Economy

• Wednesday, November 8th 2017 - 10:50 UTC

  Oil markets settle lower, but prospects are in place for prices to continue climbing

  

  Oil settled lower on Tuesday after rising to the highest since July 2015 the previous day, while tension flared between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and the Saudi crown prince tightened his grip on power.

• Wednesday, November 8th 2017 - 10:26 UTC

  Macri optimistic about reaching a Mercosur/EU trade deal by end of the year

  

  Argentine president Mauricio Macri who has made signing trade deals a priority, said he was optimistic that Mercosur, the trade bloc formed by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, would be able to conclude a free trade deal with the European Union by year-end despite differences over beef, ethanol and other agribusiness matters.

• Wednesday, November 8th 2017 - 10:14 UTC

  Temer insists social security reform bill will pass, despite all the opposition

  

  Brazilian president Michel Temer admitted that the social security reform bill may not be put to a vote, but underlined that even if that is the case, the federal government will not be shut down.

• Wednesday, November 8th 2017 - 09:59 UTC

  An estimated third of the Brazilian population live below the poverty line

  

  A new system implemented by the World Bank to measure the number of people who live below the poverty line has meant that in Brazil the number has risen from 8.9 million to 45.5 million, which is almost a third of the population.

• Wednesday, November 8th 2017 - 07:35 UTC

  Finnish company sets out conditions for the building of a second pulp mill in Uruguay

  

  Finland's UPM and the Government of Uruguay have signed an investment agreement, which outlines the local prerequisites for a potential pulp mill investment. The agreement details the roles, commitments and time-line for both parties as well as the relevant items to be agreed prior to the final investment decision, reported the Finnish company in a release on Tuesday.

• Wednesday, November 8th 2017 - 05:17 UTC

  Nidera Seeds, which operates mostly in Latin America, sold to Syngenta

  

  Chinese grains trader COFCO International has agreed to sell its crop seeds business to Swiss-based Syngenta AG as it overhauls its activities following a series of major overseas acquisitions The deal to sell Nidera Seeds, which operates in Latin America, was announced by COFCO International and Syngenta in a statement on Monday.

• Wednesday, November 8th 2017 - 05:06 UTC

  Mexico strikes its biggest onshore oil discovery in 15 years; production should begin in 2019

  

  Mexico’s national oil company Pemex has made its biggest onshore oil discovery in 15 years with a find in the eastern state of Veracruz, President Enrique Peña Nieto announced. Pemex made the discovery by drilling its onshore Ixachi well, near the municipality of Cosamaloapan and the overall field is believed to hold some 350 million barrels of proven, probable and possible reserves.

• Monday, November 6th 2017 - 08:37 UTC

  Brazilian industrial activity reports its best September since 2013

  

  After two years of the most severe recession facing Brazil, economic indicators continue to mark a more positive horizon for the Brazilian economy. Data released by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) show that the Brazilian industry is heading for a recovery scenario.

• Monday, November 6th 2017 - 08:07 UTC

  Wall Street and LSE battle to host largest share floatation in history: US$ 100bn of Saudi Arabia's Aramco

  

  President Donald Trump has made a pitch to Saudi Arabia to float the world's biggest oil company in the US. “Would very much appreciate Saudi Arabia doing their IPO of Aramco with the New York Stock Exchange. Important to the United States!”, twitted the US president.

• Monday, November 6th 2017 - 07:58 UTC

  UK Business lobby believes current Brexit negotiations resemble “a prime time soap opera”

  

  Current Brexit negotiations resemble “a prime-time soap opera”, the president of the Confederation of British Industry, CBI, is expected to claim on Monday, according to BBC. Paul Drechsler will tell the lobby group's annual conference it is time for government and business to unite behind “a clear strategy”.