Bloomberg  Everything that could go wrong for Singapore’s commercial property market already has. The city-state’s export-driven economy is slowing, banks are shrinking, industrial production is sputtering, home prices are falling, and consumers are the glummest in seven years. To make matters worse, tourism and hospitality businesses are being threatened by the Zika virus, which has infected more than 300 ...

  Bloomberg The new U.K. appointee to the European Union’s executive arm pledged to act independently of the British government as the rest of the EU waits for Prime Minister Theresa May to trigger Brexit negotiations. Julian King, a career British diplomat designated to become counter-terrorism chief at the European Commission, told a confirmation hearing that he has the international ...

  Bloomberg Britain’s decision to leave the European Union has failed to boost support for Scottish independence, with more voters still opposed to a split with the rest of the U.K., according to the latest poll. The survey by Kantar TNS found 47 percent of people in favor of sticking with Britain and 41 percent backing independence. After excluding the ...

  Bloomberg Italian industrial output rose more than economists estimated in July, led by pharmaceuticals and vehicle production, prompting hopes for a renewed recovery after growth stalled in the second quarter. Production increased 0.4 percent compared with June when it decreased a revised 0.3 percent, statistics agency Istat said Tuesday in Rome. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of ...

  Bloomberg German investor confidence was unchanged in September after recent data signaled economic momentum cooled. The ZEW Center for European Economic Research in Mannheim said its index of investor and analyst expectations, which aims to predict economic developments six months ahead, held at 0.5. Economists in a Bloomberg survey predicted an increase to 2.5. While Germany is benefiting from ...

  Bloomberg Brazilian President Michel Temer is turning to an unlikely source to help solve his country’s fiscal crisis — deadbeat taxpayers. Temer, 75, who was sworn in after President Dilma Rousseff’s Aug. 31 impeachment, wants to turn a chunk of uncollected taxes into securities and sell them to investors, an idea that only a few governments have ever tried. ...

  North Korea’s latest nuclear test triggered diplomatic aftershocks in Asia — and a growing concern that the volatile regime in Pyongyang may pose the first big test for the next U.S. president. Last Friday’s test was the fifth and largest nuclear device North Korea has detonated, estimated at 10 kilotons, and it came defiantly on the 68th anniversary of ...

  For the first time since early 2014, the dollar value of goods imported and exported by the G-20 countries actually grew a little in the second quarter of this year, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reported last week. This is probably just because oil prices bounced back a bit after hitting a 12-year low in the first ...

  A key demand of Brexit voters was to take back control of the U.K.’s immigration policy. Prime Minister Theresa May has promised she will —but hasn’t said what she’ll do with this control once she has it. Many Brexit supporters are hoping for a severely restrictive system. This would be a mistake, and May ought to say so. Liberal ...

  An allocation of AED5 billion in contracts to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) announced by Dubai Expo 2020 manifests the importance that the UAE gives to the sector. The recent federal bankruptcy law is also aimed at boosting investment by SMEs to vitalize the country’s business landscape. Today, the segment is contributing 60% to the GDP of the UAE ...