Business

The European Parliament halted on Thursday ratification of a new investment pact with China until Beijing lifts sanctions on EU politicians, deepening a dispute in Sino-European relations and denying EU companies greater access to China. The resolution to freeze ratification passed with 599 votes in favor, 30 votes against, and …

Iraq’s Ministry of Planning revealed, on Wednesday, that in 2020, the GDP per capita in Iraq has trended to nearly five million dinars. “According to the report of the Central Bureau of Statistics, the Iraq GDP per capita was projected to 4.950 million dinars (about 4.2 thousand dollars) in 2020, …

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Wednesday he was confident the country’s central bank will act to control inflation as the economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. Mexican annual inflation accelerated slightly faster than expected in April to 6.08%, its highest level since December 2017.

Bitcoin tumbled below the $40,000 mark on Wednesday to a 3-1/2 month low as selling in digital coins intensified after China banned financial and payment institutions from providing cryptocurrency services. Bitcoin, the biggest and best-known cryptocurrency, had already been under pressure from a series of tweets from Tesla boss Elon …

Bank of America plans to raise its minimum wage for U.S. workers to $25 an hour by 2025, the latest among major firms promising to pay employees more after a year of pandemic risks and government subsidies that fueled conversations on whether companies pay their workers enough. Bank of America’s …

Amazon is to create more than 10,000 new permanent UK jobs this year across its corporate offices, Amazon Web Services division and its operations network. The move will take the online retail giant’s total UK workforce to more than 55,000 by the end of the year. Corporate roles will be …

Amazon won its fight against an EU order to pay about 250 million euros ($303 million) in back taxes to Luxembourg in another blow to competition chief Margrethe Vestager’s crusade against preferential deals. The bloc failed to show that Luxembourg had given the U.S. online retailer special treatment in violation …

Motorists and even airlines struggled to find fuel across the southeastern US due to the Colonial Pipeline cyberattack, but the Biden administration denied there was a “shortage” and blamed “hoarders” for the “supply crunch.” Virginia and Florida declared a state of emergency on Tuesday, following North Carolina’s declaration the day …

Wall Street’s main indexes fell on Tuesday, led by tech-related stocks, as investors feared that rising inflation could push the Federal Reserve to tighten monetary policy faster than expected. The outperformers of 2020, Apple, Amazon.com Inc, Microsoft Corp, Google-parent Alphabet Inc, and Tesla Inc fell between 0.8% and 2.4%, weighed …

America’s biggest gasoline pipeline is unlikely to resume significant operations for several days due to a ransomware cyberattack that Washington on Monday blamed on a shadowy criminal network called DarkSide. The attack on the Colonial Pipeline between Houston and New Jersey, which provides nearly half the fuel to the U.S. …

Iraq has formally asked to buy U.S. energy giant ExxonMobil’s share in one of Iraq’s biggest oilfields, West Qurna 1, the head of the state-run oil operating company said on Monday. Iraq said last month that Exxon was seeking to sell its 32.7% stake in West Qurna 1 and that …

The value of dogecoin dropped sharply in early U.S. hours on Sunday, after Tesla chief and cryptocurrency supporter Elon Musk called it a ‘hustle’ during his guest-host spot on the “Saturday Night Live” comedy sketch TV show. Dogecoin was quoted as low as $0.47 on crypto exchange Binance, down 28% …

Oil prices eased on Friday but were set for a weekly gain against the backdrop of optimism over a global economic recovery, though the COVID-19 crisis in India weighed. Brent crude futures were down 12 cents, or 0.2%, at $67.97 a barrel by 1343 GMT and U.S. West Texas Intermediate …

The financial health of British households deteriorated in August at a faster pace than last month, in an unpromising sign for the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, a survey showed on Monday. The Household Finance Index from data company IHS Markit fell to 40.8 in August from 41.5 in …

Japan was hit by its biggest economic slump on record in the second quarter as the coronavirus pandemic emptied shopping malls and crushed demand for cars and other exports, bolstering the case for bolder policy action to prevent a deeper recession. The third straight quarter of declines knocked the size …

Negotiations between London and Washington started as the UK left the European Union, entering a transition period to conclude trade deals, but the talks were soon interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. British Trade Secretary Elizabeth Truss on Thursday stated that she will step up talks with the United States in …

Oil slipped further below $45 a barrel on Friday, giving up this week’s gains, under pressure from doubts about demand recovery due to the novel coronavirus pandemic and rising supply. Two prominent forecasters, the International Energy Agency and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries trimmed their 2020 oil demand …

The dollar fell against most of its peers on Thursday amid fading hopes for a compromise between Republicans and Democrats over additional stimulus for the US economy.  The Australian dollar rose after better-than-expected jobs data eased concerns about a persistent coronavirus outbreak in the country’s second-largest city. The greenback was …

A sharp escalation in tensions with the United States has stoked fears in China of a deepening financial war that could result in it being shut out of the global dollar system – a devastating prospect once considered far-fetched but now not impossible. Chinese officials and economists have in recent …

The dollar fell from a one-week high on Wednesday, as political squabbling over a stimulus package for the U.S. economy halted its recent rebound. The greenback, however, rose to a three-week peak against the yen, climbing for a fourth straight session. The dollar/yen pair typically moves in tandem with U.S. …