Bloomberg The European Central Bank Executive Board received a complaint from the institution’s staff council last month, alleging that the appointment of its new Brussels representative looks like an act of favoritism. Employee representatives penned their letter after Stephane Rottier was chosen to lead the ECB’s office in the city that hosts most European Union institutions. The position was ...

  Bloomberg Nedbank Group Ltd., the South African lender controlled by Old Mutual Plc, headed for the highest level in eight months after first-half profit rose, beating analyst estimates that had predicted a decline. The shares jumped as much as 7.5 percent on Monday before paring gains, leading returns on the seven-member FTSE/JSE Africa Banks Index. First-half earnings per share ...

  Bloomberg You can now add the rates strategy team at Deutsche Bank AG to the growing list of Wall Street analysts who reckon the U.S. economy is probably ensnared in secular stagnation. In a research note published on Friday, Deutsche Bank strategists, led by Dominic Konstam, say the Federal Reserve risks a “big policy error” if it hikes interest ...

  Bloomberg For Europe’s higher-yielding bonds, a political stalemate in Spain and lingering concerns about Italian banks are proving to be no impediment as investors count on support from an acceleration in buying by the European Central Bank and loose monetary policy globally. Spain’s 10-year bond yields fell to a record low and approached 1 percent even with the country ...

  Washington / AFP A hot air balloon that went down in a fiery crash in a Texas pasture, killing all 16 people on board, likely struck a power line, an investigator said on Sunday. “There’s physical evidence to indicate the balloon or some component of the balloon hit the wires themselves,” US National Transportation Safety Board official Robert Sumwalt ...

  Bloomberg As many airlines across Asia join a rush to expand their fleets by ordering hundreds of jets, China’s top budget carrier is putting a pause to its new plane orders and said it will instead focus on operations. After signing an agreement in December with Airbus Group SE for 60 A320 aircraft, Spring Airlines Co. said it has ...

  Bloomberg A startup online lending marketplace began offering retail investors access to individual corporate bonds for as little as 100 pounds ($132) on Monday. WiseAlpha said its online platform provides potential annual yields of 5 percent to 8 percent and is a “compelling alternative” to low-yielding savings accounts, the stock market or peer-to-peer lending, according a statement. The average ...

  Bloomberg Just before the stores open in Tokyo’s Akihabara electronics district, buses pull up, unleashing Chinese tourists and their credit cards to snap up televisions, rice cookers and other gadgets. Walk into any department store and there they are, buying mascara, t-shirts and other merchandise. China’s infatuation with Japanese products is now discovering a new source of satisfaction: the ...

  Bloomberg At a quarry in Bridgeport, Texas, where rock is crushed, sorted and cleaned, it’s hard to tell that the nation’s construction boom may be hitting a wall. Workers maneuver front-end loaders to fill a long line of rail cars and trucks with up to 25 tons of washed stone each. The destination: one of many construction projects that ...

  Bloomberg Hong Kong’s secondary property prices rose in the second quarter, marking a pause in a correction that analysts said may resume amid higher supply and weaker demand. Secondary property prices advanced 1.6 percent in the three months ended June 30, compared with a drop of 4.8 percent in the prior three months, according to figures released Friday by ...