Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) is buying Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc (ANAC.O) in a $5.2 billion deal to add an eczema gel to its portfolio, a month after the U.S. drug major scrapped plans to buy Allergan Plc (AGN.N). Anacor shares rose 54 percent to $98.60 in premarket tr... More »
KAMPALA Tanzania has removed more than 10,000 “ghost workers” from its public sector payroll after a nationwide audit found their fraud cost the government over $2 million a month, the prime minister’s office has said. Government officials say the payroll audi... More »
U.S. stock index futures were little changed on Monday following a bruising week that left the Dow and the S&P 500 lower for the third straight week. * U.S. stocks fell on Friday as a decline in oil prices added to pressure from consumer companies after gloomy... More »
LONDON Oil prices jumped over 2 percent on Monday to their highest since November 2015 on growing Nigerian oil output disruptions and after long-time bear Goldman Sachs said the market had ended almost two years of oversupply and flipped to a deficit. Brent cr... More »
U.S. bank Goldman Sachs, one of the most bearish forecasters on oil over the past year, on Monday raised its short-term price outlook as it said the market had flipped into a deficit due to production outages in Nigeria and Canada. Goldman, one of the most act... More »
Tomas Berdych has split with coach Daniel Vallverdu days after a humiliating 6-0 6-0 defeat at the Italian Open. The 30-year-old Czech world number eight has suffered a lean year and a crushing defeat by Belgium’s David Goffin in Rome last week proved the last... More »
LONDON Oil rose on Tuesday, driven by supply disruptions in Canada and elsewhere that have knocked out 2.5 million barrels of daily production and temporarily eclipsed concern over high global inventories and a looming surplus of refined products. In spite of ... More »
DAVAO, Philippines The Philippines’ president-elect, rough-talking city mayor Rodrigo Duterte, announced plans on Tuesday for an overhaul of the country’s system of government that would devolve power from “imperial Manila” to long-neglected provinces. Duterte... More »
SINGAPORE Iran has set its June official selling prices (OSPs) for heavier crude grades it sells to Asia at the biggest discounts to Saudi and Iraqi oil since 2007-2008, raising the stakes in its fight to regain market share. This is third time Iran has change... More »
TORONTO Former Canadian radio personality Jian Ghomeshi will not face a second trial for sexual assault but will instead agree to a peace bond, CBC News reported on Monday, citing an unnamed source close to the case. The law firm representing Ghomeshi did not ... More »
Leicester City’s remarkable Premier League triumph after starting the season as 5,000-1 outsiders to win the title made the pages of the press around the world on Tuesday. Leicester clinched the English league title for the first time in their 132-year history... More »
LONDON The yen recovered from a walloping at the end of last week on Monday, with investors focusing on a meeting of the Bank of Japan that many expect to deliver further easing of monetary policy in a bid to halt the currency’s rise. Bets on the yen to streng... More »
SINGAPORE Oil prices dipped on Monday as traders took profits after three weeks of gains and as a jump in the dollar late last week was priced into fuel markets. Front-month Brent crude was trading at $44.80 per barrel at 0710 GMT, down 31 cents from its last ... More »
NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers are expected to hold interest rates steady when they meet this week, but may tweak their description of the economic outlook to reflect more benign conditions, leaving the path open for future rate rises... More »
BEIJING China’s economy expanded a seasonally-adjusted 1.1 percent in the first quarter of 2016 from the fourth quarter of last year, National Bureau of Statistics data showed, the lowest quarterly expansion on record since 2010. The slower-than-expected quart... More »
SINGAPORE Oil prices tumbled on Monday after a meeting by major exporters in Qatar collapsed without an agreement to freeze output, leaving the credibility of the OPEC producer cartel in tatters and the world awash with unwanted fuel. Tensions between Saudi Ar... More »
SYDNEY/SINGAPORE Commodity currencies slumped on Monday while the safe-haven yen soared after major oil producers failed to agree on an output freeze, sending oil prices tumbling anew. The Canadian dollar and its Australian counterpart were both marked more th... More »
