Bloomberg Euro-area inflation was negative for a second month in March, in data released on the eve of the European Central Bank’s first day of expanded debt purchasing to fight deflation. The consumer price index in the 19-nation bloc fell 0.1 percent from a year earlier after a 0.2 percent drop in February, according to data published on Thursday. That …

Bloomberg Buyers for Britain’s biggest steel operations may be tough to come by. Faced with a market flooded with cheap Chinese exports, Tata Steel Ltd. is planning to sell its U.K. business after several quarters of losses and 2 billion pounds of writedowns left the division with an asset value of almost zero. Steel prices have plunged to the lowest …

SHANGHAI / Reuters China’s Ministry of Finance unveiled details of its 2016 budget plans on Wednesday, with spending jacked up sharply on many items, including an 11-fold increase for “repairs” to 94 billion yuan ($14.54 billion). Other big increases have been made for health care and family planning, which will get a 47.2 percent boost to 12.43 billion yuan. Spending …