BLOOMBERG Stocks gained with U.S. equity-index futures and the pound strengthened to its highest level this year as the U.K.’s referendum on membership of the European Union got under way. European shares rose to a three-week high in above-average trading amid a vote that past opinion polls indicated was too close to call. A gauge of sterling advanced for …

  Bloomberg The best start to a year for commodities since 2008 is leaving copper in the dust. The metal is one of the weakest of the 22 raw materials in the Bloomberg Commodity Index of returns this year and the worst of the major metals. “If you look at where iron ore, coking coal or oil have gone this …

  Bloomberg In the one-time engine room of Australia’s resources bonanza, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s election pledge of creating jobs and growth is ringing hollow for many voters. An economic downturn in Western Australia and claims the Liberal state government squandered the proceeds of the mining boom are a fillip for the opposition Labor party ahead of the July 2 …