NEW YORK The Pulitzer Prizes, established in 1917 with a bequest from trail-blazing publisher Joseph Pulitzer, are marking their 100th year on Monday with the announcement of the winners of what are regarded as the most prestigious awards in American journalis... More »
SINGAPORE Crude prices dipped on Monday as analysts, including Goldman Sachs, poured cold water on the prospects of a planned oil producer meeting successfully reining in global oversupply, although a firm demand outlook checked losses. U.S. crude eased to $39... More »
SYDNEY/TOKYO Demand for the yen showed little signs of abating on Monday, with the currency reaching a fresh 17-month high, prompting the Japanese government to warn that it could take steps to weaken the exchange rate. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga t... More »
SHANGHAI China’s consumer price inflation rose less than expected in March, flattening out after a four-month strengthening trend, but wholesale prices remained stubbornly in deflation. Consumer prices in March rose 2.3 percent, below a median forecast of 2.5 ... More »
A third of Republican voters who support Donald Trump could turn their backs on their party in November’s presidential election if he is denied the nomination in a contested convention, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll. The results are bad news for Trump’s ri... More »
PHNOM PENH Cambodia’s parliament endorsed a new 26-member cabinet on Monday in a rare shuffle of an aging leadership as Prime Minister Hun Sen prepares for a 2018 election set to be his toughest political fight yet. During his three decades in power Hun Sen ha... More »
SINGAPORE Oil prices fell on Monday as the chances of Middle East producers agreeing to curb overproduction appeared to fade, while stubbornly high U.S. output and worries about Asia’s economic outlook also dragged on prices. Iran, returning to global oil mark... More »
TOKYO Making preparations with other governments for a Group of Seven summit next month, Japan has sought to emphasize the role of fiscal spending in countering deepening uncertainty over the global outlook, the Sankei newspaper reported on Monday. Monetary po... More »
CONAKRY/MONROVIA Guinea will soon vaccinate people who have come into contact with more than 500 men who have recovered from Ebola, a senior health official said, the first time it has vaccinated the contacts of survivors. The decision reflects research that i... More »
NEW YORK With U.S. gasoline selling under $2 a gallon, food prices relatively flat and Wall Street bond traders betting on 1.5 percent annual inflation as far the eye can see, it may seem like the wrong time to worry about rising consumer prices. But some voic... More »
TORONTO Canada’s Rogers Communications Inc (RCIb.TO), the primary national broadcaster of National Hockey League games, said on Thursday it will begin selling its top sports channels online without a cable subscription. Taking its cue from services like Netfli... More »
SHANGHAI China stocks gave up early gains as a late afternoon slide in property shares wiped out initial optimism triggered by encouraging industrial profit data released over the weekend. The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzh... More »
TOKYO Oil prices rose on Monday after a three-day break, adding to gains in recent weeks as optimism holds that a production freeze among major producers may be implemented, but volumes were thin as a number of markets remain on holiday for Easter. U.S. crude’... More »
TOKYO/SINGAPORE The dollar nudged up against the yen on Monday, after rebounding last week following a series of comments from U.S. Federal Reserve officials who supported the case for more interest rate hikes than markets had anticipated. Such views helped th... More »
HONG KONG U.S. Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump has been pilloried in many ways, over his bouffant hair, orange skin and supposedly small hands, but a British artist has now used raw pig and sheep parts to sculpt him for a Hong Kong art show. T... More »
LONDON Oil fell below $40 a barrel on Thursday, heading for the biggest weekly slide in two months, dented by record-high stockpiles in the United States and a stronger dollar. The U.S. government’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) said crude stockpiles... More »
