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Bloomberg The Czech central bank will probably raise interest rates for the third occasion in less than a year on Thursday and for the first time since 2013 release a currency outlook that may guide investors on what to expect in further monetary tightening. The Czech National Bank will raise its main interest rate to 0.75 percent from 0.5 percent, …

Bloomberg For a central bank that’s become used to an almost limitless ability to steer markets, Hungary’s rate meeting served as a measure of reckoning, with officials looking to guide their latest round of unconventional easing back on track. Policy makers, who had to scramble to revamp the rules after a swap sale sparked the biggest bond sell-off in more …

Bloomberg Traders in India’s battered bond market want the central bank to play the role of a savior. With the market reeling under the worst selloff in almost two decades, investors say the Reserve Bank of India should consider buying support as well as expand the quota limits for global funds. Absent that, they expect the declines to continue. “To …

Bloomberg ING Groep NV, the biggest Dutch lender, saw expenses increase as a proportion of income last year as Chief Executive Officer Ralph Hamers said the bank increased spending on measures that will help it cut costs further in the future. ING reported a cost-to-income ratio of 59.9 percent in the fourth quarter, a rise from a year earlier and …

Bloomberg The Bank of Japan increased the amount of bonds it offered to buy at a regular operation for the first time since July, helping to bring down yields and weaken the yen. The BOJ sought to buy 330 billion yen ($3 billion) of 3-to-5 year debt, more than the 300 billion yen at the last operation, it said a …

DAMMAM / WAM The Middle East and North Africa (Mena) will need investments of approximately $180 billion to add a capacity at 7.4% annually until 2021, which corresponds to additions of more than 130GW, according to estimates by Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP). ‘‘Governments continue to meet this challenge by expediting new projects and upgrading their infrastructure to meet increasing …

Bloomberg US stocks are on pace for the biggest two-day decline since August, while yields on benchmark government bonds are near April 2014 highs, as caution creeps into markets after one of the best starts to a year in recent history. The S&P 500 Index fell the most in seven weeks and the Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped more than …

Bloomberg Health-care stocks slumped after three companies led by Internet giant Amazon.com Inc. said they plan to collaborate on developing ways to cut the cost of employee health care. Pharmacy-benefit manager Express Scripts Holding Co. fell as much as 11 percent, the most intraday since April, at the open of US trading on Tuesday, while rival CVS Health Corp. dropped …

Bloomberg The US Securities and Exchange Commission obtained a court order freezing the assets of an Texas-based initial coin offering (ICO) that claimed to have raised more than $600 million. The order filed in federal court in Dallas halts AriseBank from raising any additional cash from investors, according to a statement from SEC. The agency alleges Jared Rice, 29, illegally …

Bloomberg The center of gravity in Europe’s natural gas market is heading south as one of the continent’s biggest pipeline operators builds a system that could make Italy an exporter of the fuel for the first time. Fortified with new supplies due from a $5.6 billion pipeline link to the Caspian Sea as well as tankers full of gas in …