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  WONSAN / AP The bright red slogans hang from buses, government buildings and even some restaurants and gas stations, urging North Koreans to work harder to make the country’s 200-day “speed campaign” a success. “Have you carried out the plan for today?” one poster asks. It’s the second such drive this year, and while outside economists doubt their effectiveness, ...

  BLOOMBERG Stocks gained with U.S. equity-index futures and the pound strengthened to its highest level this year as the U.K.’s referendum on membership of the European Union got under way. European shares rose to a three-week high in above-average trading amid a vote that past opinion polls indicated was too close to call. A gauge of sterling advanced for ...

  Bloomberg The best start to a year for commodities since 2008 is leaving copper in the dust. The metal is one of the weakest of the 22 raw materials in the Bloomberg Commodity Index of returns this year and the worst of the major metals. “If you look at where iron ore, coking coal or oil have gone this ...

  Bloomberg In the one-time engine room of Australia’s resources bonanza, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s election pledge of creating jobs and growth is ringing hollow for many voters. An economic downturn in Western Australia and claims the Liberal state government squandered the proceeds of the mining boom are a fillip for the opposition Labor party ahead of the July 2 ...

  Bloomberg U.S. home prices rose 5.9 percent in April from a year earlier as job growth spurred competition for a limited number of listings. Prices climbed 0.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from March, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said in a report on from Washington. The average estimate of 20 economists was for a 0.6 percent gain, ...

  Bloomberg Merlin Properties Socimi SA and Metrovacesa SA agreed to combine their commercial and residential property businesses, creating Spain’s largest real estate investment trust. Merlin shares rose the most in five months. Merlin will pay €1.7 billion ($1.9 billion) in stock to the banks that own Metrovacesa and get a controlling stake in the combined firms’ commercial-property portfolio, issuing ...

  Bloomberg A popular narrative of the U.S. housing market has been that big city prices are locking out young buyers, feeding a cycle in which a growing number of people are forced to rent at ever higher rates as demand overwhelms supply. Throw in the fact that wages haven’t kept pace, and you have a world where a wide ...

  Bloomberg The European Central Bank reinstated a waiver on Greek debt, allowing the nation’s banks more access to cheaper refinancing lines but stopping short of including such bonds in quantitative easing for now. The ECB “decided to reinstate the waiver affecting the eligibility of marketable debt instruments issued or fully guaranteed by the Hellenic Republic,” the institution said in ...

  Bloomberg Growth in the euro area’s private sector slowed more than economists predicted in June, with firms expressing concerns about uncertainty ahead of the U.K.’s vote on its European Union membership. A Purchasing Managers’ Index for manufacturing and services fell to 52.8 from 53.1 in May, London-based Markit Economics said on Thursday. The decline to the lowest level since ...

  Bloomberg Germany’s economy is showing little sign that Britain’s referendum on European Union membership is damping investment, according to Markit Economics. A Purchasing Managers’ Index for manufacturing and services was at 54.1 in June after a reading of 54.5 in May, the London-based company said on Thursday. While that’s the lowest in two months, it’s well above the 50 ...