Bloomberg Former Foreign Minister Taro Kono’s expected run to succeed outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga may get a boost as one of his most popular rivals for the post plans to step aside, TV Asahi said. Former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba, 64, won’t run for leader of the Liberal Democratic Party and is instead considering throwing his support behind ...

Bloomberg President Jair Bolsonaro has urged Brazilians to come out in force on Tuesday to show their support for his government. It’s shaping up to be an all-or-nothing gauge of his chances of re-election that has Brazil bracing for potential clashes. Brazil’s banking and industry groups have issued calls for calm, as Supreme Court Justice Ricardo Lewandowski wrote a newspaper ...

Bloomberg The green bond market is hotting up again with investors bracing for a potentially record month of sovereign sales. Spain, Colombia and the UK are due to offer their inaugural green bonds this month, with the latter expected to “certainly be the largest” in the world by Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak. That’s in addition to established issuer ...

Bloomberg UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plan to reform health and social care by handing 34 billion pounds ($47 billion) to the National Health Service (NHS) faces resistance from the Treasury, the Sunday Times has reported. Johnson’s cash boost is designed to kick-start a period of policy reforms, including a plan to cap the amount that people have to pay ...

Bloomberg Spain is sticking to its strategy of raising the minimum wage to tackle the growing wealth gap in the country amid the fastest acceleration in inflation in nearly a decade, Economy Minister Nadia Calvino said. “It’s an important instrument to reduce inequality, which has risen in our country in the past years,” Calvino, who also serves as deputy prime ...

Bloomberg Italian Finance Minister Daniele Franco said the country’s economy will expand at least 5.8% this year amid the pandemic recovery, which may allow the government to improve deficit and debt targets. “We are seeing a significant economic recovery,” Franco said at the Ambrosetti Forum in Cernobbio, northern Italy. The new forecast compares with a 4.5% projection announced in April ...

Bloomberg Elections often drive big swings in the foreign-exchange market, with the risk of radical change this year pushing down the Peruvian sol and the Chilean peso. Not so for Canada. There has been little-to-no premium priced into the Canadian dollar — relative to the greenback — due to the last five federal elections, Bipan Rai, the head of foreign-exchange ...

Bloomberg Officials in China’s financial capital of Shanghai are closing a route used for decades by companies operating in the technology sector to draw foreign investment. Startups that have recently applied to Shanghai’s National Development and Reform Commission for permission to inject money into affiliated entities incorporated in places like the Cayman Islands are being turned away, according to people ...

Bloomberg European stocks rise with US equity-index futures as investors bet slower hiring in the world’s largest economy may delay a tapering of Federal Reserve stimulus. Aluminum hit a decade high amid political unrest in Guinea. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index inched closer to its record high, led by technology shares. Contracts on the S&P 500 Index rises 0.2% even ...

Bloomberg Saudi Arabia cut oil prices for sales to Asia next month by more than twice the expected amount. State producer Saudi Aramco is rolling back pricing on all of its grades to its biggest market in Asia. Three successive months of increases in the company’s official selling prices had left refiners smarting as the coronavirus pandemic plays havoc with ...