Britons are paying more than £2 billion ($2.28 billion) to help people heat the country’s biggest houses because of the government’s decision to cap energy bills for everyone rather than target the aid. Subsidising the gas and electricity for homes with at least five bedrooms will cost approximately £1.62 billion between October 2022 and March 2023, according to Bloomberg calculations. ...

Shares of Brazil’s state-controlled oil producer Petrobras erased their gains for the year as fears of increased political intervention with Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as president are driving investors to dump the stock. Petroleo Brasileiro SA’s shares closed down 5.5% to 28.30 reais in Sao Paulo, and have shed over $20 billion in market value since their October peak. ...

Conor Sen All the tightening moves by the Federal Reserve this year to rein in inflation are supposed to lead to less hiring and spending by companies. But there is no law that says the biggest, most profitable companies have to cut back if they don’t feel like it. And the cuts showing up in this quarter’s earnings reports from ...