Bloomberg Sales of new US homes cooled in April from an 11-year high amid a surge in prices, adding to signs of softness in housing at the start of the quarter. Single-family home sales fell 6.9 percent to a 673,000 annualised pace, close to economist estimates following an upwardly revised March reading of 723,000, government data showed. The median sales ...

Bloomberg Sweden’s unemployment rate fell to a 14-month low in April, providing surprisingly favourable data for the central bank as it seeks to increase interest rates amid slowing economic growth. The seasonally adjusted rate came in at 5.9 percent, down from a 17-month high of 6.7 percent in March. Economists polled by Bloomberg had expected a rate of 6.5 percent. ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump said he wasn’t bothered by recent North Korean ballistic missile tests his national security adviser labeled a violation of UN resolutions, adding that sanctions on the country give him time to reach a disarmament deal with Kim Jong-un. Trump said he believes the North Korean leader wants to build up his country’s economy, and that giving ...

Bloomberg US President Donald Trump met families of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea, pledging to help solve an emotive decades-old issue that has been a major policy concern of PM Shinzo Abe’s government. After a meeting focused on trade and security in Tokyo, Trump and Abe met relatives of those taken captive, with Trump saying the two men were ...

Bloomberg Brexit upended Britain’s established political order in European Parliament elections, with both the ruling Conservatives and the main opposition Labour Party scoring their worst results in decades. Voters backed politicians with clear pro- and anti-European Union agendas, fuelling demands for a second referendum on one side of the divisive national debate, and a hard, no-deal split from the EU ...

Bloomberg Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz is on track to be ousted on Monday after his erstwhile coalition partners in the nationalist Freedom Party lined up behind a motion to dismiss him. The Freedom Party’s acting chairman, Norbert Hofer, told public broadcaster ORF that his group “will probably support” the no-confidence vote against Kurz and his cabinet that was expected to ...

Bloomberg Chancellor Angela Merkel’s junior coalition partner vowed to shake things up in the government but stopped short of threatening to immediately pull out of the alliance after Germany’s Social Democrats suffered a double blow at the polls. SPD leaders pleaded for patience as they analyse the results of the elections, which saw them drop to third behind the Greens ...

Fossil fuel never had a better friend in the White House than Donald Trump. So why, two years into his presidency, are investors favouring public companies devoted to renewable energy and giving the Bronx cheer to the coal, gas and oil crowd? Trump campaigned against the scientific consensus on climate change and promised to repeal any regulation that impeded the ...

The impact of the US-China trade spat is no longer limited to just the two countries. The Trump administration’s latest move – seeking to limit access to American suppliers for the Chinese telecom manufacturer Huawei Technologies Co. – may force many businesses worldwide to reconsider their own dependence on supply chains that go through China, and consumers their reliance on ...

It seems every major carmaker these days is thinking about electric vehicles in some capacity. At one of the world’s largest auto shows in Shanghai this year, several manufacturers boasted their snazzy concept cars and talked up imminent launches. Electric-vehicle sales are rising fast, and battery installation is climbing — largely thanks to China, where battery demand rose more than ...