Reuters Inflation in the euro area slowed for the first time in nearly a year this month, which may reinforce the view among some European Central Bank policy makers that it’s too soon to start unwinding unconventional stimulus. The 1.5 percent rate of price growth in March was down from 2 percent in February and weaker than economists had …

  Bloomberg It’s 2012 again for companies in the UK. The first quarter of this year was the busiest for mergers by volume and the slowest for initial public offerings since the same period in 2012, when Greece’s debt crisis weighed on investors and boards. This time round the UK is the center of attention. British Prime Minister Theresa May …

  Bloomberg WSP Global Inc., the Canadian engineering firm helping to oversee the development of California’s $64 billion high-speed rail line, is looking for more US work through acquisitions. “If we find a transaction that makes sense, we will do it,” said Chief Executive Officer Alexandre L’Heureux. He is especially interested in deals that would bulk up the firm’s US …

  Bloomberg The UK will raise 11.8 billion pounds ($14.7 billion) selling mortgages to Blackstone Group LP funds and Prudential Plc, as it takes another step toward clearing assets acquired from lenders that failed in the financial crisis. “This is a significant milestone,” Ian Hares, chief executive officer of UK Asset Resolution Ltd., the state agency that managed the sale, …

  Bloomberg Some of Washington’s most persistent lobbyists are racking up big wins, as regulators, members of Congress and even President Donald Trump embrace priorities expressed by the biggest communications companies. Broadcasters are near to gaining renewed freedom to grow through mergers, and telephone providers are poised to dodge rate caps. Each step reverses policies from the Obama era. “It’s …

  AP Volkswagen board chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch says he doesn’t expect an internal investigation into the German automaker’s cheating of US diesel emissions standards, which became public in September 2015, to be wrapped up by year’s end. Poetsch, who was quoted in Saturday’s edition of the Frankfurter Allegemine Zeitung newspaper, said that law firm Jones Day has made good …

  Bloomberg German unemployment fell by the most since 2011, pushing joblessness to a record low as Europe’s largest economy powers ahead. The number of people out of work slid by a seasonally adjusted 30,000 to 2.6 million in March, and the rate dropped to 5.8 percent from 5.9 percent, data from the Federal Labor Agency in Nuremberg showed. Economists …

  Bloomberg Turkey’s economy grew at a faster pace than anticipated last quarter as households boosted spending, supporting activity following the failed military coup. Gross domestic product expanded 3.5 percent in the October-to-December period, faster than all estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists, which saw an expansion of 1.9 percent. Seasonally adjusted output rose 3.8 percent from the previous …

  Bloomberg Mexico’s existing oil reserves are dwindling so fast the country could go dry within nine years without new discoveries. That’s the message from the National Hydrocarbons Commission, which said that the reserves fell 10.6 percent to 9.16 billion barrels in 2016, from 10.24 billion barrels a year earlier. Once the world’s third largest crude producer, Mexico’s proven reserves …

  Bloomberg Oil capped its biggest weekly increase this year amid speculation OPEC will extend its deal to curb output and ease a global glut. Futures advanced 5.5 percent in New York this week, climbing back above $50 a barrel after Kuwait Oil Minister Issam Almarzooq reiterated support for prolonging a six-month deal to trim supply past June. The market …