Bloomberg At first glance, things seem to be getting better for Japanese women. In an economy that’s historically lagged other developed nations when it comes to female workforce participation, a record 71% are now employed, an 11 point leap over a decade ago. The Japanese government boasts one of the most generous parental leave laws in the world and recently ...

Bloomberg Nissan Motor Co executives have examined the possibility of breaking away from Renault SA amid concerns that relations with the longtime French partner have turned dysfunctional after the ouster of former chief Carlos Ghosn, according to a person familiar with the matter. Since last year, Nissan has been exploring the pros and cons of sustaining the alliance, particularly when ...

Bloomberg Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, a major chipmaker to Apple Inc and Huawei Technologies Co, has recruited rival Intel Corp’s former top lobbyist Peter Cleveland to spearhead an unprecedented effort in Washington to mitigate impact from US-Chinese trade tensions. The world’s biggest contract chipmaker joins a growing number of companies with Chinese business interests that are stepping up US lobbying, ...

Bloomberg Canadian natural gas is trading at the highest price relative to US benchmarks in about 10 months after producers cut back on drilling and a rule change on a key Alberta pipeline system last year helped better manage flows of the fuel. The discount on gas traded at Alberta’s AECO hub versus the Henry Hub in the US shrank ...

Bloomberg Brookfield Renewable Partners LP, looking to bolster its status as one of the world’s largest clean-energy providers, is bidding to buy the shares of TerraForm Power Inc it doesn’t already own in a deal valuing the company at $3.9 billion. The proposal values TerraForm Power at $17.31 a share, representing an 11% premium to the closing share price on ...

Bloomberg Porsche AG shrugged off widespread industry malaise, reporting record deliveries for last year and predicting that its first all-electric model Taycan will foster further growth in 2020. Global deliveries rose 10% to 280,800 cars in 2019, driven mainly by strong consumer appetite for the Macan and Cayenne sport utility vehicles, Porsche said on Monday in a statement. “We’re optimistic ...

Bloomberg The UK economy unexpectedly shrank ahead of the general election, casting doubt over whether there was any growth at all in the fourth quarter. The figures will add to concerns at the Bank of England (BOE), where officials are debating whether further stimulus is needed if economic weakness persists. Three policy makers, including Governor Mark Carney, have flagged the ...

Bloomberg AstraZeneca Plc will stop testing a fish-oil pill for one form of cholesterol in the most advanced and expensive stage of clinical tests. The medicine, called Epanova, didn’t stand a very high likelihood of showing a benefit when combined with a statin for patients at risk of heart disease due to high levels of LDL (or bad) cholesterol, Astra ...

Bloomberg Zurich Insurance Group AG expects to have more power to increase commercial insurance rates than it has seen in almost two decades as a shortage of supply and high natural catastrophe payouts help reverse declining premiums. “The last time this kind of market really existed was in 2002,” James Shea, the company’s head of commercial insurance, said in an ...

Bloomberg The EU Commission is evaluating a ban on plastic packaging and setting new requirements for manufacturers, EU Commissioner-designate for environment and the oceans Virginijus Sinkevicius said in an interview with German newspaper Die Welt. “We definitely want to expand the rules for single-use plastics and are currently investigating in which direction it would be possible,” he was quoted as ...