Bloomberg Australia’s central bank kept interest rates unchanged and warned a rising currency is expected to subdue inflation and weigh on the outlook for growth and employment. The Australian dollar has surged more than 11 percent this year, hampering the Reserve Bank’s efforts to transition the economy to growth led by exports like education and tourism. That prompted Governor Philip ...

Bloomberg Mergers and acquisitions may be headed for a slowdown amid high valuations and an uncertain outlook around monetary policy, says William Vereker at UBS Group AG. “I look at record-high valuations across many exchanges, I look at a very liquid backdrop with the ongoing easing of monetary policy, you’ve got an uncertain outlook on interest rates,” said Vereker, global ...

Bloomberg The reshuffle at the top of two of China’s largest state-controlled banks is the latest phase of a management change for the country’s $40 trillion financial industry, as the government seeks to restrain any turbulence ahead of a twice-a-decade meeting of the ruling Communist Party. Tian Guoli, formerly chairman of Bank of China Ltd., has been named as the ...

Bloomberg Venezuela’s government, striving to legitimize President Nicolas Maduro’s grab for control, said that more than 8 million people participated in a vote to rewrite the constitution even though polling places and streets were mostly empty and quiet. The constituent assembly chosen on Sunday will meet as soon as this week to discuss changing the charter rewritten under former socialist ...

Bloomberg Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called on China and Russia to do more to stop North Korea after the isolated regime test-fired its second intercontinental ballistic missile in a month. Abe, speaking after a phone call with US President Donald Trump, told reporters on Monday that they agreed more action was needed to mitigate the threat from North Korea. ...

Bloomberg Brazil President Michel Temer is rounding up allies for this week’s lower house vote on whether he’ll stand trial, marking a shift from a previous strategy to stall the congressional decision. Temer wants to hold the session rather sooner than later to return attention on economic bills needed to kick-start a sluggish economy, according to interviews with half a ...

Bloomberg Vladimir Putin said he hoped there wouldn’t be a need for further retaliation against Washington after his government ordered the US to slash staff at its diplomatic missions in Russia by 755, or nearly two-thirds, in retaliation for new sanctions approved by Congress. “We waited for a rather long time, thinking that things might improve, nourished the hope that ...

Bloomberg To continue his family’s political dynasty ahead of next year’s vote, ousted Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif is looking to his younger brother Shehbaz—widely seen as the more disciplined sibling with a reputation for forcing through economic reforms. Pakistan’s ruling party over the weekend was quick to nominate Shehbaz, the chief minister of Punjab province, to take over his brother’s ...

Bloomberg The semblance of unity behind a life-as-normal and business-as-usual Brexit didn’t last. With Prime Minister Theresa May away on holiday, her chancellor of the exchequer went out on a limb to say a consensus was forming around a three-year transition phase, during which little would change about the UK’s relationship with the European Union even past 2019, when the ...

ABU DHABI / Reuters / WAM Five Chinese companies will start operations in Abu Dhabi’s industrial zone with an initial investment of AED1 billion in a boost for the oil-rich emirate’s economic diversification plans. The companies, from Jiangsu province on China’s east coast, are involved in sectors ranging from power and metals to natural resources and banking, Abu Dhabi officials ...