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Bloomberg Oil halted its advance after a four-day gain before OPEC meets on Thursday to decide on whether to prolong output cuts by the group and its partners. July futures dropped as much as 1 percent in New York after front-month prices on Monday capped a 4.3 percent increase over four sessions. Iraq backed a proposal to extend production curbs ...

SINGAPORE / Reuters US President Donald Trump’s proposal to sell half of the United States’ strategic oil reserve surprised energy markets on Tuesday since it counters OPEC’s efforts to control supply in order to boost prices. The White House requested in its budget released late on Monday gradually selling off the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) starting in October 2018 ...

BEIJING / Reuters Russia has kept its top spot as oil supplier to China, beating Saudi Arabia for the second month in row, as independent refiners scooped up more volumes before their first batch of quotas expire. Saudi Arabia and Russia, both vying for more market share in China, have said they support an oil cut extension until March 2018 ...

Bloomberg India’s biggest tax reform in history is also set to make its small-to-medium businesses more transparent. On July 1, as India rolls out its landmark national sales tax, businesses that make less than 100 million rupees — which the government refers to as micro, small and medium enterprises — will all have to digitize. The firms, often accused of ...

Bloomberg Japan’s wages may still be falling by some measures, but some analysts are so convinced that the country’s labor shortages are going to impose a cost shake-out for companies and markets that they’ve started making investment recommendations. “The labor shortage is becoming more acute,” with unemployment at just 2.8 percent, Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts including strategist Shusuke ...

Bloomberg Earlier this month SoftBank led a $502 million investment in a London-based virtual reality startup called Improbable Worlds. Less than two years ago, the startup was worth about $100 million. Then SoftBank came along, and suddenly it was worth 10 times that. Overnight, Improbable Worlds had become a unicorn. In the months since Softbank Group Corp. unveiled plans for ...

Bloomberg Short-sellers crowding into Great Wall Motor Co. are being vindicated — and they’re lining up for more. Shares in China’s largest SUV maker have retreated 18 percent from a February peak in Hong Kong as sales of its aging Haval H6 model fell and the company reported a quarterly profit decline. Now bears are doubling down: short interest in ...

Bloomberg Singapore Exchange Ltd. is nearing a deal with the city’s technology regulator to develop a system designed to encourage local startups to list on the bourse, according to people familiar with the matter. Under the agreement, the bourse operator would help pair technology companies with investors with the aim of securing their listing in the city-state, the people said. ...

Bloomberg Microsoft Corp. unveiled a new version of its Surface Pro tablet and laptop combination device with more powerful chips and better battery life, updating an aging product with declining sales that hurt financial results last quarter. The Redmond, Washington-based company introduced the fifth version of the Surface Pro at an event in Shanghai, the first time it’s held the ...

Bloomberg PPG Industries Inc. Chief Executive Officer Michael McGarry is seeking to extend by two weeks a deadline to make a firm bid for Akzo Nobel NV and ruled out raising its latest $29.5 billion offer, the third to be rejected by the Dutch rival. The US paint maker will challenge a June 1 deadline imposed by the Dutch regulator ...