LONDON The dollar climbed for a fifth consecutive day against a basket of major currencies on Thursday, putting it on track for its best run of gains in almost a year, as investors moved to price in the possibility of two U.S. rate hikes this year. St Louis Fe... More »
An obscure corner of the U.S. IPO market is getting a new lease on life as more Wall Street banks and institutional investors turn to blank-check acquisition vehicles, once the domain of only a few underwriters and hedge funds, for better fortunes. These speci... More »
Wall Street closed lower on Wednesday as oil and materials share prices dropped while investors remained cautious a day after deadly bombing attacks in Belgium. The benchmark S&P 500 index fell back into negative territory for the year after closing positive o... More »
Japanese electronics maker Panasonic Corp will scrap its 10 trillion yen ($88.93 billion) group sales target for fiscal year ending March 2019 due to a cooling global business environment, the Nikkei reported. The company is now targeting sales of about 9 tril... More »
SINGAPORE Oil prices fell on Monday, weighed down by global oversupply and slowing economic growth prospects, although the prospects of falling production lent crude some support. U.S. crude was trading at $38.15 per barrel at 0759 GMT, down 35 cents from thei... More »
SINGAPORE Brent crude prices rose to nearly $40 per barrel on Wednesday as traders expected defaults to trigger a drop in production, but analysts warned it would take time for the global glut to shrink as energy demand slows. Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 ros... More »
LONDON Two of the three types of hedge funds which bet heavily on a sharp devaluation of China’s yuan last year have backed off the trade, leaving only some ultra-bearish “Black Swan” investors holding long-term bets, fund managers and bankers said. Hedge fund... More »
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (CMG.N), which is trying to recover from a series of food-borne illness outbreaks, temporarily shut a Massachusetts restaurant after four employees fell sick. The restaurant in the town of Billerica, outside Boston, was closed for a ... More »
The 2016 U.S. presidential election may succeed where the world’s central banks have failed, but not as they would wish: in bringing back inflation through protectionism. One of the most striking aspects of the election campaign is the way in which Donald Trum... More »
SINGAPORE Brent crude futures edged up on Monday after already making up ground last week as indications mounted of the market bottoming out, but analysts warned that downward risk remained and that it would take some time to work down a huge global glut. Bren... More »
NEW YORK For leading U.S. shale oil producers, $40 is the new $70. Less than a year ago major shale firms were saying they needed oil above $60 a barrel to produce more- now some say they will settle for far less in deciding whether to crank up output after th... More »
SINGAPORE Oil prices slid on Wednesday, extending sharp falls from the previous session after top exporter Saudi Arabia ruled out production cuts and industry data showed a further build in U.S. crude stockpiles. Meanwhile, Iran made clear it has no interest i... More »
TOKYO The yen gained against key peers like the dollar and euro on Wednesday as sagging stocks and crude oil drove bids for the safe-haven currency. Undercutting upward momentum for equities, oil prices retraced earlier gains made at the week’s start and tumbl... More »
LONDON Crude oil prices eased in thin trade on Monday as a meeting between OPEC producers Saudi Arabia and Venezuela showed little indication that steps would be taken to boost prices. Global benchmark Brent futures LCOc1 were down 8 cents at $34.98 at 4.32 a.... More »
LONDON The dollar turned lower against the euro in Europe on Monday as stock markets resumed their decline, wiping out gains based on Friday’s U.S. jobs report. A rise in oil prices during Asian trading helped commodity-linked currencies like the Australian an... More »
TORONTO BlackBerry Ltd is cutting 200 jobs at its hometown headquarters in Ontario and in Florida in order to trim costs, it said on Friday, as the smartphone maker moves to turn around its fortunes and put more emphasis on its enterprise software business. “A... More »
Activist investors are putting the U.S. banking sector in their crosshairs, betting that headwinds whipping through the industry will accelerate consolidation among lenders. While these activist hedge funds have already targeted some major financial companies,... More »
