SAUDI-RUSSIA OIL DEAL LACKS MEXICO’S OK

An agreement between Saudi Arabia and Russia for record oil-production cuts was endangered late Thursday as Mexico refused to participate in the curbs and left the meeting without approving the deal.

Ministers will continue to discuss ways to secure the Latin American country’s approval on Friday, delegates said. The situation, which came after more than nine hours of negotiations via video link, cast doubt over a global effort to revive the oil market from a debilitating coronavirus-induced slump.

Earlier on Thursday, OPEC+ had tentatively agreed to cut production by about 10 million barrels per day in May and June, delegates said. Saudi Arabia and Russia, the biggest producers in the group, would each take output down to about 8.5 million per day, with all members agreeing to cut supply by 23%, one delegate said.

Bristol-Myers patent victory over Gilead grows to $1.2 billion. Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. persuaded a judge to boost damages to $1.2 billion in its patentinfringement case against Gilead Sciences Inc.’s Kite unit over revolutionary treatments that use a body’s own immune system to fight cancer.

Gilead owes Bristol-Myers enhanced damages of $389 million and pre-judgment interest of $33 million, on top of more than $778 million awarded in December by a federal jury, U.S. District Judge Philip S. Gutierrez ruled.

Bristol-Myers was seeking as much as $1.5 billion in a fight that began in 2017 in Los Angeles federal court.

Gilead plans to appeal, according to a spokesman who said the judgment “is legally unsupportable and will be reversed.

Harvard taps credit markets for up to $1.1 billion. Harvard University, the richest U.S. school, is tapping the credit markets for as much as $1.1 billion at a time when it can lock in lower interest rates.

Up to $573 million in revenue bonds will be sold through a state agency and the proceeds will be used to refinance outstanding debt, Moody’s Investors Service said this week in a report. The ratings company said Harvard will also sell $500 million in taxable bonds for “eligible corporate purposes.”

Harvard, with a $40.9 billion endowment as of June 2019, last month forecast a decline in revenue and a slowdown in philanthropy because of the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.