Bloomberg A supply crunch in cocoa that’s boosted prices will last until year-end, when production may rebound in West Africa, according to Sucres et Denrees SA. The worst desert winds in three decades that reduced the quality of cocoa in West Africa means some beans won’t be processed this season, making an expected shortage of 280,000 metric tons appear ...

  Bloomberg Big Internet and software deals are rare. That may change in 2016. Microsoft Corp.’s $26.2 billion deal for LinkedIn Corp. could trigger other large-cap M&A for business software and Internet companies. NetSuite Inc. and Ultimate Software Group Inc. could both be targeted by companies including SAP SE, IBM Corp. and Oracle Corp. that want to strengthen their cloud-computing ...

  Bloomberg The Federal Reserve’s liftoff from near-zero interest rates in December sparked angst over how quickly the central bank would start whittling down its US$2.5 trillion hoard of Treasuries. It turns out that investors in the world’s biggest bond market had little cause for concern. The weaker-than-forecast labour report for May wiped out bets that policy makers would follow ...

  Bloomberg India’s state-run banks will need more capital than promised by the government to boost credit growth as they grapple with bad loans of more than 4.7 trillion rupees (US$70 billion), the head of the nation’s largest lender said. “If you really want credit to speed up and infrastructure financing to take center stage then more capital is required ...

  Bloomberg Croatia’s central bank plans to raise its 2016 growth forecast next month, Governor Boris Vujcic said, acknowledging a faster-than-expected economic expansion that has helped temper the risks of a political crisis threatening to bring down the government. The central bank expects no review to the newest EU member state’s budget this year and fiscal consolidation will continue, said ...

  Bloomberg PPC Ltd is in the final stages of negotiating a 2 billion rand (SU$132 million) bridging guarantee facility, seeking to shore up its balance sheet after a credit-rating cut and warnings of a possible liquidity squeeze. South Africa’s biggest listed cement maker is also working on a plan to raise 3 billion rand to 4 billion rand and ...

  Bloomberg Banks took 2.46 billion pounds (US$3.5 billion) in the first of three extra liquidity operations the Bank of England is holding this month to shore up funding as the UK considers its future in the European Union. Governor Mark Carney is offering the cash — in exchange for collateral — as a precaution to help ensure the smooth ...

  Bloomberg JPMorgan Chase & Co. has joined USA rivals including Bank of America Corp and USA Bancorp in letting customers transfer money between the lenders in real time, challenging ventures including PayPal Holdings Inc’s Venmo. JPMorgan, whose Chase QuickPay product handled US$20 billion in peer-to-peer transfers last year, began offering the service after customers requested it, said Barry Sommers, ...

  Bochum / DPA Instead of a vase with fresh flowers on her dining room table, Shia Su has collected the rubbish of the past few months. In a glass jar are a few bottle caps, receipts and window envelopes – you can’t avoid all rubbish, she says. But the jar is big enough to hold an entire year’s worth ...

  Lisa Abeyta Tribune News Service As an entrepreneur, one of our primary jobs is to become excellent researchers. The thing about creating something from nothing, about building a business where none existed before, is that there will always be myriad unknowns, so learning how to independently search for answers if a vital skill. Startups don’t come with ready-made worksheets, ...