China is within striking distance of locking down its biggest-ever overseas acquisition, after China National Chemical Corp. won US and European Union antitrust approval for its $43 billion takeover of Swiss pesticide maker Syngenta AG. Just as well, because it may be the last big deal in a while. Although the transaction still needs the green light from regulators ...

  Like repentant smokers, Europe’s politicians have promised to quit bailing out banks. They’re finding the habit hard to break. The Italian government wants to rescue three banks which are struggling under the weight of non-performing loans. The trade-offs, as always, are complicated: financial stability now against financial stability later; shielding taxpayers from the costs of a rescue against protecting ...

  Bloomberg With two weeks to go before a referendum that could remodel Turkey’s political landscape, the Central Bank of Turkey (TCMB) pushed interest rates to the upper reaches of its monetary framework and depleted its policy tool of choice: flexibility. The bank’s average interest rate was 11.47 percent, near the mathematical limit of its current funding mix. That leaves ...