International News

Bloomberg The Big Four accounting firms may have to split their operations into separate UK business units as part of a sweeping overhaul of the industry proposed by regulators that stopped short of the measures sought by some critics. The Competition and Markets Authority said audit work should be split from the much larger consulting business at an operational level, ...

Bloomberg The warning signs of 2019 are lighting up for the UK economy as Brexit comes to a head. Retailers are complaining about an abysmal holiday season, house prices are weakening, businesses are holding back investment and the swooning pound is fuelling inflation. With just a few months until the March 29 deadline to exit the world’s biggest trading bloc, ...

Bloomberg General Electric Co (GE) has filed confidentially for an initial public offering of its health-care unit, according to people familiar with the matter, moving ahead with plans to spin off its second most profitable business line. The industrial conglomerate is working with Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Morgan Stanley ...

Bloomberg Sentiment among US homebuilders fell in December to the lowest level since 2015, missing all forecasts and signaling that the industry’s struggles are intensifying amid elevated prices and higher borrowing costs. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index dropped to 56 from 60 in the prior month amid broad-based declines across sales, expectations and buyer traffic, ...

Bloomberg German business sentiment deteriorated further to its lowest level in more than two years as trade tensions and the rising risk of a no-deal Brexit threaten to hamper a meaningful economic rebound from a summer lull. The Ifo Institute’s gauge of corporate confidence in Europe’s largest economy fell to 101.0 in December from 102.0 in November. The fourth straight ...

Bloomberg Providers in the UK’s markets for cash savings, mortgages, insurance, mobile phone contracts and broadband are burdening customers with a “loyalty penalty” of around 4 billion pounds ($4.4 billion) a year, the Competition and Markets Authority said. Vulnerable people, including the elderly and those on a low income, may be more at risk of overpaying for key financial services ...

Bloomberg Micron Technology Inc, the largest US maker of computer memory chips, gave a forecast that fell short of analysts’ estimates, adding to concern that a two-year surge in demand for its products is over. The shares declined as much as 9 percent in extended trading. Revenue in the current period will be $5.7 billion to $6.3 billion, the Boise, ...

Bloomberg Huawei Technologies’s rotating chairman, speaking publicly for the first time since the shock arrest of its chief financial officer, warned that blacklisting the Chinese company without proof will only hurt the industry and snarl the advent of future wireless technologies worldwide. The company took swipes at the US and its allies on Tuesday during its first press event since ...

Bloomberg Japan’s budget for the fiscal year starting in April 2019 will top 100 trillion yen ($890 billion) for the first time, highlighting the government’s struggle to curb spending in the developed world’s most indebted nation. The budget will increase 3.8 percent to about 101.5 trillion yen, according to a draft budget document obtained by Bloomberg News. Almost a third ...

Bloomberg China is staring at a bigger-than-expected slowdown next year as credit shrinks, said an analyst who made her name warning about the dangers of the nation’s credit binge. Total credit in the country, including lending to companies, has “absolutely collapsed” in 2018, according to Charlene Chu, a senior partner at Autonomous Research in Hong Kong. The estimate is a ...