Bloomberg Two sweeping goals have dictated the direction of China’s economic policy during President Xi Jinping’s presidency: Doubling per-person GDP and household incomes over the 10 years ending this December and containing an explosion in debt. Tiptoeing between the two conflicting ambitions hasn’t been easy, especially last year as the trade war with the US deepened. Yet policy restraint held ...
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China car sales to see a historic plunge in first months of 2020
Bloomberg China’s car sales are likely to slump the most on record in the first two months of 2020 as the coronavirus keeps buyers away from showrooms, intensifying headwinds for automakers in the world’s biggest market. Sales are set to fall by 25% to 30% in the January-February period, according to a preliminary forecast by Cui Dongshu, secretary general of ...
Read More »Hyundai halts production in South Korea
Bloomberg Hyundai Motor Co is halting production in South Korea this week because of a component shortage caused by the coronavirus, the first global automaker to suspend output outside China because of the outbreak. The carmaker has been hit by a shortage of a wiring component made at a South Korean supplier’s plant in China, which has been halted after ...
Read More »India’s gold imports fall as record prices hit demand
Bloomberg India’s gold imports tumbled by half in January as record domestic prices and a slowdown in economic growth curbed demand in the world’s second-biggest buyer. Imports fell to 21.7 tons last month from 45.9 tons a year earlier, according to a person familiar with the data, who asked not to be identified as the information isn’t public. Finance Ministry ...
Read More »Sony hikes profit forecast over image censor
Bloomberg Sony Corp raised its profit forecast for the second time this fiscal year, boosted by strong demand for the image sensors that power smartphone cameras. Operating income will probably reach 880 billion yen ($8.1 billion) in the year ending on March 31, compared with the 840 billion yen Sony forecast in October and the 877 billion yen average of ...
Read More »India’s plan to open up bond access gets lukewarm response
Bloomberg India is looking to overseas funds to rescue its battered bond market, but relief may be slow to come. A move to allow global funds to buy more government and corporate debt is unlikely to reverse sentiment hurt by record bond sales and shrinking returns, investors say. “High bond supply means potential pressure on bond prices, so easier access ...
Read More »Alphabet misses analysts’sales targets; YouTube disappoints
Bloomberg Alphabet Inc reported quarterly revenue that missed analysts’ estimates, and new sales numbers on YouTube also disappointed Wall Street, sending the shares down more than 4% in extended trading. Overall revenue, excluding payments to partners, was $37.6 billion in the fourth quarter, less than analysts’ projections of $38.4 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Advertising revenue in the ...
Read More »Trump administration clears way for new currency tariffs
Bloomberg The Trump administration is going ahead with controversial new rules that would clear the way for the US to start applying punitive tariffs on goods from countries accused of having undervalued currencies, the Commerce Department said. The move would give new muscle to US complaints about currency manipulation that have in the past targeted economies like China and Japan ...
Read More »Elon Musk starts decade with a $13.5 billion gain
Bloomberg Jeff Bezos is still the world’s richest person by a comfortable margin, thanks to Amazon.com Inc’s January surge that added $9 billion to his net worth. But no one, not even Bezos, is having as good a start to the decade as Tesla Inc Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk. On February 3, shares of the electric-vehicle maker surged 20% ...
Read More »Huawei, ZTE fight to stay off blacklist as US firms fear ban
Bloomberg Huawei Technologies Co and ZTE Corp asked US regulators to keep them off a list of companies deemed national security threats, a label that would bar the Chinese telecommunications equipment makers from selling gear to subsidised US carriers. Mobile broadband providers separately told the Federal Communications Commission that it would be costly for them to replace gear made by ...
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