Bloomberg Volkswagen AG responded to criticism from activist investor Chris Hohn with promises to improve profitability and review management pay, seeking to avoid a confrontation as criticism mounts in the wake of the emissions-cheating scandal. The German carmaker agrees with much of the investor’s analysis and is working on a strategy, including financial targets, that will be presented this …

  Bloomberg Brexit campaigners crying out for Mark Carney to stop talking should get their wish granted next week. With just nine days until a pre-European Union referendum purdah period begins, the Bank of England governor has a few hurdles to jump in the fraught political race that’s dominated his agenda. After his most recent comments dragged him further into …

  Bloomberg Petroleo Brasileiro SA, the state-run oil producer at the center of Brazil’s biggest ever corruption scandal, offered record-high interest rates to entice investors to its first international bond sale in a year. Petrobras sold $5 billion five-year notes to yield 8.625 percent and $1.75 billion of 10-year notes to yield 9 percent, according to a person familiar with …

  Bloomberg Brazil’s ethanol producers may get a boost as the government is said to be mulling a higher gasoline tax as it looks to reduce the nation’s widening fiscal deficit. Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles is considering raising the so-called Cide tax on gasoline prices as an alternative to reinstating taxes on financial transactions, Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo …

  Bloomberg Chile’s central bank kept borrowing costs unchanged for the fifth consecutive month as inflation slowed toward the target range, while maintaining its tightening bias. Policy makers, led by central bank President Rodrigo Vergara, left the key rate at 3.5 percent on Tuesday, as forecast by all 20 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The pause in rates comes after two …

  Bloomberg Venezuela is offering oil at the biggest discounts in seven years as the third-largest supplier to U.S. refineries fights to defend its market share from Canadian and Middle Eastern grades. The basket of Venezuelan oil is now more than $12 a barrel cheaper than the benchmark West Texas Intermediate and has averaged a discount of $8.44 this year. …

  Deutsche Bank is undercapitalized and may be facing “insurmountable headwinds,” James Chappell, an analyst with the private bank Berenberg, wrote in a recent note. He’s not just down on Europe’s biggest investment bank, which he thinks should trade at 9 euros ($10.2) per share rather than the current 14.7 euros — he’s irritated with the entire sector, which is …

  John Micklethwait Over the past few days the Brexit referendum has taken a nasty turn, with Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London and a prominent “leaver,” comparing the European Union to Adolf Hitler and complaining about Germany’s growing power in the EU. He should visit Berlin, which I did last week. Far from wanting to rule Europe, Germany’s …

  When Chinese president and Communist Party chief Xi Jinping gave a speech on cybersecurity and information technology last month, international media noted that even as Xi called for greater tolerance of online criticism, censors were restricting Chinese internet users from posting negative comments about his remarks. However, foreign reporters overlooked other important points in the April 19 speech, including …

  BLOOMBERG Financial markets reawakened to the risk of the Federal Reserve expediting interest-rate increases, buoying the dollar while crimping emerging markets and commodities. U.S. stocks were little changed after slumping on Tuesday. The dollar climbed to a seven-week high and Treasuries fell, pushing two-year yields to highest since April, before Wednesday’s release of minutes from the Federal Open Market …