Economy

• Saturday, December 9th 2017 - 19:14 UTC

  Santander sells assets in United States to a Chilean bank

  

  Spain's Banco Santander said it had sold its U.S. unit Totalbank to Chile’s BCI for US$528 million as part of moves to sell non-core assets it inherited when it bought Banco Popular. BCI owns City National Bank of Florida and had been in talks with TotalBank’s former owner Banco Popular before it was acquired by Santander.

• Saturday, December 9th 2017 - 19:12 UTC

  Brazilian economy gradually picking up with growing confidence from investors

  

  Brazil’s economic recovery gained traction in the third quarter, supported by steady family consumption and a rebound in investment. GDP expanded 0.1% from the second quarter and 1.4% from the previous year, the national statistics agency said.

• Friday, December 8th 2017 - 21:13 UTC

  Breakthrough in Brexit negotiations; Juncker calls it a compromise

  

  The European Commission said on Friday enough progress had been made in Brexit negotiations with Britain to allow a second phase of talks on future relations to begin, ending an impasse over the status of the Irish border.

• Friday, December 8th 2017 - 08:30 UTC

  Brexit minister admits to Parliament there are no impact assessments for the UK economy

  

  There were calls for David Davis to resign as Brexit Secretary and face investigation for contempt of Parliament, after he admitted that the UK Government has produced no impact assessments on the effect of Brexit on different sectors of the UK economy.

• Friday, December 8th 2017 - 07:49 UTC

  Monsanto confident a soy seed patent dispute in Brazil will uphold

  

  U.S. seeds company Monsanto Co is confident Brazilian courts will uphold its Intacta RR2 PRO soy seed patent despite a challenge from grain growers in the state of Mato Grosso, the company’s chief of South American operations said this week.

• Friday, December 8th 2017 - 06:31 UTC

  Falklands promotes fish in China from Fortuna's new processing plant in Stanley

  

  Products from the Falkland Islands Fish Company, the trading name of Fortuna Ltd’s new Stanley fish processing plant, were featured recently in China and attracted favorable attention from trade media.

• Friday, December 8th 2017 - 06:18 UTC

  Chinese government oil company suing Venezuela's PDVSA in US courts

  

  China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., the state-controlled oil company, is suing Petroleos de Venezuela SA in U.S. courts for unpaid bills. Sinopec, as the Chinese company is known, also filed a request for arbitration against PDVSA at the International Chamber of Commerce, as it alleges damages of at least $23.7 million, according to court papers.

• Thursday, December 7th 2017 - 09:01 UTC

  Mercosur and EU confident a framework agreement will be announced this month

  

  Mercosur is confident a framework agreement with the European Union will be announced next week despite resistance from farmers in Europe to permit tariff-free beef imports, a Mercosur official said. “There is more than a 70% chance of reaching a deal,” said the official close to the negotiations that have dragged on for almost two decades.

• Thursday, December 7th 2017 - 08:35 UTC

  Brazil cuts rates to an all-time low, 7%, and hints at another reduction

  

  Brazil’s central bank cut interest rates to an all-time low on Wednesday and hinted at a smaller reduction early next year, although it said it would be extra cautious going forward. The bank’s nine-member monetary policy committee, known as Copom, cut the benchmark Selic rate by 50 basis points to 7.00%, capping a 725 basis-point decline since October 2016.

• Thursday, December 7th 2017 - 07:31 UTC

  Rajoy expresses support for Mrs. May efforts and progress in Brexit negotiations

  

  Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said he expected Britain and the European Union to progress soon into the next phase of Brexit negotiations, despite Prime Minister Theresa May’s problems in getting the political backing at home to move ahead.