SINGAPORE Oil prices fell on Monday after China and South Korea posted weak economic data, while fading prospects for a coordinated output cut by leading crude exporters also hurt the market. Chinese data showed its manufacturing sector had contracted at the f... More »
TOKYO/SYDNEY The yen nursed broad losses on Monday and the euro struggled for traction after the Bank of Japan adopted negative interest rates, heightening expectations that the European Central bank will ease policy too, making European bond yields slide. The... More »
SHANGHAI China’s manufacturing activity contracted at its fastest pace in almost three-and-a-half years in January, an official survey showed, suggesting the world’s second largest economy is off to a weak start in 2016 and adding to the case for near-term sti... More »
Health insurer Anthem Inc (ANTM.N), which is in the process of buying smaller rival Cigna Corp (CI.N), reported a 6.3 percent rise in quarterly revenue as more people enrolled in its Medicaid plans. Anthem, which operates Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in more t... More »
SHANGHAI Chinese highly volatile shares ended lower again on Wednesday after plunging on Tuesday, taking losses in 2016 to about 22 percent or 12 trillion yuan ($1.8 trillion). The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index ended down 0.5 percent, having been up in th... More »
SHANGHAI Chinese stock investors are finally seeing value in domestic shares, but there’s a twist: instead of wading back onto battered onshore exchanges, they’ve gone shopping for bargains in Hong Kong. By doing so they are exploiting a long-standing market d... More »
LONDON Oil futures fell on Wednesday, after a surprise rise in U.S. inventories wiped out the optimism that had built up the day before over the potential for the world’s largest exporters to cut output enough to stem a 19-month-long price slide. Another contr... More »
SHANGHAI China stocks recovered much of their earlier losses by the end of a volatile session on Wednesday, ending slightly lower. The CSI300 index .CSI300 of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen fell 0.3 percent, to 2,930.35, while the Shangh... More »
WASHINGTON The Federal Reserve is expected to leave interest rates unchanged on Wednesday and acknowledge that turmoil in financial markets threatens its upbeat view of the U.S. economy, leaving the chances of a March hike diminished but alive. All 69 analysts... More »
SHANGHAI China’s economy grew at its weakest pace in a quarter of a century last year, raising hopes Beijing would cushion the slowdown with more stimulus policies, which in turn prompted a rally on the country’s rollercoaster share markets. Growth for 2015 as... More »
HONG KONG One of Hong Kong’s staunchest pro-Beijing lawmakers said a bookseller’s tearful confession on state television to a hit-and-run accident more than a decade ago in China is unlikely to appease public concerns that he may have been abducted. The Sunday... More »
SINGAPORE Oil prices rebounded on Tuesday, supported by strong Chinese fuel consumption and at least interrupting a slide to 2003 levels earlier in the week after the return of Iran to markets added to an already huge supply overhang. Traders said prices were ... More »
SHANGHAI China stocks rebounded roughly 3 percent on Tuesday, as weak quarterly economic data strengthened market expectations the government will unveil more stimulus moves. The CSI300 index .CSI300 of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen ros... More »
SINGAPORE/TOKYO The safe haven yen sagged on Tuesday as China’s fourth-quarter economic growth matched expectations, but its losses were likely to be limited amid persisting worries about the global economic outlook. The dollar rose 0.4 percent against the yen... More »
TORONTO Canada’s Shaw Communications Inc said on Wednesday that it would sell its media unit to Corus Entertainment Inc for C$2.65 billion ($1.9 billion), gaining funding for its Wind Mobile purchase and sending its shares up nearly 7 percent. Corus, which ope... More »
LONDON Oil prices fell for a sixth session to trade at almost 12-year lows on Monday as concerns about China’s economic slowdown, reflected in a renewed slide in its stock markets, weighed on the outlook for demand this year. Traders increased bets against any... More »
LONDON China’s yuan again dominated moves on major foreign exchange markets on Monday, driven 1 percent higher against the dollar in offshore trade after reports of another round of aggressive intervention by Beijing. With Chinese stocks sinking a further 5 pe... More »
