CALGARY/LONDON (Reuters) - Brent oil rose on Wednesday, driven higher by a threat from an Iranian commander and a drop in U.S. crude inventories for the second week in a row.The price rose above $78 a barrel after an Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander said he was ready to prevent regional crude exports if Iranian oil sales were banned by the United States.The most-active Brent LCOc1 futures co...Read More

By Richard Murphy via Tax Research UK blogThe FT has reported this morning that:Debt at UK listed companies has soared to hit a record high of ?390bn as companies have scrambled to maintain dividend payouts in response to shareholder demand despite weak profitability.They added:UK plc's net debt has surpassed pre-crisis levels to reach ?390.7bn in the 2017-18 financial year, according to analy...Read More

Former Alecto also flags Matala sale deal did not go throughRead full newsRead More

By Rhiannon Hoyle SYDNEY--Former Rio Tinto PLC executive Stern Hu, who was jailed in China for bribery, was freed from prison on Wednesday. Mr. Hu, the Australian who previously spearheaded sales for Rio Tinto in China, was in 2010 found guilty of charges he accepted around $935,000 in bribes from steelmakers and stole commercial secrets that undermined China's steel industry. China's Foreign M...Read More

NEW YORK/HONG KONG (Reuters) - China’s embattled ZTE Corp (0763.HK) has received a temporary reprieve from the U.S. government to conduct business needed to maintain existing networks and equipment as it works toward the lifting of a U.S. supplier ban.ZTE (000063.SZ), which makes smartphones and networking gear, was forced to cease major operations in April after the United States slapped it...Read More

LISBON (Reuters) - Britain’s Supreme Court dismissed on Wednesday an appeal by Goldman Sachs for compensation from Portugal’s Novo Banco over a $835 million loan to Novo Banco’s bankrupt predecessor, Banco Espirito Santo (BES), which was carved up by the state in 2014.The decision, announced by the court on its website, sets a precedent that could help Portugal fend off other law...Read More

NEW YORK/HONG KONG (Reuters) - China’s embattled ZTE Corp (0763.HK) has received a temporary reprieve from the U.S. government to conduct business needed to maintain existing networks and equipment as it works toward the lifting of a U.S. supplier ban.ZTE (000063.SZ), which makes smartphones and networking gear, was forced to cease major operations in April after the United States slapped it...Read More

The consultancy PWC called 2017 a "remarkable year" in its annual look back at the health of the mining sector.After the forced financial reckoning, mining companies are now profitable with metal prices on the rise. "Thanks in large measure to the continuing recovery in commodity prices, fuelled by general economic growth, revenues rose dramatically by 23 per cent," writes the reports authors of M...Read More

The consultancy PWC called 2017 a "remarkable year" in its annual look back at the health of the mining sector.After the forced financial reckoning, mining companies are now profitable with metal prices on the rise. "Thanks in large measure to the continuing recovery in commodity prices, fuelled by general economic growth, revenues rose dramatically by 23 per cent," writes the reports authors of M...Read More

The consultancy PWC called 2017 a "remarkable year" in its annual look back at the health of the mining sector.After the forced financial reckoning, mining companies are now profitable with metal prices on the rise. "Thanks in large measure to the continuing recovery in commodity prices, fuelled by general economic growth, revenues rose dramatically by 23 per cent," writes the reports authors of M...Read More

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico’s president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will meet with business leaders on Wednesday, as the leftist seeks to ease private sector worries after an election campaign in which he accused some tycoons of belonging to a “mafia of power.”Lopez Obrador is meeting the powerful CCE business lobby, which in March urged him to stop questioning major pla...Read More

GENEVA (Reuters) - Trade barriers being erected by major economies could jeopardize the global economic recovery and their effects are already starting to show, the World Trade Organization said on Wednesday in a report on trade restrictions among G20 nations.“This continued escalation poses a serious threat to growth and recovery in all countries, and we are beginning to see this reflected...Read More

Centenera Mining Corporation (TSXV:CT; OTC:CTMIF) announces that it has closed the non-brokered private placement announced on June 29, 2018 (theRead full newsRead More

LONDON (Reuters) - European shares traded flat on Wednesday as worries over global trade persisted, with sentiment towards semiconductor stocks in particular souring after Micron Technology was banned from selling chips in China.The pan-European STOXX 600 index closed flat with Germany's exporter-heavy DAX .GDAXI and the UK's FTSE 100 .FTSE falling both 0.3 percent.Trading has been choppy befo...Read More

VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran will remain in its 2015 nuclear deal only if its benefits are guaranteed by other signatories after the United States withdrew from the accord, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told a news conference on Wednesday.Rouhani said the U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear deal was “illegal”. “Not the United States, not any other country would benefit from this decis...Read More

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's finance ministry said on Wednesday it will not fire the first shot on implementation of tariffs in a trade dispute with the United States.The ministry, in a statement, said it would not implement its tariffs on U.S. goods set to take effect on July 6 before the United States imposes its tariffs on Chinese goods.Reporting by Beijing Monitoring Desk Disclaimer: The views...Read More

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union countries will discuss and likely vote on Thursday on measures proposed by the European Commission to curb steel imports into the bloc, EU sources said.The Commission has proposed a combination of a quota and a tariff to prevent a surge of steel imports that is threatened, notably since the United States imposed levies on incoming steel and aluminum.The quota wo...Read More

The chairman and co-founder of China's HNA Group conglomerate, died in Provence, France after a freak photography accident.Read full newsRead More

BEIJING/MARSEILLE, France (Reuters) - Chinese conglomerate HNA Group [HNAIRC.UL] Co-Chairman Wang Jian died during a business trip in France on July 3 in what local police said appeared to be an accidental fall from a wall while posing for a photograph.Wang, 57, is regarded as the architect of an eye-popping $50 billion acquisition spree that saw HNA accumulate assets ranging from a stake in Deuts...Read More

(Kitco News)- While it’ssurprising that that gold hasn’t benefited from growing global trade tensions,one commodity analyst said that the precious metal still looks good in thelong-term.In an interviewwith Bloomberg, Wayne Gordon, executive director of commodities at UBS WealthManagement, said that in the near-term gold will continue to suffer as theglobal economy, U.S. equity markets...Read More