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Bloomberg Crude clung to gains after a larger-than-expected decline in US crude stockpiles heightened the importance of a key OPEC meeting later this week. Futures rose as much as 1.9 percent in New York on Wednesday. American oil inventories plunged by 5.91 million barrels last week, a bigger withdrawal than any of the 12 analysts in a Bloomberg survey expected. ...

Bloomberg Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on another $200 billion of Chinese imports could cut as much as half a percentage point from the nation’s economic growth, according to economists. The warning comes amid signs that the world’s second biggest economy—and biggest contributor to global growth— is already slowing down as a simmering trade dispute with the US risks ...

Bloomberg In the global cotton market, India stands to be a winner amid escalating trade tensions between the US, the world’s top exporter, and China, the biggest buyer. The weak rupee makes India’s exports more appealing, and freight costs to the neighbouring Asian country can be relatively cheap, Keith Brown, the president of Keith Brown & Co., a brokerage in ...

Bloomberg Xiaomi Corp. has set tentative terms for the world’s biggest initial public offering in nearly two years, aiming to raise as much as $6.1 billion in Hong Kong, people with knowledge of the matter said. The Chinese smartphone maker and some existing investors plan to offer 2.18 billion shares at HK$17 to HK$22 apiece, according to the people, who ...

Bloomberg Telstra Corp. plans to cut 8,000 jobs, sell assets and potentially spin off a new infrastructure business in a make-or-break attempt to fend off competition. The stock tumbled. Australia’s former phone monopoly, which has lost more than half its market value since early 2015, said it will almost double its cost-cutting programme. An asset carve-off will raise as much ...

Bloomberg About two years after Blackstone Group LP registered India’s first real estate investment trust, the private equity giant is close to taking it public. Rising interest rates threaten to get in the way. Blackstone and local partner Embassy Group plan to file a prospectus for an initial public offering of the REIT as early as next month, a deal ...

Bloomberg The European Union is on course to hand dozens of UK-based companies a pre-Brexit tax bombshell, according to people familiar with a state-aid probe that could lead to bills exceeding 1 billion pounds ($1.3 billion.) A decision in the European Commission’s investigation into a controversial tax break for UK-based multinationals will be ready later this year, well before Britain’s ...

Bloomberg Volkswagen AG and Ford Motor Co are considering a strategic alliance to work together on a range of commercial vehicles, a move that would enable two of the world’s largest automakers to share the burden of meeting tougher environmental rules. The potential alliance on several projects, including vans and other commercial vehicles, won’t lead to an exchange of equity ...

Bloomberg 21st Century Fox Inc accepted a sweetened, $71.3 billion bid from Walt Disney Co for its entertainment assets, outbidding Comcast Corp in a battle for one of the media industry’s biggest prizes. The $38-a-share price is about $10 a share higher than what Disney offered in December — and $3 above Comcast’s bid from last week. The new agreement ...

Bloomberg Consumer confidence slid for a seventh month in Sweden amid sliding housing prices and a tumbling krona, adding to woes as the largest Nordic economy now also faces a possible trade war. The National Institute of Economic Research’s consumer confidence indicator unexpectedly slid to 96.8 in June, which is the lowest in almost two years. Swedes became more pessimistic ...