After a messy selection process, the European Union’s finance ministers have picked Kristalina Georgieva as their candidate to lead the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Bulgarian economist, currently chief executive of the World Bank, has suitable credentials but it would be wrong of the IMF board to rubber stamp her nomination just because a European has always held the post. ...

Cuban socialism has survived the collapse of the Soviet Union. So however much pain the Trump administration means to exact upon the island economy through a new bout of sanctions, the imminent demise of the autocrats in Havana seems unlikely. No doubt, the recent US-imposed measures, including a ban on cruises, restrictions on remittances and a green light for aggrieved ...

To call it brazen would be an understatement. A year ago, the European Commission fined Google parent Alphabet Inc. 4.3 billion euros ($4.8 billion) and ordered it to stop making its search engine the default on Android-powered smartphones. The tech behemoth presented its remedy: it will ask other search engines to pay for the privilege. When setting up their handsets, ...

Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish clim-ate activist, recently ann- ounced that she will cross the Atlantic Ocean by boat to attend a United Nations global warming summit in New York. She does not believe in flying in airplanes, for the obvious reason that air travel is a contributor to the carbon emissions problem. I am here with a simple message: ...

Bloomberg US equity futures rose alongside European stocks while Asian shares fell after China moved to stabilise its currency, helping ease some of the market turmoil that kicked off the week. The global sell-off in equities abated after China fixed its yuan exchange rate at stronger than 7 per dollar, a key level that when breached in markets fuelled the ...

Bloomberg Indian stocks rose after Credit Suisse AG upgraded the nation to overweight amid an escalating US-China trade war, while the government sought to cement its position by revoking seven decades of autonomy in the disputed Muslim-majority state of Kashmir. The S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.8 percent, its biggest increase in a month, to 36,976.85 at the close in Mumbai. ...

Bloomberg European banks lobbying for special treatment on new capital rules are in for a disappointment. The European Banking Authority (EBA) said the bloc should stick closely to what was agreed at a global level when it implements new regulations in the region, according to a report. It specifically rebuffed suggestions from banks on how to tailor the rules to ...

Bloomberg The Swiss National Bank’s (SNB) holdings of US stocks touched a record $92.7 billion in the second quarter, benefiting from a rise in equity markets. The SNB’s US regulatory filing is one of the few glimpses into its vast investment portfolio, amassed as a consequence of its interventions to weaken the franc. It revealed stakes in 2,554 US companies, ...

Bloomberg Wells Fargo & Co. is getting into the burgeoning esports market, joining a funding round for Matcherino Inc., a provider of software and services for running competitive video-gaming tournaments. Wells Fargo Strategic Capital and technology investment firm Galaxy Digital are putting in $1.5mn for an undisclosed percentage of Matcherino, bringing the startup’s current funding round to more than $4.1mn, ...

Bloomberg India’s central bank is poised to deliver its fourth successive quarter-point interest rate cut on Wednesday, amid calls from investors and the government for further easing as a slowdown gripping the economy becomes more pervasive. The Reserve Bank of India will lower the benchmark repurchase rate by 25 basis points to 5.5%, according to almost all of the 36 ...