The daily business briefing: May 25, 2016

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1. Greece gets new debt relief and bailout deal
2. Oil rises close to $50 per barrel as inventories fall
3. New home sales hit fastest pace in eight years
4. Monsanto rejects Bayer's $62 billion bid as 'inadequate'
5. Toyota invests in Uber in latest automaker tie-up with tech

published 25 May 2016

1. Greece gets new debt relief and bailout deal

Eurozone finance ministers have approved a new $11.5 billion aid deal that will help Greece pay its bills in coming months. Greece, which recently approved new financial reforms and austerity measures to satisfy its creditors, also won pledges of more debt relief, but only if it follows through on painful reforms. The bailout deal, which still needs final approval, eases tensions on Greece as it contends with a massive influx of refugees, and on the region as Britain heads into a June 23 vote on whether to leave the European Union.

Oil flirted with the $50-a-barrel mark on Wednesday for the first time in seven months. A sharp decline in U.S. inventories has stoked hopes of an easing global crude glut, as unexpected factors from wildfires in Canada to violence in Nigeria have dented daily output. U.S. crude futures rose by 56 cents to $49.18 per barrel. "We are definitely moving out of this surplus situation that we've been living in since mid-2014," SEB head commodities strategist Bjarne Schieldrop said. The news could help U.S. stocks build on big Tuesday gains.

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U.S. new home sales rose in April at their fastest pace in eight years, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. Purchases of new, single-family homes jumped by just under 17 percent from March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 619,000. The median price of a new home rose by 9.7 percent from a year earlier, to $321,100. "The fundamentals for new home sales are good, and getting better: more jobs, rising wages, more household formations, and very low mortgage rates," said Gus Faucher, deputy chief economist at PNC Financial Services.

Giant seed company Monsanto rejected German pharmaceutical and pesticide maker Bayer AG's $62 billion takeover offer, calling it "incomplete and financially inadequate" on Tuesday. Monsanto said, however, that it was open to continuing negotiations. Bayer must now consider whether to raise its bid in what already would have qualified as the biggest acquisition ever by a German company. Bayer said it was confident it could reach a deal, although some shareholders have complained the first bid already was too high.

Toyota said Tuesday that it was making a strategic investment in Uber, the latest partnership in the booming ride-hailing industry. The two companies also are teaming up on a program to offer leases to Uber drivers. Toyota and Uber declined to comment on the size of Toyota's investment, which observers said was believed to be small. Volkswagen has invested in an Israeli ride-hailing service; Apple recently invested in Chinese Uber rival Didi Chuxing; and General Motors in January invested $500 million in Lyft, the second largest U.S. service.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.