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Bloomberg The pound will tumble to the lowest level since 1985 if the UK leaves the European Union without a deal, a prospect that looks more likely now than six months ago, according to a Bloomberg survey of analysts. There is now a 30 percent chance that Britain will exit the bloc in October without a divorce agreement, the poll …

Bloomberg The Federal Reserve’s decision to stop shrinking its balance sheet means the era of quantitative tightening by major central banks is over less than a year after it started. Net bond purchases by the Fed, European Central Bank and Bank of Japan are now turning positive, according to an analysis of their balance sheets by Bloomberg Economics. That’s just …

Bloomberg US-China trade tensions didn’t stop Standard Chartered Plc from delivering results that beat expectations. Adjusted pretax profit was $2.61 billion in the first half, the bank reported, higher than the company-compiled $2.50 billion estimate. Standard Chartered said it remains confident of a full-year return on tangible equity greater than 10 percent in 2021. “Trade protectionism is bad for the …

Bloomberg Mark Carney won’t be able to play the saviour if the UK leaves the European Union with no deal at the end of October. The Bank of England (BOE) governor said that the institution can’t necessarily deliver a growth-boosting package in the event of Brexit without a transition. In a week when the pound capped its worst monthly performance …

Bloomberg Banca Monte deiPaschi di Siena SpA had another tough quarter for earnings, showing how far the state-rescued Italian lender has to go before it can re-emerge as a private company. Second-quarter net income fell 35 percent to 65.3 million euros ($72 million) from a year earlier hurt by lower income from lending and fees, the Siena-based bank said. Monte …

Bloomberg The building blocks for a sustained rally in emerging-market bonds are in place as their central banks embark on a rate-cutting cycle, according to Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Last month’s easing by South Korea, Indonesia and South Africa is a foretaste of things to come as policy makers step up efforts to bolster growth, said Angus Bell, a senior …

Bloomberg Credit Agricole SA followed competitor SocieteGenerale SA in strengthening its capital buffers, even though slower investment banking activity weighed on second-quarter earnings. Profit at the large clients business that houses the securities unit fell 20 percent after the bank saw a continued drop in margins in a sluggish market. A decline in overall net income was in line with …

Bloomberg Apple Inc generated less than half of its total quarterly revenue from sales of the iPhone for the first time since 2012 — a sign the company is entering life beyond its flagship product. While Apple reported a record $11.5 billion in sales of services in the fiscal third quarter, and demonstrated strong performances from wearables such as the …

Bloomberg A voice software tech developer is suing Amazon.com, saying the e-commerce giant infringed on patents when developing software for the Alexa digital assistant. VB Assets LLC, which owns the rights to some of the technology developed by voice software pioneer VoiceBox Technologies, said in a lawsuit filed in Delaware federal court that Amazon infringed on six of its patents …

Bloomberg BMW AG’s profit fell 20 percent in the second quarter as the company accelerates a rollout of electric vehicles. In Chief Executive Officer Harald Krueger’s final quarter, earnings before interest and taxes declined to 2.2 billion euros ($2.4 billion) from 2.74 billion euros a year earlier. Analysts had expected 2.19 billion euros. After a loss in the first quarter, …