Bloomberg UK homebuilders are starting to pull out of deals to buy land as they brace for a hit to demand. Inland Homes Plc, a firm that specialises in getting urban sites ready for construction, said on Thursday that three deals with large publicly traded homebuilders had been aborted because of the coronavirus pandemic. The cancelled deals show how developers ...

Bloomberg A gauge of Russian manufacturing slumped to the lowest level since records began in 1997 as lockdowns across Europe choked demand. The Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to 31.3 in April, down from 47.5 in March, IHS Markit said on Thursday. The median estimate of eight economists surveyed by Bloomberg was for 40.5. “Output and new orders contracted ...

Bloomberg Microsoft Corp. said quarterly sales and profit rose, buoyed by demand for internet-based software and cloud services needed to accommodate a shift to remote working during the coronavirus crisis. Profit in the period ended March 31 rose to $10.8 billion, or $1.40 a share, the company said in a statement. Sales rose 15% to $35 billion. The results from ...