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Bloomberg China’s army of commodities investors has racked up an unprecedented volume of bets on steel futures, raising the prospect of a sharp retreat if market conditions weaken. Open interest on the Shanghai Futures Exchange’s steel reinforcement bar contract surged to a record 2.82 million lots, according to bourse data, with each lot representing 10 metric tons of metal. That’s ...

Bloomberg Xiaomi Corp. has acquired a swathe of patents from Nokia Oyj, making its latest acquisition of technology to drive a global expansion. The Chinese smartphone maker is getting its hands on a trove of intellectual property from the Finnish company that once led the world in phone sales before Apple Inc. ushered in the smartphone era. The deal expands ...

Bloomberg BT Group Plc was accused of dragging its feet for years as competitors using its network demanded the former UK phone monopoly run more fiber-optic lines to homes and businesses. Now BT’s wholesale division has seen the benefits of installing the faster connections, and is trying to coax its rivals into helping out. Under a regulatory compromise reached in ...

Bloomberg Britain’s dominant services sector expanded the least in four months in June, adding to evidence that the economy is weakening as Brexit negotiations start in earnest. IHS Markit’s Purchasing Managers Index fell to 53.4 from 53.8 in May, IHS Markit said in London on Wednesday. Economists in a Bloomberg News survey had predicted a reading of 53.5, above the ...

Bloomberg Ericsson AB Chairman Leif Johansson agreed to step down next year after seven years in the job, completing an overhaul of top management at the embattled Swedish network company. The time is right for Johansson to leave since Chief Executive Officer Borje Ekholm took over in January, the chairman said in a statement on Wednesday. Activist investor Cevian Capital ...

Bloomberg One of the world’s hottest housing markets is now cooling fast, sparking concern that a bubble is bursting after the rapid price increases over the past years. Average nationwide house prices fell seasonally adjusted 0.7 percent in June, declining for a second month, Real Estate Norway, Eiendomsverdi and Finn.no said on Wednesday in Oslo. Annual nationwide gains slowed to ...

Bloomberg Worldpay Group Plc, UK payment-processing firm that listed in London 2 years ago, said it has received preliminary takeover approaches from Vantiv Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. Worldpay shares surged as much as 26 percent and were up 21.6 percent at 12:10 p.m. in London to 389.4 pence, giving the former payment-processing division of Royal Bank of Scotland ...

Bloomberg The United Nations Security Council was to hold an emergency meeting later Wednesday after the US confirmed North Korea’s rocket launch on July 4 was its first intercontinental ballistic missile. As North Korean leader Kim Jong Un bragged about sending more “gifts” to US President Donald Trump, South Korea and the US announced on Wednesday they had conducted a ...

Bloomberg Hamburg police skirmished with protesters ahead of this week’s Group of 20 summit, days before world leaders gather for the meeting hosted by Chancellor Angela Merkel. Police unleashed water cannon on demonstrators in Hamburg’s St. Pauli district late Monday after activists had set up camps for people gearing up to protest the G-20 meeting on Friday and Saturday, according ...

Bloomberg Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid criticized politicians who pursue divisive political campaigns and disregard facts, setting the tone a day before she meets US President Donald Trump. Leaders who win office with the help of “post-truth” campaigns but can’t deliver on their promises will see their governments fail, Kaljulaid told a conference in the Latvian capital, Riga, Wednesday. From there, ...