U.S. stock index futures were slightly higher on Monday, with Wall Street coming off its worst-ever start to a year and ahead of the start of corporate earnings season. * Global stocks were mixed with jittery investors looking for stability after last week’s b... More »
SHANGHAI China stocks closed down on Monday at their lowest since September, following weak inflation data over the weekend and continuing investor anxiety over the economy and the trajectory of the yuan. The CSI300 index .CSI300 of the largest listed companie... More »
Activist shareholders could push media company Time Warner Inc to sell itself or spin off its lucrative HBO business, the New York Post reported late on Thursday. While the activist shareholders have not approached Time Warner officially, New York-based firm C... More »
SINGAPORE Brent crude fell to levels last seen in 2004 on Monday, dropping under the lows hit during the 2008 financial crisis on renewed worries over an oil glut, with analysts saying prices could head lower still. Global production remains at or near record ... More »
BEIJING Russia overtook Saudi Arabia for the third time this year in November as China’s largest crude oil supplier, customs data showed on Monday, as Russia captures fresh demand from China’s new crude buyers. China brought in about 949,925 barrels per day (b... More »
MUMBAI Shares in India’s largest drugmaker, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, skidded more than 7 percent on Monday after U.S. regulators warned of standards violations at a key plant in the latest blow to India’s generic drug industry. The warning comes bare... More »
SYDNEY/TOKYO The dollar drifted lower in light Asian trading on Monday amid doubts about how far and fast the Federal Reserve would raise U.S. interest rates next year. The dollar eased to 121.20 yen JPY= and further away from Friday’s brief peak of 123.59. Th... More »
BEIJING The International Monetary Fund’s decision on Ukraine’s debt to Russia did not change anything to Moscow, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak told reporters in Beijing on Thursday. The International Monetary Fund’s Executive Board decided t... More »
JAKARTA Asia policymakers on Thursday applauded an historic turn in U.S. monetary policy, but analysts cautioned that the region’s economies faced vulnerabilities even as markets took the Federal Reserve rate hike in their stride. The prospect of the first hik... More »
SINGAPORE Six crew members are still missing after a general cargo freighter sank in the Singapore Strait following a collision with a chemical tanker at 8:14 p.m. (7.14 a.m. ET) on Dec. 16. The 10,385 deadweight tonne (dwt) cargo freighter Thorco Cloud, opera... More »
Google plans to make its self-driving cars unit, which will offer rides for hire, a stand-alone business under its parent company Alphabet Inc next year, Bloomberg reported. The service could be launched in San Francisco and Austin, Texas locations, where it h... More »
Satellite radio company Sirius XM Holdings Inc and “shock jock” Howard Stern have renewed their five-year deal for his popular “Howard Stern Show,” ending the uncertainty around the fate of the decade-long association. The news comes after years of Sirius, maj... More »
SINGAPORE Crude oil prices dipped further on Monday after OPEC failed to agree on output targets to reduce a bulging glut that has cut prices by more than 60 percent since June 2014. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries failed to agree on an o... More »
BERLIN German industrial output inched up in October, data from the Economy Ministry showed on Monday, in a sign that this sector of Europe’s largest economy is recovering slightly at the start of the fourth quarter after a rough patch in the summer. While the... More »
PARIS Residents of central Paris got a chilling reminder on Thursday of the challenge facing negotiators at the world climate summit on the city’s outskirts: 80 tonnes of Greenland ice left to slowly melt on the cobbles in front of the Pantheon. The ice was sc... More »
SINGAPORE Oil dipped on Monday as traders remained cautious ahead of an OPEC meeting later this week and as a widely expected U.S. interest rate hike strengthened the dollar. Oil prices are heading for declines of as much as 10 percent this month, with a suppl... More »
