Bloomberg In the Netherlands, once Europe’s largest natural gas supplier, one of the big questions is how to deal with declining production and incre- asing reliance on imports. For hundreds of energy traders, utility executives and analysts gathering in Amsterdam for the Flame Conference, the Netherlands epit- omises the European energy security situation. Whether through pipelines from Russia or northern …

Bloomberg Tesla Inc. is planning to cut the price of its solar panels, and the chief of rival Sunrun Inc. isn’t worried. In fact, Sunrun Chief Executive Officer Lynn Jurich said she thinks it’s great that Tesla gets so much attention. “More attention really raises the boat for everybody,” she said on a call with analysts. “Having Tesla out there …

Bloomberg Canadian National Railway Co. is open to transferring the crude-by-rail contracts that it signed with Alberta to private companies or to striking other arrangements that put its spare shipping capacity to use, Chief Executive Officer Jean-Jacques Ruest said. The company shipped about 125,000 to 150,000 barrels a day last month, but could “easily” ramp that up to 200,000 if …

Bloomberg US new-home construction rose for a second month and topped estimates in April in a sign of positive momentum for the housing sector at the start of the second quarter. Residential starts increased 5.7% to a 1.24 million annualised rate after a 1.7% gain in March that was previously reported as a drop, according to government figures. Permits, a …

Bloomberg US equity futures dropped alongside stocks in Europe as the fallout of White House moves against Chinese telco giant Huawei rippled through the technology industry. Bonds pared an earlier loss while crude oil advanced. Contracts on the Nasdaq 100 led US declines and pointed to a weak opening in New York, while software and chip maker shares helped pull …

Bloomberg China’s stocks traded near their lowest since February, with the damage caused by escalating tensions with the US rout now topping $1.1 trillion. The Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.4% at the close, after earlier losing as much as 1.5%. The gauge is now among the world’s worst-performing national benchmarks this quarter, after beating every other market earlier in the …

Bloomberg Time and again since Japan emerged as a global economic force, its financial leaders have hatched plans to translate their influence into investment-banking clout. Time and again, they’ve failed. The retreat sounded by Nomura Holdings Inc. last month marks just the latest Japanese overseas flop, prompting current and former executives, as well as analysts, to question if they can …

Bloomberg A top Democratic lawmaker questioned whether Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Randal Quarles can be trusted when he says leveraged lending isn’t a current threat to the financial system, pointing to his failure to foresee similar dangers before the credit crisis a decade earlier. Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, at a Banking Committee hearing, quoted a series of recent remarks …

Bloomberg India’s non-bank lenders rose after a newspaper reported that the Reserve Bank of India will offer them a credit line to help the shadow banks tide over a liquidity crisis. Indiabulls Real Estate Ltd., Dewan Housing Finance Corp. and Reliance Home Finance Ltd. traded more than 10% higher in Mumbai. The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex index gained 2.7% after …

Bloomberg Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is in exclusive discussions to buy the B&B Hotels chain from European buyout firm PAI Partners. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of this year, PAI Partners said in a statement on Monday, without providing any financial details. Goldman Sachs is doing the deal through its merchant banking division, according to …