Bloomberg The New Year’s rally has pushed the S&P 500 Index to its best start since the administration of George W. Bush. Now it’s bumping against speed barriers that marked the upper limits of bull markets for decades. Up eight times in the first nine days of 2018, the S&P 500 has broken away from a trend line, its 200-day …

Bloomberg The pound’s rally, spurred by hopes of a soft Brexit, may be vulnerable this week to heightened sensitivity to comments from European Union leaders on the prospects of such a deal. Sterling rose to its highest level since just after Britain’s EU referendum after signs emerged that some countries want a Brexit deal that keeps the UK as close …

Bloomberg For US shale drillers who have seen prices climb almost 50 percent in six months, it’s been largely a rig-less recovery, a conundrum for traders seeking to forecast the future. Normally, you’d expect the rigs to return to the field in significant numbers as producers flush with added cash looked to boost output. But the weekly Baker Hughes tally …

Bloomberg A BP Plc unit will pay $102 million to settle a lawsuit accusing the company of overcharging California for natural gas, the state’s attorney general said. The accord spared BP from facing a jury trial that was scheduled to start this week in San Francisco. A lawyer for the ex-employee who initially filed the complaint as a whistle blower …

Bloomberg Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., the South African power utility battling to maintain liquidity, said there will be a “major impact” from the regulator’s decision last month to grant only a quarter of its requested tariff increase. The National Energy Regulator of South Africa gave the cash-strapped utility permission to raise prices by 5.2 percent from April 1, far short …

Bloomberg Japan’s plans to develop its renewable energy industry are lagging much of the world, as the nation has “prioritised keeping the status quo for fear of change,” Foreign Minister Taro Kono said. Japan wants renewable energy to account for 22 percent to 24 percent of its overall energy mix by 2030, while the global average today is already 24 …

SINGAPORE / Reuters Singapore posted record sales volumes of marine fuels for the third straight year in 2017, even as the city state reva-mped the market last year leading to stiff competition and margin erosion. Singapore last year sold an all-time high 50.6 million tonnes of marine fuels, a 4.2 percent increase over the 48.6 million tonnes sold in 2016, …

Bloomberg Morocco, which depends on imports for almost all of its energy needs, will soon tender for companies to build a $4.6 billion natural gas project, Energy Minister Aziz Rabbah said. The project will process gas for power and provide gas to industry, Rabbah said on Sunday in an interview in Abu Dhabi. With the financial and technical consultants chosen, …

Bloomberg Wells Fargo & Co. isn’t giving up its mortgage-lending crown without a fight. The bank wants to hold on to its top spot as the whale of the $1.7 billion industry in the US, even as it predicts profit margins on making home loans will shrink this year and it faces pressure from rival Quicken Loans Inc. “We want …

Bloomberg Canada’s financial watchdog plans to revise capital requirements for the nation’s banks, drafting more risk-sensitive interim rules while moving faster towards adopting new criteria set by global regulators. The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions’ Carolyn Rogers announced the changes during a speech at a conference hosted by RBC Capital Markets in Toronto. She said Canadian banks would …