Surging prices, rates test demand in US housing market

Bloomberg Fear of missing out may persuade Americans with an eye on buying a home to hurry their decision before it gets more expensive. But while demand shows few signs of teetering, jumps in both property values and borrowing costs will test the market’s durability. Home sales are now hovering near expansion highs, though momentum has been kept in check ...

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China’s Xi can make or break any deal between Trump, Kim

Bloomberg Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un will meet next month to negotiate a deal that could avert nuclear war. But the ultimate success of any agreement hinges on someone else: China’s President Xi Jinping. As North Korea’s largest trading partner, China’s enforcement of United Nations sanctions helped bring Kim to the negotiating table while also shielding his regime from Trump’s ...

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Maduro wins Venezuelan election, risks oil sanctions

Bloomberg President Nicolas Maduro won another six-year term as millions of Venezuelans boycotted the widely derided election, a victory that hands him sole ownership of the nation’s crushing economic crisis. Ignoring calls from the US and regional leaders to suspend the elections, the socialist regime proceeded with the presidential contest despite the threat of further isolation and sanctions on the ...

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Trump ‘inquiry’ ups stakes in Russia probe

Bloomberg President Donald Trump’s formal demand that the Justice Department investigate possible surveillance of his campaign marks a turning point: It’s the first time he’s using the authority of his office to counter the Russia probe since he fired FBI Director James Comey last year. “I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look ...

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Abramovich faces delay in getting UK visa renewal

Bloomberg Roman Abramovich, the Russian billionaire who owns London’s Chelsea Football Club, is unable to travel to the UK at the moment because of delays renewing his visa, according to people familiar with the situation. Abramovich, who didn’t watch his team win the FA Cup at Wembley Stadium, hasn’t been denied a visa, but renewal is taking longer than usual, ...

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No experience is no drawback for Italy PM candidate

Bloomberg Giuseppe Conte, a 53-year old law professor with no political experience, has emerged as the leading candidate for prime minister in an Italian coalition government. All of Italy’s main newspapers reported on Monday that Conte, who teaches law at Florence University, is the frontrunner. Conte himself posted a picture of John F. Kennedy on his WhatsApp profile over the ...

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Pompeo sets out demands on Iran after Trump kills N-deal

Bloomberg Secretary of State Mike Pompeo demanded Iran halt all uranium enrichment, stop its ballistic-missile programme and give nuclear inspectors access to the entire country, in a speech detailing the US approach now that President Donald Trump has withdrawn from the 2015 nuclear deal. The demands were among 12 “basic requirements” that the US will seek if Iran wants relief ...

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Storage of solar power will be energy’s next big thing

Think the plummeting costs of solar and wind are transforming the energy landscape? Then you should be betting on ways to warehouse that power. To understand why, consider: Unlike almost all their rivals in the energy-generation space, solar panels and wind turbines are mass-produced goods. That means they’re subject to the rules of continual improvement and falling costs that we ...

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Something is rotten at the heart of euro

It’s Groundhog Day again for the euro. It doesn’t really matter whether talks in Italy between the Five Star Movement and the League still include plans to seek a write-off of 250 billion euros ($295 billion) of the nation’s debts and secure an exit mechanism from the euro, as the Huffington Post reported. The fact that these ideas were even ...

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Indonesia is stuck in the fragile five for good reason

Call it full circle. Five years after the 2013 taper tantrum, Indonesia is looking fragile again. This year, foreigners have been selling anything to do with the Southeast Asian nation. The Jakarta Composite Index is down 7.4 percent, making Indonesia, along with the Philippines, one of the worst-performing emerging markets in the region. The rupiah has tumbled 3.6 against the ...

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