Goldman Sachs defies Mexican Peso bears

  Bloomberg Against the most ‘Trumpian’ of odds, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is defying bearish bets and predicting Mexico’s peso will make a comeback this year. The worst performer among the world’s 16 major currencies so far in 2017 will rally 13 percent to 19 per dollar over the next 12 months on the view that the protectionist impact of ...

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JPMorgan profit beats as loan quality, bond trading improve

  Bloomberg JPMorgan Chase & Co. said fourth-quarter profit rose 24 percent as the biggest U.S. bank set aside less money for bad loans and bond-trading revenue increased more than analysts estimated. Earnings benefited from better credit quality among U.S. consumers and corporations, allowing the bank to pull about $400 million from bad-loan reserves in the mortgage, energy and metals ...

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Carmakers in Washington’s crosshairs

  Bloomberg This is so much more than a parting shot. With a week to go before Donald Trump becomes president, the Obama administration has unleashed a final, multiprong effort on enforcement and regulation in the automotive industry, with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV now at the fore. On Friday alone, the US Environmental Protection Agency rejected automakers’ bid to weaken ...

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Detroit bets you’ll get sick of SUVs

  Bloomberg The auto show in Detroit this week is stuffed with cars. Not 6,000-pound SUVs or spacecraft-hauling pickup trucks, but regular old sedans and coupes—spinning on the industry’s greatest stage like so many boring vanilla cakes. Of the 20 or so new models unveiled at the North American International Auto Show, about half were low to the ground. Granted, ...

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Saving Rwanda’s ‘gentle giants’!

  Frankfurt / DPA It’s too soon to sound the all clear, but international conservation organizations have recorded a modest rise in the number of mountain gorillas in the volcanic mountains of central Africa. Estimates put the number in Congo, Rwanda and Uganda at 800. This means that they are still highly endangered, but the population has risen from just ...

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This ‘living library’ shares true life stories

  Cologne / DPA Dietmar is one of the bestsellers today. The youths listen spellbound as he tells them how 35 years ago he robbed a bank — because he needed money so he could marry his girlfriend. He almost got away with it, escaping for a whole year before he was arrested, charged and sentenced to four years in ...

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Bone-chilling winter causes energy scramble in Europe

  Bloomberg From the rivers criss-crossing eastern Europe to the Mediterranean ports of Greece and France, everyone is hunting for energy supplies. Blizzards, gale force winds, arctic temperatures and river ice thicker than a house has left the stewards of the European energy business frenzied. Prices of natural gas, primarily a heating fuel, has soared to the highest in more ...

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OPEC chief confident in commitment for output cut deal

  Reuters OPEC’s Secretary-General has confidence in the commitment of oil producers who agreed to an output cut deal last month to ease a global glut that has depressed crude prices and hurt exporting countries’ revenues. Under the accord, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia and other non-members of the producer group will curtail oil output by ...

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‘Coal curbs in Asia could save 50,000 lives annually’

  Bloomberg About 50,000 lives a year could be saved by 2030 if no new coal-fired power plants are built in Southeast Asia, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, according to a study from researchers at Harvard University and Greenpeace International. If coal plants currently planned or under construction in the region are actually built, some 70,000 deaths could result annually, ...

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Oil caps worst week since November 2016

  Bloomberg Oil posted the biggest weekly decline since November as traders await proof that OPEC and other producers are following through on promises to cut production. Futures declined 1.2 percent in New York on Friday and slid 3 percent this week. Saudi Arabia reduced output to less than 10 million barrels a day and will consider renewing its pledge ...

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