International News

  AP Employers boosted hiring in 13 US states in January, while employment changed little in 36 states. The Labor Department says Alaska is the only state to show a significant decline in jobs, shedding 2,100. Nationwide, hiring picked up in January as employers added 238,000 jobs, a clear improvement over last year’s average gains. A broad rebound in the …

  Bloomberg General Electric Co. Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt’s compensation fell 35 percent to $21.3 million last year, as an oil and gas slump suppressed demand for industrial equipment and the company’s shares underperformed the market. Immelt, 61, received a $3.8 million salary last year, unchanged from 2015, according to a proxy statement from the Boston-based company Wednesday. His …

  Bloomberg NorthVolt AB, the Swedish company founded by a former Tesla Inc. executive, wants to cut the cost of storing power in half with a 4 billion euro ($4.2 billion) lithium-ion battery factory. The Stockholm-based company wants to raise 1 billion euros by 2018, when it plans to break ground on a factory during the second half of the …

  Bloomberg China’s economy has shown signs of improvement in the first two months of the year with little risk of a hard landing, senior Chinese officials said. China’s macroeconomy stabilized in the beginning of 2017, Ning Jizhe, head of the National Bureau of Statistics, said at the sidelines of the annual legislature meeting in Beijing. Industrial output in January …

  Bloomberg Billionaire Elon Musk just bet he can solve a looming energy crisis in Australia within 100 days by deploying Tesla Inc. technology to plug a supply gap that’s caused power blackouts. In a conversation on Twitter with Australian tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes, Musk backed up an earlier commitment Tesla made, reported by the Australian Financial Review, to deploy …

  Bloomberg Rising trade tensions are pushing Chinese car-wheel maker Wanfeng Auto Holding Group to seek further acquisitions in the US to help localize more production and cut its reliance on imports. The Xinchang-based auto parts supplier is in talks to buy a machinery company in the US, and is open to purchasing a business in the financial industry, Wanfeng …

  BEIJING/ AP China’s industry minister defended a manufacturing development plan and rejected complaints foreign makers of electric cars and other goods might be pressured to hand over technology or forced out of promising markets. Miao Wei, minister of industry and information technology, tried to reassure foreign companies that the “Made in China 2025” industry plan treats all companies equally. …

  Bloomberg Indian companies probably won’t invest in additional capacity for at least another year as the private sector struggles with sluggish domestic demand and growing protectionism overseas, according to the nation’s largest engineering firm. “The private sector has excess capacity and markets have shrunk as compared to their plan when these capacities were put up,” said R. Shankar Raman, …

  ROCKLAND / AP Hitachi Ltd. is aiming to expand its rail business in the US by bidding for streetcar and light-rail projects as President Donald Trump pledges to spend as much as $1 trillion to upgrade infrastructure across the country. The Japanese conglomerate “sees quite a big opportunity” in the US, Alistair Dormer, chief executive officer of Hitachi Rail …

  Bloomberg Unlike most startups, WeWork Cos. doesn’t seem to struggle with raising money. Soon it’ll start spreading some of its cash around to smaller startups, partly in the hopes of luring them to become WeWork customers. The New York-based co-working giant said it’ll give away $20 million in cash prizes to entrepreneurs and small businesses in a series of …