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Bloomberg Confidence among German companies unexpectedly improved in March, providing a glimmer of hope for the European economy. Ifo’s closely-watched index rose to 99.6, beating forecasts for a reading of 98.5, and a gauge of executives’ expectations also rose. The improvement helps to dispel some of the gloom after a survey showed German manufacturing in its deepest slump in more ...

Bloomberg Americans bought 524,000 small, starter pickup trucks last year—about 1,400 a day—but not one of them had removable doors. In a few weeks, that small but noteworthy gap in the market will be filled by the Jeep Gladiator, an all-new rig that represents Fiat-Chrysler’s initial bid to buccaneer its way back into one of the industry’s hottest segments. The ...

Bloomberg AT&T Inc. resolved its contract dispute with Viacom Inc., staving off a blackout that would have kept its millions of pay-TV customers from seeing cable channels such as Nickelodeon and MTV. The deal reached “brings AT&T customers more choice and improved value for Viacom content,” according to a joint statement that provided few other details. The companies’ contract, which ...

Bloomberg Russia urged US President Donald Trump to seize the opportunity to reset relations after Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report found no evidence of collusion between his campaign and the Kremlin. “There’s a chance to renew much in our relations, but the question is whether Trump will take the risk,” Konstantin Kosachyov, chairman of the international relations committee in the ...

Bloomberg China protested the latest transit through the Taiwan Strait by American warships, warning the US not to undermine relations between the two countries. “China has been closely monitoring from start to end the passage by the US warships through the Taiwan Strait,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a regular news briefing in Beijing on Monday. “China has ...

Bloomberg A political party linked to exiled tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra claimed victory in Thailand’s election and said it would seek to form a government, challenging a military-backed group that led in initial vote counts. Pheu Thai led with 138 of 350 constituency seats in an initial tally, followed by the military-backed Palang Pracharath party with 96 seats, according to the ...

Bloomberg India’s main opposition Congress party has promised income support for each poor family who earn less than 12,000 rupees ($174.30) per month as part of its electoral giveaways aimed at wresting power from PM Narendra Modi’s ruling coalition. Describing it as the world’s largest minimum income plan, Congress President Rahul Gandhi said 20 percent of poor families across the ...

Bloomberg Theresa May is inclined to put her Brexit deal to a third vote in Parliament on Tuesday, according to people familiar with the matter. The EU said it’s now prepared to handle the impact of the UK leaving without an agreement, a scenario it described as “increasingly likely.” May was expected to make statement to parliament on Brexit on ...

President Donald Trump’s proposed budget for 2020 is a fairly standard list of conservative priorities. Trump would spend more on military and border security and cut funding for health care, including Medicare and Medicaid, as well as welfare programs such as food stamps. The problem with Trump’s budget isn’t the deficits that it would create. These would be substantial — ...

The European Union’s top antitrust official, Margrethe Vestager, is closing out her term — possibly her last — with a $1.7 billion fine on Alphabet Inc.’s Google. She’d accused the search giant of abusing its market dominance to thwart advertising rivals. It rounds out a hat trick of fines against Google that resulted in clear changes to its business model, ...