Good news in a tumultuous week: Congress is poised to expand a program that will boost aid to poor countries, project American values overseas, balance China’s rising influence, and (not least) offer taxpayers a tidy profit. Here’s hoping that common sense prevails and the idea becomes reality. Last week, as part of a reauthorisation bill, the House passed a measure ...

Japan’s economy is doing well. Unemployment is at multi-decade lows. Capital expenditure is up, as is return on equity. And wages are finally rising. For the longer-term, Japan also looks strong. Contrary to the popular myth that the country suffered multiple lost decades after the bursting of the bubble economy in about 1990, Japan has outperformed many other rich countries ...

Sky Plc’s takeover by Comcast Corp. is set to be one of the biggest acquisitions of a UK company by an overseas buyer. Expect more to follow. No one is bidding for a British target solely because sterling is 12 percent cheaper than just before the Brexit referendum — but the pound’s weakness is only making targets more digestible. The ...

A textile-yarn company in western Indian soon will have more machines than workers. A manufacturer in southern India sold almost double the number of its automated goods last year. India’s biggest carmaker has one robot for every four plant employees. Automation will double over the next three years in Indian factories, according to a survey by Willis Towers Watson. Companies ...

Bloomberg September was the month when long-running failures to stop money-laundering came back to bite some of Europe’s largest banks. Regulators from Switzerland to the Nordic region and Germany reprimanded institutions for failing to do enough to prevent illicit money flows. While some paid for past misdeeds, others were chastised for continued shortcomings and even had monitors assigned to help ...

Bloomberg For all the European Central Bank’s signalling of an interest-rate “lift-off’’ next year, it might not get very far off the ground. Some investors suspect even modestly higher borrowing costs will unleash a rally in the euro that undermines economic growth and curbs inflation. That could leave the currency bloc trapped with near-zero rates for years to come. Spillovers ...

Bloomberg Lost amid the economic chaos in Venezuela, the bolivar has actually stabilised somewhat. In the six weeks since the initial plunge after the government simultaneously carried out a massive devaluation and redenomination of the currency, it has slid just 19 percent in the black market. That may not constitute stabilisation in most foreign-exchange markets, but in Venezuela, where hyperinflation ...

Bloomberg Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams called for continued gradual rate increases as a strong US economy pushes unemployment close to a half-century low. In his first full policy speech since moving to New York from the San Francisco Fed, Williams downplayed the guiding power of the neutral rate — the one that divides tight and ...

Bloomberg Embraer SA will have the right to block ten crucial matters in the commercial-aircraft joint venture it’s forming with Boeing Co, according to a Memorandum of Understanding between the two companies. The document was made available via the website of the Sao Jose dos Campos Metalworkers Union on Septemebr 21 after the Labor Prosecutor’s Office requested a copy of ...

Bloomberg Societe Nouvelle Air Congo, a state-owned carrier, is in talks with Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China Ltd. to buy three new aircraft as it prepares to begin offering regional flights, a director said. The company, known as SN Air Congo, plans to acquire ARJ21s, Michael Gollo, head of quality, safety and security, said by phone in the Republic of ...