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 ...

  Bloomberg The world’s mines and steel plants got so devalued during the commodity slump that some were just given away by owners struggling to cut losses or debt. But there’s at least one metal that’s been attracting a lot of attention. Niobium — named for a Greek goddess who became a symbol of the tragic mourning mother — is ...

  DUBAI / Reuters Foreign funds boosted the Egyptian stock market for a second straight day on Wednesday, exchange data showed, while Gulf bourses lost steam as investors took profits. Cairo’s main index added 1.2 percent following its 1.9 percent jump on Tuesday, taking the bourse’s gains for 2016 to 9.0 percent. Global Telecom Holding, a stock preferred by international ...

  Bloomberg Credit Suisse Group AG is targeting Thai millionaires as part of the firm’s goal to bolster the new money it attracts from wealthy clients in the Asia-Pacific region. The Swiss bank is adding a client-relationship team of six in Bangkok, a total expected to increase to 12 by the end of the year, said Francesco de Ferrari, Credit ...

  Bloomberg Jan Hatzius, the chief economist at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., warned bond investors aren’t prepared for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates. Fed Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart and his San Francisco counterpart John Williams both said that at least two rate increases may be warranted this year as the economy picks up. Their comments echo ...

  Bloomberg Georgia’s new central bank governor said he’ll repair public confidence in the regulator following bruising confrontations with the government, as he indicated that interest rates will continue to fall. The monetary authority “lost some credibility” due to a “quite turbulent 2015” amid clashes between the government and his predecessor over the lari’s exchange rate and plans to strip ...

  Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG investors expressed their frustration with management at the company’s annual meeting a year ago. Weeks later, co-Chief Executive Officer Anshu Jain was gone. Now it’s Chairman Paul Achleitner and Jain’s replacement, John Cryan, who are set to feel the displeasure of shareholders when they gather in Frankfurt on Thursday. With revenue plunging and the need ...

  London / AFP China’s biggest bank ICBC has become the country’s first lender to buy a precious metals vault in Britain, cementing its role as a major player in the gold market. ICBC has bought the London vault, used to store also silver, platinum and palladium, from British bank Barclays, which is exiting the precious metals business as it looks ...

AP Builders ramped up construction of new homes in April, suggesting that the market remains solid despite sluggish economic growth at the beginning of the year. Housing starts climbed 6.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.17 million units, the Commerce Department said. The increase makes up for much of March’s 9.4 percent drop in starts, a decline ...