Bloomberg Australian retail sales jumped for a third consecutive month to hit a record, driven by a spending revival on the nation’s flood-ravaged east coast and highlighting the economy’s strong underlying momentum. Sales surged 1.6% in March to A$33.6 billion ($23.9 billion), more than triple economists’ forecast for a 0.5% increase, Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data showed. The ...

Bloomberg Sweden and Finland are starting to win assurances of help if threatened by Russia in the interim period between an expected application to join defense alliance Nato and an eventual entry. The two Nordic countries, which began to seriously consider joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, have worried of an insecure “gray period” ...

Bloomberg Russian forces have been slowed by supply line and morale problems in the southern and eastern parts of Ukraine, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman said. The European Union proposed a ban on Russian crude oil phased in over the next six months, part of the bloc’s sixth package of sanctions as President Vladimir Putin seeks to cement military gains in ...

Bloomberg Preceded by a group of carnival drummers, Federico Gutierrez and his entourage progressed slowly into a working-class neighbourhood of Bogota, the pulse of the drums drowning out insults yelled by groups of onlookers. Gutierrez is running for Colombia’s presidency, and the capital’s grittier districts are the heartland of his main rival, Gustavo Petro. But the candidate known as “Fico” ...

Bloomberg North Korea lifted a temporary lockdown it had imposed a day earlier after reports from across the country of cases of fevers of unknown origins, Yonhap News Agency reported, citing multiple South Korean government officials. The brief lockdown followed a military parade marking the anniversary of the founding of its army. Pyongyang also held festivities a few weeks ago ...

Bloomberg Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he would bring Japan’s virus-related border controls in line with other wealthy democracies next month, as he sought to boost consumer spending to fight an economic slowdown. Kishida credited the border controls with helping the country weather the pandemic relatively well, even as he announced their relaxation in a speech in the City of ...

  Bloomberg The yen may extend declines to 140 per dollar and that could trigger the Japanese government to spend $100 billion to limit further losses, according to Bank of America (BofA). The currency hasn’t weakened to 140 since 1998, but it may be pushed to that level by a fresh surge in Treasury yields, BofA analysts including Shusuke Yamada ...

  Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc has hired Michael Willoughby, a top mining banker at Standard Chartered Plc, to help build its global resources team, people with knowledge of the matter said. Willoughby, a Singapore-based managing director and co-head of metals and mining for Asia Pacific at Standard Chartered, will join HSBC in August as global head of metals, mining and ...

  Bloomberg China’s largest state-owned banks reported profit growth of at least 5% in the first quarter, fuelled by increased lending and improved asset quality before a Covid-19 outbreak triggered broad lockdowns and pummeled the economy. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC) said net income rose 5.7% to 90.63 billion yuan ($13.8 billion) in three months ended March ...

  Bloomberg The US consumer watchdog is ordering Bank of America Corp (BofA) to pay a $10 million penalty and repay fees that the lender charged customers when garnishing wages. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFB) said that the Charlotte, North Carolina-based lender incorrectly froze accounts and garnished customer funds based on out-of-state court orders. The lender should have ensured ...