Oil retreated further back from near its highest level in 2019 on Wednesday, as confidence in spare production capacity tempered supply concerns from US sanctions on Iran.

Leaders of the 2014 Hong Kong Occupy movement have been jailed for charges related to public nuisance for their part in the mass protest, in the latest crackdown on the city’s dissidents by authorities.

Brazil’s much-vaunted pension reform bill passed a crucial first test late on Tuesday when a congressional committee in Brasília voted that the proposed legislation was constitutional and could proceed through to Congress.

Stocks in Asia-Pacific gained on Wednesday after Wall Street closed at record highs, while oil took a breather and the Australia dollar slid on subdued inflation figures.

The Australian dollar dropped on Wednesday after weaker than expected inflation in the first quarter, raising expectations of a possible rate cut by the central bank.

Top US trade officials will travel to Beijing next week for another round of negotiations with their Chinese counterparts, as the world’s two biggest economies inch closer to a new trade deal.

South Korean display maker and Apple supplier LG Display has reported a worse than expected first quarter loss, in the latest sign that the broader tech sector downturn is hurting Asia’s electronics manufacturers. 

South Korea has announced plans for a Won6.7tn ($5.87bn) supplementary budget to tackle air pollution and boost exports amid the Sino-US trade war and weak external demand.

The leaders of Spain’s largest political parties met in the second of back-to-back debates Tuesday night in a tense and chaotic event days before the most unpredictable elections since the country returned to democracy four decades ago.

Photo sharing app Snapchat beat sales expectations at the start of 2019 even as user numbers remained below their level a year ago following outflows in 2018.

US Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin has said he will make a final decision on whether to hand over President Donald Trump’s tax returns to House Democrats by May 6, after missing a second deadline set out by a leading member of Congress.

Texas Instruments booked stronger earnings than expected in the first quarter, even as softer demand weighed on the chipmaker’s sales.

The Supreme Court said on Tuesday it would not decide a closely watched securities fraud lawsuit involving the acquisition of semiconductor company Emulex after the court listened to oral arguments in the case earlier this month.

Liberty Global has promoted Lutz Schüler to run Virgin Media after Tom Mockridge stood down from the role as chief executive.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite clocked fresh closing highs on Tuesday, driven by a strong batch of corporate earnings.

Sberbank, the Kremlin’s largest lender, has obtained a 46.5 per cent stake in Rambler, one of Russia’s largest media and entertainment groups, the companies said Tuesday.

Voters in Egypt have approved amendments to the constitution which strengthen the position of Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the president, and allow him to extend his rule until 2030.

The chief executive of British guarantor loan provider Amigo will step down for medical reasons, the company announced on Tuesday evening.

Neil Woodford, the veteran UK fund manager struggling under the weight of investor redemptions, has won a partial reprieve after the Guernsey stock exchange reinstated dealings in biotech company Benevolent AI and technology investor Ombu.

PulteGroup on Tuesday added to the chorus of US homebuilders offering upbeat projections of a resurgent US housing market this year, lifting shares of the company to levels not seen in nine months.

Toymaker Hasbro on Monday reported a surprise first-quarter profit and revenues that exceeded forecasts as the success of the Bumblebee movie helped spur sales of its Transformers toys.

Olam, one of the world’s biggest traders of agricultural commodities, has made a $360m offer for the flour milling business of African’s richest man Aliko Dangote.

Sales of newly built homes in the US climbed for the third consecutive month to their highest level in more than a year, driven by lower mortgage rates and home prices, data on Tuesday showed.

Lockheed Martin boosted its financial guidance for 2019 after a “strong” performance in its first quarter that saw it soar past Wall Street’s expectations.