiety in currency markets showed traders are preparing for even more extreme moves. Options traders are paying the most to protect against price swings in six months’ time compared with historical volatility since Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. collapsed during the 2008 credit crisis. ...

London / Bloomberg Thirteen former senior military officers insisted Britain should stay in the European Union on Wednesday, saying the country was “stronger” as a member of the 28-nation bloc in a “dangerous world”. Writing ahead of a membership referendum on June 23, the retired military chiefs said the EU helped protect the country against threats from IS extremists and ...

Bloomberg A British exit from the European Union would be so devastating for the pound that 29 out of 34 economists in a Bloomberg survey see it sinking to $1.35 or below within a week of a vote to leave — levels last seen in 1985. Twenty-three of the economists say sterling wouldn’t recover from that rate within three months ...

Bloomberg Ukraine’s war with pro-Russian rebels may be frozen but the legal battle between Vladimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko is just heating up. The $3 billion lawsuit Russia filed against Ukraine in London last week over a bond default is just a fraction of the $63 billion Ukraine is seeking in lawsuits and other legal claims from Stockholm to The ...

Bloomberg PSA Peugeot Citroen will set new growth goals after cost-cutting and recovering demand in Europe helped the French automaker beat targets set two years ago following a bailout. Automotive operating profit last year was 5 percent of revenue, far exceeding a 2 percent margin goal for 2018, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Free cash flow was almost ...

Bloomberg Germany’s 30-year government bonds advanced for a fifth day, reducing the extra yield they offer over shorter maturities, known as flattening the yield curve, as the nation prepared to auction debt due in July 2044 on Wednesday. German bonds rose as European stocks declined with sliding oil prices prompting investors’ demand for safer assets. With the average yield on ...

Toulouse / Bloomberg Airbus Group said on Wednesday its net profits climbed 15 percent last year and predicted deliveries of more than 650 aircraft in 2016 and a rise in orders to record levels. The France-based European aerospace group chalked up a net profit of 2.7 billion euros ($3.0 billion), with sales up 6.0 percent to 64 billion euros. Orders ...

Sydney / AFP Shopping centre giant Westfield on Wednesday recorded a US$2.3 billion net profit supported by healthy income growth for its US and British assets, as it flagged an August opening for its fully leased World Trade Center development. The Australian-listed company is reporting its first full-year result for the 12 months to December 31, 2015 since spinning off ...

Chicago / Bloomberg Boeing Co. expects China’s domestic freight market to surge in the next two decades and said it will offer conversions for its bestselling 737 passenger jets into cargo planes. The Chicago-based planemaker won 30 confirmed orders and 25 commitments from seven customers for the converted 737, Boeing said in a statement on Wednesday. The aircraft will be ...

NEW YORK / AP Macy’s wrapped up a weak fiscal year on an encouraging note, but the nation’s largest department store retailer still sees challenges ahead. Macy’s, which also operates Bloomingdale’s stores, reported a 31 percent decline in fourth-quarter profits, dragged down by store closings and other costs. But the adjusted results beat Wall Street estimates and sales picked up ...