April, 2018

• 17 April

  India to receive normal monsoon in boost for Modi

  

  Bloomberg India’s southwest monsoon, which waters more than half of the country’s farmland and is crucial for growth in Asia’s third-largest economy, is expected to be normal this year. Annual rain between June and September is likely to be 97 percent of a 50-year average, the India Meteorological Department said. The forecast has a margin of error of 5 percent, ...

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• 17 April

  Kraken exchange pulls out of Japan

  Bloomberg Kraken, one of the world’s longest-operating cryptocurrency exchanges, will end its trading services for Japanese residents. The San Francisco-based company cited the rising costs of doing business in Japan for its decision, though it said it may re-enter the country in the future. It tentatively plans to cease all its services, which began in October 2014, by the end ...

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• 17 April

  UK businesses reject calls for second brexit referendum

  

  Bloomberg The plot to reverse Brexit is missing a key ally: UK business. Companies have been among the most outspoken critics of the split from the European Union, and many have much to lose from the divorce. But as a group of lawmakers tries to engineer a second referendum, business leaders are recoiling. Worse than Brexit is prolonged uncertainty. “Business ...

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• 17 April

  German investor morale tumbles over trade war worries

  

  Bloomberg The euro area’s economic expansion is standing on increasingly shaky ground after reports showed German investor confidence tumbling to its lowest level since late 2012 and the risk of a recession in the nation jumping. The sentiment gauge from ZEW showed more investors now see a worsening in Europe’s largest economy than forecast an improvement, a mood swing that ...

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• 17 April

  UK wages rise most since ’15 as end to squeeze nears

  

  Bloomberg UK wages are rising at their fastest pace in almost three years, raising the prospect of an end to the squeeze on living standards. Annual pay growth excluding bonuses accelerated to 2.8 percent in the three months through February, the Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday. Inflation averaged 2.9 percent in the same period and is forecast to ...

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• 17 April

  Sanofi to sell generics arm for $2.4bn

  

  Bloomberg Sanofi plans to sell its European generic-drug unit to buyout firm Advent International Corp. for 1.9 billion euros ($2.4 billion) as part of a broader move by Chief Executive Officer Olivier Brandicourt to focus resources on biotechnology and new medicines. Advent has made a binding and fully financed offer, and the companies are in exclusive negotiations, Paris-based Sanofi said ...

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• 17 April

  US home construction up

  Bloomberg US new-home construction rose by more than forecast in March on a rebound in multifamily starts, giving a boost to first-quarter economic growth, government figures showed on Tuesday. The results show a tight job market, improved finances and consumers’ elevated confidence to purchase big-ticket items are supporting construction. That means homebuilding probably contributed to economic growth for the second ...

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• 17 April

  UnitedHealth profit beats estimates

  

  Reuters UnitedHealth Group Inc on Tuesday posted a quarterly profit that beat Wall Street estimates, fuelled by growth in its core insurance and health-services businesses and raised its earnings forecast for the year. Shares of UnitedHealth rose 1.3 percent to $233.25 in premarket trading. The largest US health insurer has been adding more physicians through a series of acquisitions, helping ...

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• 17 April

  J&J raises full-year sales forecast

  Reuters Johnson & Johnson reported a better-than-expected first-quarter profit on Tuesday and raised its full-year sales forecast, helped by growing demand for its cancer drugs. J&J’s pharmaceuticals sales rose 19.4 percent to $9.84 billion, driven by sales of its cancer drugs such as Darzalex, Imbruvica and Zytiga that rose 45 percent to $2.31 billion in the quarter. J&J raised its ...

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• 17 April

  Draghi’s high-class problem rears its head as ECB views exit

  

  Bloomberg European Central Bank officials are starting to consider a topic President Mario Draghi dismissed as a “high-class problem” — whether to let the economy run hot. Even with recent signs of a slowdown, the euro-zone economy is growing faster than its long-term trend. Allowing that boom to continue even at the cost of higher inflation is arguably one way ...

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