Paris / AFP French industrial production dropped for a second straight month in June, statistics bureau Insee said Wednesday, alarming analysts who had been looking for a modest increase. Output fell 0.8 percent in June, after dropping 0.5 percent in May, with oil refining posting the largest single decline after strikes in France’s oil industry. Connor Campbell, an analyst ...

  Sydney / AFP Australia’s biggest lender Commonwealth Bank sounded a cautious note about the country’s economic outlook on Wednesday even as it posted a record Aus$9.23 billion (US$7.08 billion) in annual profit. The Commonwealth Bank’s performance is closely watched for guidance on the health of the Australian economy in the current low interest-rate environment. CBA chief executive Ian Narev ...

  Douala / AFP Four employees of a Cameroon bank have been detained on suspicion of stealing millions of euros, sources said. The four staff members of BICEC, a local subsidiary of French bank BPCE, have been placed in detention in the economic capital Douala after they were arrested, a legal source said on condition of anonymity. The group, which ...

  Bloomberg The Central Bank of Nigeria granted lenders permission to write off any fully provided non-performing loans without waiting for the full year required by regulations, as authorities seek ways to boost lending and avert a recession in Africa’s biggest economy. The decision follows a request by banks for an amendment to the rule that requires lenders to retain ...

  Bloomberg Roger Ferguson’s deal to buy EverBank Financial Corp. shows an eagerness to expand TIAA, the company known for offering retirement products to teachers, while he counters for-profit insurance rivals that retreated from heavily regulated deposit-taking operations. TIAA will pay $2.5 billion in cash for the largest Florida-based lender, adding a platform for providing personal and business loans, Ferguson ...

  Europe’s banks have had a rough year: Their stock prices have fallen so low that some observers wonder whether they are viable in their current form. Yet the most commonly proposed solution — a true banking union — is also deeply flawed. The euro area’s banking system faces numerous difficulties. These include economic growth that seems to be permanently ...

  Tara Lachapelle On Sunday evening, John Oliver bemoaned the struggle of the newspaper industry. On Monday evening, News Corp. embodied it. The $7.5 billion publishing company controlled by billionaire Rupert Murdoch reported fourth-quarter results that drew a dull response from investors. While total company revenue beat estimates, advertising sales fell 5 percent and profit was below expectations. The stock ...

  Bloomberg Oil held declines below $43 a barrel as weekly US industry data showed crude stockpiles expanded, keeping supplies at the highest seasonal level in at least two decades. Futures were little changed in New York after losing 0.6 percent on Tuesday. Inventories rose by 2.09 million barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute was said to report. Government ...

  Bloomberg US electricity consumers could end up paying more than $2.5 billion for nuclear plants that never get built. Utilities including Duke Energy Corp., Dominion Resources Inc. and NextEra Energy Inc. are being allowed by regulators to charge $1.7 billion for reactors that exist only on paper, according to company disclosures and regulatory filings. Duke and Dominion could seek ...

  Bloomberg State Grid Corp. of China’s hopes of buying one of Australia’s biggest electricity distributors may be slipping away amid national security concerns and a protectionist backlash against foreign ownership of critical infrastructure. Government-owned State Grid, the world’s largest utility, and Hong Kong’s Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings Ltd. are vying to buy Ausgrid, which supplies 1.6 million homes in ...