Bloomberg UK retail sales rose in August at their fastest pace in four months, providing further evidence of a tentative pickup in consumer spending. The quantity of goods sold in stores and online increased 1 percent from July, as did sales excluding auto fuel, the Office for National Statistics said. The increase far exceeded the median forecast of economists and ...

Bloomberg It’s mere weeks to the festival of Diwali, the season of lavish, reckless consumption, and in a cavernous warehouse minutes from the Hyderabad airport, hundreds of workers are furiously sorting mountains of everyday items. There are sunglasses and shaving creams, sewing machines, vegetable slicers and microwave ovens, all lined up by Amazon.com Inc. to sate the shopping frenzy that’s ...

Bloomberg Russia signaled that it would be willing to prolong the production cuts it agreed with OPEC beyond the first quarter of next year if needed, while also making clear its commitment to the deal wasn’t open ended. It was too early to talk about the specific details of extending the oil-output pact at a meeting with fellow producers in ...

Bloomberg India’s coal-fired power plants in August ran at a three-year high amid shortages created by lower generation from hydropower and nuclear. Plant utilization at coal-fired stations rose to 58% last month, compared with 51.6% a year ago, power ministry data released this week show. That’s the highest rate for August since 2014, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Lower ...

Bloomberg Imposing tariffs on solar components imported into the US will drive up prices for solar developers. It could also cost U.S. taxpayers as much as $1.23 billion. The US offers incentives to encourage people to use clean energy, paying owners of solar-power systems a tax credit equal to 30 percent of the total installation costs. More expensive panels leads ...

Bloomberg Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is setting up a company to invest in local entertainment, as the kingdom tentatively opens up and pursues a long-term strategy to reduce its reliance on oil. The company will have an initial capitalization of 10 billion riyals ($2.7 billion) and “act as its investment arm in Saudi Arabia’s growing entertainment sector,” the Public ...

DUBAI / Reuters Saudi Arabia will begin implementing a new bankruptcy law early next year as part of efforts to attract foreign investment and encourage private sector activity, Saudi-owned broadcaster Al Arabiya reported citing the kingdom’s commerce minister. Under current legislation there is no easy way to wind up the activities of indebted companies in Saudi Arabia and the new ...

TOKYO / SEOUL / Reuters Iranian exports of ultra-light crude oil known as condensate are set to fall to a five-month low in October, with supplies to its largest buyer South Korea cut by half, a source with knowledge of Iran’s preliminary tanker schedule said on Friday. That comes after six industry sources said on Tuesday that the National Iranian ...

VIENNA / Reuters Nigeria is pumping less than 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude, its oil minister said, meaning the country is sticking to an output cap agreed under an OPEC-led deal to limit output. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers, including Russia, are reducing crude output until next March in an attempt to ...

Bloomberg US stocks of distillate fuel oil, which have been trending downwards all year, now look tight following disruption to major refineries caused by Hurricane Harvey. The position is a marked turnaround from the start of the year, when distillate stocks were at record levels following the second warm winter in a row and a prolonged slowdown in freight movements ...