April, 2016

• 3 April

  UK says govt contracts must consider local steel firms

  

  London / Reuters Britain said on Sunday that UK steel producers must be considered for infrastructure and other government contracts involving steel supplies, as part of plans to find a long-term solution to a crisis in the industry. The government is looking for ways to support domestic steel producers after India’s Tata Steel put its loss-making British plant up for ...

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• 3 April

  ‘Brief nationalization’ of Tata UK biz, hints Javid

  

  Bloomberg Business Secretary Sajid Javid declined to rule out a temporary nationalization of Tata Steel’s U.K. operations, while reiterating the government would prefer not to do so. “I don’t think nationalization is a solution for this,” Javid told BBC Television’s “Andrew Marr Show” on Sunday. “I also think it wouldn’t be prudent to rule anything out.” The British government is ...

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• 3 April

  Port Talbot closure would tear hole in Brit manufacturing supply chain

  

  Port Talbot, Wales / Reuters The closure of Tata Steel’s operations in Britain would leave a hole in manufacturers’ supply chains, dealing a blow to thousands of smaller firms across the country and creating a logistical headache for the car industry. India’s Tata Steel, Britain’s biggest producer, put all of its operations up for sale, including the country’s largest steelworks ...

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• 3 April

  Romania’s biggest power producer to exit insolvency ‘latest by May’

  

  Bucharest / Reuters Romanian state-owned power producer Hidroelectrica expects to finally exit its insolvency process by next month, and aims to sell a minority stake in an initial public offering by November, its manager told Reuters on Sunday. Romania’s largest and cheapest power producer has been run by a court-appointed manager after it became insolvent for the second time in ...

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• 3 April

  Norway central bank chief Olsen will seek a 2nd term

  

  Oslo / Reuters The governor of the Norwegian central bank will apply for a second, and final, six-year term, he told Reuters. “I am motivated to continue as governor, and can confirm that I will apply,” Olsen said. Oeystein Olsen Olsen, 64, has been governor of Norges Bank since January 2011. His six-year term can only be renewed once. By ...

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• 3 April

  US auto sales fall short as pace drops to slowest in 13 months

  

  Bloomberg For the past couple of years, automakers have helped keep the economy going as confident consumers raced to replace their aging rides with more luxurious cars and sport utility vehicles. That torrid growth is starting to level off. All three U.S. automakers posted sales gains that missed analysts’ estimates in March, while Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp. reported a surprise ...

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• 3 April

  Trump sees country headed for ‘very massive recession’

  

  Bloomberg Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says the U.S. is headed for a “very massive recession” and that’s it’s a “terrible time right now” to invest in the stock market, according to an interview with the Washington Post. Unemployment is much higher than official figures suggest, Trump said in the interview conducted on Thursday and published on Saturday. His comments ...

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• 3 April

  Volkswagen reassures dealers on growth plans for US market

  

  Bloomberg Volkswagen AG told its dealers that the automaker is still committed to a mass-market strategy in the U.S. and has doubled production of an all-wheel-drive station wagon to challenge the Japanese automaker Subaru beginning the fourth quarter of 2016. Herbert Diess, global head of the Volkswagen brand, and Hinrich Woebcken, interim chief executive of the company’s U.S. sales unit, ...

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• 3 April

  Argentina raises gas prices in bid to close bulging deficit

  Bloomberg Argentina raised prices for natural gas that should save the government $4 billion a year as part of its drive to cut subsidies that were the main cause of the largest fiscal deficit in almost two decades last year. Government-controlled gas prices for residents, businesses, transport and power plants were raised, according to a resolution published in the Official ...

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• 3 April

  Industrial data shows Brazil slump deepening

  

  AFP The latest data on Brazil’s industrial production showed deepening recession in Latin America’s biggest economy, though its trade surplus grew and the currency is rising on prospects of a new government. Industrial output shrank nine percent over the 12 months leading up to February, government statistics showed, with the car-making, machinery and electronic sectors hit the hardest. The slide ...

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