Bloomberg Sweden’s speaker of parliament gave Alliance opposition leader Ulf Kristersson the first attempt at forming a government to break the deadlock after last month’s inconclusive election. Kristersson will be given two weeks to gather support to become prime minister, Andreas Norlen, the speaker, said at a press conference in Stockholm. The situation needs to be “softened” and giving one ...

Bloomberg French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb quit late Tuesday, the second major minister to leave President Emmanuel Macron’s government in three months. Collomb, 71, had already announced he’d step down to return to local politics in his hometown of Lyon, though he’d originally indicated he’d stay in his post until next year. Collomb follows Nicolas Hulot, a popular television presenter ...

Bloomberg SoftBank Corp. has pledged to provide free solar power from its projects in International Solar Alliance (ISA) countries after the developments recoup their initial investments. Chief Executive Officer Masayoshi Son told a conference on Wednesday in New Delhi that power from the projects will be free after the end of the initial 25-year power purchase agreements. The expected life of ...

Bloomberg Oil steadied near the highest level in almost four years as fears of a supply crunch outweighed expectations for an increase in American crude inventories. Futures were trading around $75.50 a barrel in New York, up around 0.4 percent. Supply losses from Iran to Venezuela continued to rattle markets, boosting volatility and driving prices higher. The ongoing outlook for ...

Bloomberg Saudi International Petrochemical Co. signed a non-binding agreement to acquire Sahara Petrochemical Co. in an all-share deal valued at just over $2 billion. Saudi International Petrochemical Co., or Sipchem, will issue each Sahara shareholder with 0.8356 new Sipchem shares, the companies said in statements on Wednesday. The deal is valued at about $2.2 billion, according to Tuesday’s closing price. ...

Bloomberg Indonesia is weighing proposals to cut the levy on gains from its sovereign bonds and extend tax breaks to exporters who will park their dollar earnings in local banks for a longer period as part of measures to shore up a weakening currency. Lower bond taxes could attract more inflows and help “deepen domestic financial markets,” Robert Pakpahan, director ...

Bloomberg Tencent Music Entertainment Group, the online-music arm of China’s largest social-media company, filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in a continuing surge of US listings by Chinese companies. The music-streaming site listed its offering size as $1 billion in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The amount is a placeholder and may change. Tencent Music ...

Bloomberg China ordered one of its top actresses and her associated companies to pay about 884 million yuan ($129 million) in taxes and fines, capping a months-long tax evasion probe that shook the nation’s blossoming entertainment industry. Fan Bingbing was personally fined about $70 million, with the remainder involving back taxes and fines against companies affiliated with the star, reports ...

Bloomberg Zimbabwe’s cabinet agreed to cut government jobs as part of a program to stabilise the economy, the Information Ministry said. The measures will help Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube reduce a state wage bill that the International Monetary Fund estimates consumes more than 90 percent of government revenue. Ncube is implementing a series of reforms to steady an economy impaired ...

Bloomberg Nothing seems to be helping India’s sovereign bond market. The optimism spurred by the government’s decision to cut its borrowing plan proved fleeting as tax collections failed to meet the target for a fifth straight month. Revenue from the goods and services tax, or GST, totaled 944.4 billion rupees ($12.9 billion) in September, falling short of the 1-trillion rupee ...