Bloomberg The world’s largest energy trader says oil prices are set to rally further as Opec output cuts and American sanctions on Iran and Venezuela cause a “shortage” of the low-quality heavy crudes refiners rely on. “From here there’s probably the potential to be a little bit higher,” said Russell Hardy, chief executive officer of Vitol Group. “Oil supply is ...

Bloomberg Centrica Plc plunged to the lowest in almost two decades after tougher trading conditions in the UK energy market prompted the utility to forecast a gloomy outlook for next year. Hurt both by a government-imposed cap on consumer energy bills and by outages at nuclear plants and gas wells, a target range for average adjusted operating cash flow “is ...

Bloomberg Two months ago, it was Asia’s hottest stock market. Now, investors are shunning it. India has wiped out $113 billion in value this year after winning the regional equity crown in 2018. Uncertainty surrounding upcoming elections, an ongoing debt issue, a government that’s making greater demands on the central bank and high valuations have kept investors on the sidelines. ...

Bloomberg Traders are likely to return to work on Monday with a little less angst as the world’s biggest economies edge towards a trade deal. All eyes will be on the yuan as the US and China discuss the critical issue of enforcement in a proposed agreement that would ensure Beijing lives up to its promise to not depreciate the ...

Bloomberg European Central Bank (ECB) officials poised to debate the need for new long-term loans for banks might have some even bigger thinking to do. With less than two weeks to go before the Governing Council meets, policy makers are gearing up to discuss whether their response to the region’s economic slowdown should include an update to its targeted lending ...

Bloomberg Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard said the US central bank must improve its recruitment of women and people from minority backgrounds because greater diversity leads to better policy decisions. Noting that it was more than a century after the Fed’s creation that the one of its 12 regional banks was headed by an African American — Raphael Bostic, who ...

Bloomberg After being stung by the market turmoil at the end of last year, Singapore’s banks are bracing for fresh challenges from China-US trade tensions and a slowing world economy. “We expect ongoing global uncertainties to continue to weigh on business sentiment in the near term,” United Overseas Bank Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Wee Ee Cheong told reporters in Singapore ...

Bloomberg South Africa’s central bank is unlikely to officially pursue a single point-inflation target soon even though it prefers to anchor price growth close to the 4.5 percent mid-point of its goal range, an adviser to Governor Lesetja Kganyago said. The target range of 3 percent to 6 percent allows for flexibility in protecting the economy from price shocks, Fundi ...

Bloomberg Birgitte Bonnesen, the chief executive officer of Swedbank AB, has consistently denied that her bank had any involvement in the Estonian money-laundering scandal engulfing Danske Bank A/S. This week, her words came back to haunt her. Swedbank was forced to backtrack on its previous assertions and has now acknowledged that it also handled suspicious transactions, which it says have ...

Bloomberg Oil in New York posted a second straight weekly advance as investors focus on talks between the US and China on trade and as Opec shows commitment to curbing production. Futures added 0.5 percent in New York to the highest in more than three months. Trade talks in Washington between a Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier Liu He ...