Washington / Bloomberg Treasuries are falling behind corporate bonds in a reversal from last year, as the US economy shows signs of improvement and oil prices stabilize following a rout. Investors are willing to accept as little as 216 basis points of extra yield to buy company debt instead of Treasuries, the smallest spread in more than a year, ...

  Berlin / Bloomberg The 1.6 billion-euro ($1.8 billion) Merkur offshore wind project in the German North Sea reached financial close with funding from European and US investors. Switzerland-based Partners Group Holding AG invested 250 million euros for 50 percent of the project, according to a statement on Friday. InfraRed Capital Partners Ltd.’s Infrastructure Fund III committed took a 25 ...

  Bloomberg The ruble advanced the most in emerging markets and the cost of insuring Russian debt against default dropped as calls for an easing of tensions in Crimea allowed investors to focus on the rally in oil. The currency climbed 0.7 percent as Germany said it’s suggesting ways to address a renewed confrontation between Russia and Ukraine. The advance ...

  Bloomberg Speculators are the most bearish on the pound since records began as they await data that will give the clearest picture yet of the effects of Britain’s decision to leave the European Union. Sterling touched a one-month low versus the dollar before reports this week on July inflation, retail sales and jobless claims, which are forecast to show ...

  Bloomberg General Atlantic LLC, the US private equity firm that already invested more than 1 billion reais ($318 million) in Brazil this year, plans to keep buying stakes in companies that “are not cheap” even amid the country’s worst economic crisis in a century. General Atlantic is among the few international buyout funds daring to buy Brazilian firms amid ...

  Melbourne / Bloomberg National Australia Bank (NAB) Ltd.’s third-quarter profit fell 3 percent amid rising expenses for bad debts and provisions for mining and agricultural loans, rounding off the most challenging reporting season for the nation’s lenders in six years. Unaudited cash profit from continuing operations, which excludes one-time items, declined to A$1.6 billion ($1.2 billion) in the three ...

  Tokyo / Bloomberg The Bank of Japan’s controversial march to the top of shareholder rankings in the world’s third-largest equity market is picking up pace. Already a top-five owner of 81 companies in Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average, the BOJ is on course to become the No. 1 shareholder in 55 of those firms by the end of next ...

  LONDON / AP The chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland says the company will move its headquarters out of Scotland if the country votes for independence. RBS said before Scotland’s 2014 independence referendum that it would leave in the event of independence. CEO Ross McEwan says Britain’s June 23 vote to leave the European Union had not changed ...

  Berlin / AP Germany’s Bundesbank said raising the legal retirement age to 69 by 2060 could ease some of the pressure on the country’s state pension system as the population ages. Recent reforms won’t protect citizens from a drop in the level of pension payments from 2050, the central bank said in its monthly report published on Monday. Citizens ...

  Bloomberg The European Union is considering adding to protections for banks’ riskiest debt securities by requiring that lenders pay coupons on such bonds before stock dividends and staff bonuses. Coupons on additional Tier 1 securities, such as contingent convertibles, or CoCos, “should be given priority” if capital levels are breached that trigger limits on payouts, according to an undated ...