Bloomberg Catalonia’s separatist leadership said nothing will stop it setting up an independent republic, dismissing the condemnation of Spanish King Felipe VI as the breakaway region’s president prepared to deliver his own address on Wednesday evening. Regional government spokes- man Jordi Turull said the monarch’s criticism of Sunday’s illegal referendum, with no reference to the police violence that saw more ...

Bloomberg Iraqi authorities halted key financial transactions with the country’s Kurdish region, deepening its isolation after last week’s overwhelming vote in favor of independence. The central bank banned lenders with headquarters in the northern Kurdistan region from taking part in dollar auctions, according to a central bank official who asked not to be named. Banks based in Baghdad are also ...

Bloomberg Brazilians may be a year away from voting for their next president, but investors are already plenty worried. Measures of implied volatility for the currency show traders pricing in big swings around the October 2018 vote, even as calm pervades in the near term. The split has taken the ratio between one-year and six-month implied volatility to the highest ...