Bloomberg The world’s biggest pension fund posted its best annual gain in two years, as Japanese and overseas stocks rose while government bonds slid. The Government Pension Investment Fund returned 5.9 percent, or 7.9 trillion yen ($70 billion), in the year ended March 31, increasing assets to a record 144.9 trillion yen, it said in Tokyo. That’s the biggest advance ...

Bloomberg China’s great reflation is showing further signs of being a let-down. Producer price gains have eased back from February’s eight-year high as activity in the property and infrastructure sectors slows amid a government crackdown on risky lending. Prices at the factory gate rose 5.5 percent in June from a year earlier, the same pace as May, according to a ...

Bloomberg UK factories and construction firms unexpectedly cut output in May, casting doubt over the performance of the economy in the second quarter. Manufacturing fell 0.2 percent from April as vehicle production posted the biggest drop in more than a year, the Office for National Statistics said. Total industrial production declined 0.1 percent. Building output shrank by 1.2 percent. There ...

Bloomberg Syngenta AG reached a confidential settlement with a Nebraska farmer who claimed the company mishandled marketing of its genetically modified seed, causing US corn prices to plummet. With the settlement, Syngenta averts a trial that was scheduled to start July 10. Terms weren’t disclosed. Two weeks ago, Syngenta lost a $218 million jury verdict for a class of Kansas ...

Bloomberg Group of 20 leaders agreed to address growing overcapacity and rock-bottom prices in global steel markets, bowing to pressure from the Trump administration after it threatened to impose punitive tariffs on its allies. In talks, US officials managed to get language inserted into the communique that sets deadlines for G-20 members to address excess steel production, according to a ...

Bloomberg Faulty fuel pump parts that have spurred US recalls of more than 450,000 SUVs by Volkswagen AG and its Porsche and Audi brands were supplied to 13 other automakers and suppliers, German auto-parts maker Continental AG told US regulators. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is now probing whether vehicles and parts sold by those other companies also contain ...

Bloomberg A former Audi AG manager was charged with fraud by the US for his alleged role in helping Volkswagen AG cheat US emissions standards. Giovanni Pamio, 60, conspired to defraud US regulators and consumers through software designed to cheat emissions testsin thousands of Audi vehicles marketed as “clean diesel,” the Justice Department said. “Pamio and co-conspirators deliberately failed to ...

Bloomberg Hawkish signals from central bankers have punished stocks and bonds alike in the past week. Also punished: investors who make a living operating in several asset classes at once. They’ve been stung by the concerted selloff that lifted 10-year Treasury yields by 25 basis points and sent tech stocks to the biggest losses in 16 months. Among the hardest-hit ...

Bloomberg Investors looking to back winners in Saudi Arabia’s second-quarter earnings season should focus on consumer and retail companies rather than petrochemicals, analysts in the region say. Extra spending by Saudis after the government’s June 21 decision to reverse a cut to state salaries and benefits, and increased food sales for feasts related to the holy month of Ramadan should ...

Bloomberg The slower-than-expected increase in worker pay shows that investors should feel safe in Treasuries, even after yields jumped in the past two weeks, according to PGIM’s Robert Tipp. ‘Bonds are winning,’ Tipp, the chief investment strategist at PGIM Fixed Income, said on Bloomberg Television’s ‘Real Yield’ program. “The fact we haven’t had wage growth is really exceptional. I think ...