Bloomberg China signalled its openness for business with a raft of deals that’ll give oil majors including Royal Dutch Shell Plc new opportunities to develop fields in partnership with the nation’s biggest offshore explorer. China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) said in Beijing on Tuesday that it had inked oil and gas accords with nine firms. The signing ceremony followed …

Bloomberg SSE Plc and Innogy SE terminated plans to create the UK’s second-biggest utility, the latest sign of pressure on the industry from increasing regulation. SSE’s board decided it wasn’t in the best interest of the company to proceed with the deal to combine its retail business with Innogy’s Npower unit after it emerged last month that more cash would …

Bloomberg The S&P 500 Index climbed from a 14-month low as investor nerves seemed to steady a day after a rout in US stocks. US stock gains were led by technology and health companies. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index pared losses by more than half to trade slightly lower on the day. Treasuries and the Japanese yen advanced amid a …

Bloomberg For foreign-exchange traders, a no-deal Brexit is bound to sink the pound no matter what protections are put in place to mitigate immediate financial risks. As lawmakers hit gridlock over Prime Minister Theresa May’s proposed withdrawal accord, some have suggested Britain could leave the European Union without a divorce deal in hand and take steps to control and contain …

Bloomberg The European Central Bank’s purchase of almost 180 billion euros ($204 billion) of corporate bonds has upended the region’s credit markets, even if some fast-moving indicators are back to pre-intervention levels. Metrics such as spreads and the number of negative-yielding bonds have largely returned to levels seen in early 2016, before the ECB announced plans to start buying corporate …

Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG and 16 other lenders recently tested moving interest-rate swap positions from London to Frankfurt, according to people familiar with the matter, a signal that financial firms are pushing ahead with preparations for no-deal Brexit. The banks made dummy trades on December 3 in the first known dry run of a service that could move trillions of …

Bloomberg Germany’s federal government plans to increase gross borrowing by around 15 percent to 199 billion euros ($226 billion) next year to accommodate refinancing of the nation’s “bad bank” fund that was set up during the height of the financial crisis. The government will sell 156 billion euros in bonds and 43 billion euros in short-term bills, according to the …

Bloomberg Australia’s economy faces a trifecta of risks that could disrupt household spending and the central bank’s outlook for faster economic growth and falling unemployment. In minutes of its last policy meeting for the year, the Reserve Bank (RBA) struck a slightly dovish tone. It noted a “generalised tightening of credit availability” in the economy even as it stuck to …

Bloomberg The Swiss National Bank (SNB) cut its inflation forecast and showed no inclination of moving off its crisis-era settings, citing franc’s strength and mounting global risks. Investor anxiety about Italian politics, trade tensions and Brexit has put upward pressure on the franc in recent months, dragging it further away from its April low against the euro. Highlighting those risks, …

Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc.’s shadow looms large over most US retailers this holiday season, but the online giant could prove to be bright spot for Best Buy Co. Two of the top five best-selling televisions on Amazon are models sold on Best Buy’s new storefront on Amazon, which the companies unveiled over the summer. The TVs come equipped with Amazon’s Fire …