Bloomberg Supporters of an opposition challenger to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko turned out to demand the authorities allow him to run in next month’s election. At least 2,500 people formed long lines outside the central election commission in the capital Minsk on Wednesday with written challenges to its decision to reject former banker Viktor Babariko’s candidacy for the August 9 ...

Bloomberg Spain is committed to reforms to address climate change and accelerate the country’s digital transition, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said after meeting with his Swedish counterpart Sefan Lofven. “We are committed with reforms,” Sanchez said in an joint press conference in Lofven. “We have a common goal which is to come out with a stronger Europe.” In their meeting, ...

Bloomberg Bulgaria’s main opposition party launched a no-confidence motion against the government, putting pressure on Prime Minister Boyko Borissov as protesters take to the streets against his failure to fight high-level corruption. The Socialist Party, which filed the motion on Wednesday, doesn’t have enough lawmakers to oust the cabinet in the fifth such confidence vote it has faced. But the ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump told a federal judge in New York that he will continue to challenge a grand jury subpoena seeking his tax filings after the US Supreme Court ruled he is not immune from investigation. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr is investigating hush-money payments made before the 2016 presidential election to Stormy Daniels, a porn actress who ...

Bloomberg Wells Fargo & Co. plummeted after reporting its first quarterly loss since 2008 as loan-loss provisions soared with the bank expecting a more severe downturn from the coronavirus pandemic. The firm set aside a record $9.5 billion for credit losses, about $4 billion more than analysts had expected. Wells Fargo executives had warned they would earmark more for soured ...

Bloomberg Citigroup Inc. set aside $7.9 billion for souring loans even as the bank’s revenue from fixed-income trading surged 68%, keeping bank solidly profitable. The $5.6 billion windfall from trading bonds, currencies and commodities was even greater than what the firm generated in the year’s first three months, when the pandemic set off a flood of client transactions. Combined with ...

Bloomberg JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s results were one more marker of the disconnect between ebullient markets and concern about the US economy. The biggest US bank said second-quarter profit fell 51% to $4.69 billion, a smaller drop than forecast, as record trading revenue helped counter the biggest loan-loss provision in the firm’s history. It’s the second consecutive quarter that trading ...

Bloomberg The Philippine central bank will likely keep policy accommodative over the next two years to deal with lingering economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic, Governor Benjamin Diokno said. “We know that this crisis may be protracted,” Diokno said when asked how long the central bank will continue its bond-buying and liquidity support programs. “At least for the next maybe ...

Bloomberg India’s shadow banks are benefiting from a drop in borrowing costs after government stimulus steps, but the troubled sector faces more challenges ahead as the economy reels from the pandemic. The lenders’ borrowing costs declined in June for a second straight month, according to a gauge that’s among four indicators compiled by Bloomberg to check on the health of ...

Bloomberg The Indonesian rupiah slumped to a seven-week low as traders positioned for a policy decision due on Thursday and concern about rising domestic virus infections damped sentiment. The rupiah dropped as much as 1% to 14,597 per dollar, the weakest level since May 29. BI is forecast to cut its key rate by 25 basis points to 4.00%. “If ...