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Bloomberg BP Plc has emerged as the front-runner to buy BHP Billiton Ltd.’s onshore oil and gas operations in the US, acco- rding to a person familiar with the matter. The London-based oil major has made the highest offer for the assets, which BHP prefers selling in a single package, said the person, who asked to not be identified because ...

Bloomberg Trump or no Trump, the European Union (EU) is set to spur businesses to do more to meet the Paris climate accord goals. Taking a long view and encouraging companies to front-load actions to cap future costs will be among the thrusts of the climate push for the bloc’s executive suites. In its longer-term strategy to be presented in ...

Bloomberg American oil producers may find a new friend in India as they brace for a trade war with China that could curb US shipments. Refiners in China were the top buyers of American crude oil in May, and have been regular importers since the US revived domestic output and exports in recent years. But sales may slow amid a ...

Bloomberg Escalating trade conflict between the US and China has sent industrial metals to oversold territory. Invesco Ltd.’s Jason Bloom is counting on President Donald Trump’s playbook to reverse those losses. Bloom isn’t alone. Citigroup Inc. metal analyst Max Layton is optimistic that the standoff could end within months. Economists at ING Bank are hopeful Trump’s rhetoric will calm down ...

Bloomberg It’s not just Theresa May who’s worried about being toppled. Pound investors say the threat of Conservative party turmoil is one more reason to avoid the UK currency. Amid reports that the British Prime Minister faces ministerial resignations if she fails to achieve a solution to a Brexit deadlock, strategists warn sterling could fall as low as $1.25 if ...

Bloomberg Mexico’s next president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, plans to fight tax evasion and boost revenue by clamping down on companies that take advantage of special rules for cooperatives to avoid paying tax, according to his pick for finance minister. The next government will put an end to use of cooperatives by “unscrupulous people” to evade tax, Carlos Urzua told ...

Bloomberg The US agency that administers Obamacare is freezing payments to insurers that cover sicker patients, saying a federal court ruling ties its hands. The move brought a sharp response from health insurers warning of market disruptions and higher costs. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said that the February action by the trial court in New Mexico “prevents ...

The answer to one of Mario Draghi’s problems lies in a dusty corner of a basement gym. Though the European Central Bank is ending new net bond purchases through quantitative easing, its sti-mulus packages are still very much under discussion. One issue concerns the maturities it will target when it reinvests its substantial slug of maturing debt and coupon payments ...

Investors appear to be losing faith in an economy that does not yet appear to be losing steam. For the first time since late 2015, cyclical stocks are all of a sudden the market’s biggest losers. The Vanda Cyclicals-Defensives US in-dex, which as the name suggests measures the relative performance of cyclical stocks against defensive ones, is down 7 percent ...

A sledgehammer to swat a fly. That’s how OCBC Investment Research is describing the unexpected curbs on Singapore’s property market announced. While the imposition of additional buyers’ stamp duties and tighter loan-to-value norms on home lending so early in the cycle does indeed smack of overkill (especially after a less than 10 percent recovery in residential prices following a long ...