Headlines

Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain emerged from an emergency cabinet meeting on Thursday to say that the government would do all it could to preserve the British steel industry but that nationalization was not an option, the International New York Times reported. Emphasizing the severity of the situation, Mr.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc's directors and key officers have received a cease-trade order by the securities regulator in the Canadian province of Quebec, on the company's request, Valeant said on Thursday, Reuters reported. In a separate statement, the Autorité Des Marches Financiers (AMF) said the order against trading shares takes effect Thursday and is in place for 15 days. Included in the order are Chief Executive Mike Pearson, Chief Financial Officer Robert Rosiello and board member Bill Ackman.

Kenya's central bank said on Thursday it would require another three months of investigation to determine the fate of Imperial Bank, which was put into receivership in October, delaying a resolution that had been scheduled for the end of this month, Reuters reported. The Imperial Bank receivership, which came two months after the liquidation of a smaller bank, rattled confidence in a financial sector where more than 40 foreign and local banks operate.

Standard & Poor’s, the ratings agency, has cut its outlook on China’s government credit to ‘negative’ from ‘stable’ as it believes rebalancing of the world’s second largest economy would take place more slowly than expected, the Irish Times reported. China’s credit rating is AA- with a negative outlook, S&P said on its website. The agency also affirmed the long-term and A-1+ short-term sovereign credit ratings for China.

Argentina’s Senate gave the green light to a landmark deal to repay creditors holding defaulted debt in the early hours of Thursday, marking the end of a 14-year legal battle that had made the country a global financial pariah, the Irish Times reported. The deal, which had already been approved by the lower house of Congress, is the cornerstone of new President Mauricio Macri’s plan for revitalising an economy hobbled by low investment, high inflation and precarious central bank reserves.

Fears that a cap on bankers’ bonuses would greatly inflate their fixed pay and damage financial stability have proved unfounded, according to a report from the European Banking Authority, the Financial Times reported. Critics of the EU bonus cap — including the Bank of England — have argued that it could erode the stability of the financial system by increasing banks’ fixed costs and reducing their ability to claw back bonuses if something goes wrong.

Prime Minister David Cameron faced a new economic and political challenge on Wednesday after the Indian owner of much of Britain’s steel industry said it could no longer swallow the large losses being generated by its plants and would try to sell them, the International New York Times reported. The owner of the plants, Tata Steel, has been squeezed by cheap imports of Chinese steel into Europe, and its announcement suggested that if no buyer could be found it would consider closing them, endangering at least 15,000 jobs.

A thrifty Asian powerhouse saves and invests its way to economic stardom, inspiring admiration and paranoia in the rich world. The powerhouse begins to lose momentum, driving its corporations to switch their investment appetites towards assets abroad. But, lacking worldly experience, the corporations bungle. Billions in hard-earned national savings disappear down a black hole.

Fears that Britain might vote to leave the European Union helped keep consumer confidence at the lowest level in more than a year, according to a survey published Thursday, Bloomberg News reported. GfK’s consumer-confidence index stayed at zero in March. A gauge of expectations for the economic situation over the next 12 months was minus 12, unchanged on the month and down 18 points from a year earlier.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. said Wednesday it was seeking more room from lenders to stave off a potential default. But stock investors were unnerved, as Valeant inched back from earlier assurances about its ability to hit financial targets required by its lenders, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Canadian drug company, struggling in recent months with questions over its accounting and business practices, said it had begun seeking a deal with lenders to give it more time to file its delayed 10-K annual report.