Bloomberg A fresh sign that the financial industry’s love affair with cryptocurrencies is cooling pummeled the largest tokens. Ether sank as much as 15 percent and Bitcoin fell almost 7 percent to a three-week low amid a report that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is pulling back on near-term plans to set up a crypto trading desk. Litecoin and Ripple followed …

Bloomberg Africa is entering the oil-hunt spotlight as drillers, flush with cash after crude’s recovery, are turning their attention back to the continent’s potentially vast resources. The world’s biggest companies from Exxon Mobil Corp. to Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc are setting up camp across Africa. Armed with stronger balance sheets and higher crude prices the industry is …

Bloomberg Indonesia plans to delay $25 billion worth of power projects as it seeks to rein in a widening current-account deficit and a selloff in the nation’s currency. The government will delay almost half of the planned 35 gigawatts of electricity projects as it wants to ease pressure on imports, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Ignasius Jonan told reporters in …

Bloomberg The world’s biggest offshore oil driller may reactivate two to three mothballed rigs a year as the industry embarks on a full-fledged recovery for deepwater exploration. In announcing a $2.7 billion deal for a rival operator, Transocean Ltd. cited a forecast by energy consultant Wood Mackenzie Ltd. that day-rates in waters more than two miles deep will more than …

Bloomberg Canadian banks are scoring back-to-back record earnings, beating big US lenders on profitability, productivity and dividend yields. They still can’t outperform US banks on the stock market. Toronto-Dominion Bank, Royal Bank of Canada and the nation’s other six large lenders collectively boosted profit 10 percent to a record $8.9 billion in the fiscal third quarter. Still, that’s no match …

Bloomberg India’s rupee owes its tag of Asia’s worst-performing currency this year to the selloff sweeping emerging markets. There’s more pain in store from beyond its borders. While foreign currency debt has zoomed, various external vulnerability indicators paint a rather mixed picture, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s annual report. Indeed, data due as early as next week will …

Bloomberg The prospect of Bank of England (BOE) governor Mark Carney extending his term of office garnered mixed reactions from UK lawmakers. Carney told Parliament that he would be open to lengthening his tenure for a second time to help the UK’s transition out of the EU. The Financial Times reported later that he will stay until 2020 in a …

Bloomberg Westpac Banking Corp. agreed to pay a A$35 million ($25 million) civil penalty after admitting it breached responsible-lending laws by failing to properly assess whether some customers could afford to repay their mortgages. In a settlement ahead of court, the regulator said in a statement that Westpac’s automated loan approval system had failed to use customers’ actual living expenses …

Bloomberg Russia’s central bank is setting the stage for an increase in interest rates as a weakening ruble fans inflation. Just five months after it stopped easing monetary policy, the Bank of Russia raised the prospect of its first hike in borrowing costs since 2014. The country’s latest bout of currency weakness is combining with a worsening outlook for inflation …

Bloomberg The European Union won’t rush to enhance market access for financial firms outside the bloc, a senior German official said, pushing back against key UK government demands in the Brexit negotiations. Expanding EU “equivalence” rules, which can open the single market to non-EU firms, to new areas such as banking is unlikely anytime soon, said Levin Holle, director general …