TOKYO/SYDNEY The dollar edged up to a fresh 8-1/2-month high against a basket of global currencies on Monday, while the prospect of further stimulus this week by the European Central Bank kept the euro on the defensive. The dollar index added about 0.1 percent... More »
SHANGHAI China stocks opened slightly lower on Monday after falling more than 5 percent on Friday triggered by concerns over a widening probe by regulators into brokerages. The CSI300 index fell 0.1 percent, to 3,554.89 at market open, while the Shanghai Compo... More »
In the race to compete with low-cost, online algorithm-based investing services, financial advisers are constantly bombarded by sales pitches about the latest and greatest in financial technology. And they’re buying. In North America, adviser spending on digit... More »
BRUSSELS Soldiers patrolled the streets of Brussels on the third day of a security lockdown on Monday and the tenth day of a manhunt for the suspected mastermind of the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris. Belgian national Salah Abdeslam has not been found despite 19 rai... More »
SEOUL Crude futures plunged on Monday, with U.S. oil dropping more than 3 percent on a firmer U.S. dollar and festering worries over a global supply surplus. The fall was part of a wider decline in commodities that has also been stoked by worries over falterin... More »
SINGAPORE The euro languished near a seven-month low against the dollar on Monday, weighed down by expectations that the European Central Bank will ramp up its monetary stimulus next month. Most major banks have stuck firmly to the view that the euro will fall... More »
NEW YORK Executives of consumer-products giant Procter & Gamble Co (PG.N), the maker of Tide detergent and other household goods, should consider breaking up the company to improve its beleaguered performance, Barron’s financial newspaper said. The “radical ac... More »
NEW YORK U.S. equity futures opened lower on Sunday, following coordinated attacks in Paris on Friday that killed more than 130 people. The attacks unfolded after markets closed in the United States, but equity futures added to losses in light volume in after-... More »
BANGKOKA Thai fortune teller arrested as part of a high-profile royal insult investigation has died, the government said on Monday, the second suspect in as many weeks to die in police custody. Suriyan Sucharitpolwong, a well-known soothsayer and former aide t... More »
SINGAPORE Oil prices dropped in Asian trading hours on Monday as analysts expected weaker demand from China in upcoming months, but firming Japanese economic data offered some support. Benchmark U.S. crude futures CLc1 had fallen 15 cents from their last settl... More »
SINGAPORE Crude oil prices remained weak on Monday as a slowing demand outlook implied oversupply will remain in place for months, prompting speculators to cut their bets on rising prices. Front-month U.S. crude futures were trading at $44.62 per barrel at 2.5... More »
TOKYO The dollar dipped on Monday as the currency took a breather after scaling a 2-1/2-month high versus a basket of peers, although an improvement in risk appetite after China’s monetary easing limited the losses. Stock markets gained worldwide after China o... More »
SHANGHAI/HONG KONG The Di Mei shopping center in downtown Shanghai is a surprisingly depressing place to shop. The underground mall is located in one of the most shopping-mad cities in China, and yet it is run down and starved of customers. “Sometimes I cannot... More »
An independent panel of advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday voted 10-4 in favor of approving AstraZeneca Plc’s gout drug. All 10 who backed the drug, lesinurad, qualified their vote by urging the FDA to ask AstraZeneca for studies after... More »
TOKYO Japan’s economy is expected to have slowed sharply in the third quarter as demand across Asia ebbed, keeping the Bank of Japan and policymakers under pressure to inject more stimulus to revitalize growth, a Reuters poll found. The poll of 21 economists p... More »
TOKYO The dollar was steady against the yen and euro on Friday after stronger-than-expected U.S. data kept alive prospects of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates before year-end. The Australian dollar inched up after Chinese data on Monday showed growth... More »
Big fish Chinese gamblers afraid of a corruption crackdown and poorly paid Walmart workers in the United States might seem to have little in common. But in the global economy, they are in some ways two sides of the same coin, and to understand that is to under... More »
