International News

Bloomberg LVMH’s first-half profit grew at the fastest rate since 2011 as Japan and Europe joined a luxury industry recovery led by China, showing double-digit sales increases in the second quarter. The world’s biggest luxury-goods company said Japan was boosted by promotional activity like staging Louis Vuitton’s latest runway show there, while Europe was helped by more favorable comparisons in ...

Bloomberg Nintendo Co.’s Switch is showing signs of becoming a money earner. The Kyoto-based company reported profit and sales that topped estimates as more people bought the new gaming machine, lifting prospects for brisk shipments during the holiday season. Operating profit for April-June, the Switch’s first full quarter on store shelves, was 16.2 billion yen ($145 million), exceeding analysts’ average ...

Bloomberg India opened a probe into whether Chinese solar-equipment makers are hurting its domestic industry by dumping inventories and driving down prices to unfair levels. “A causal link between the said dumping and injury exists to justify an initiation of an anti-dumping investigation,” according to a notification published on the website of the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties. ...

Bloomberg Earliest indicators show that China’s economic engine is humming this summer. Confidence of small- and medium-sized companies rebounded in July, satellites are picking up increasing activity on the ground, sentiment of steel traders and producers has improved, while that of sales managers is at the highest level in more than two years. This buoyancy helps offset concern from wary ...

Bloomberg Initially investors celebrated a robust quarter from Alphabet Inc., driven by strong sales growth. Then they spotted a red flag: rising costs that could crimp margins going forward. The Google division generated most of the quarter’s revenue but paid out 22 percent of its $22.67 billion in sales in so-called traffic acquisition costs or TAC — payments to partners ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump said the US and the UK are working on a potentially “big and exciting” trade deal and the relationship between the two countries is going to be “even better” after Brexit. Trump’s comments, made in tweets late on Monday and on Tuesday, came as UK Trade Secretary Liam Fox was in Washington to pave the way ...

Bloomberg UK factory production reached a two-decade high last quarter as optimism about export orders swelled to the highest since the 1970s. A Confederation of British Industry survey showed the volume of output rapidly grew in the three months to July, with the CBI index reaching its strongest reading since 1995. Factories are “upbeat in their expectations for overall demand ...

Bloomberg General Motors Co.’s strategy of shunning discounted sales to rental-car companies to focus on more profitable deliveries of pickups and SUVs to U.S. consumers is boosting its bottom line. Adjusted earnings of $1.89 per share in the three months ended in June beat analyst estimates of $1.70 a share. The largest U.S. automaker sold a richer mix of sport ...

Bloomberg Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. agreed to buy Jimmy Choo Plc for about 896 million pounds ($1.2 billion), as the maker of handbags popular with the commuter set seeks to restore lost luster. The purchase of Jimmy Choo, Michael Kors’ first deal to expand beyond its own brand name since its initial public offering in 2011, gives the New York ...

Bloomberg India’s ambitious ‘Housing for All’ plan is bumping up against some harsh realities. Prime Minister Narendra Modi set a target in 2015 of building 50 million homes in less than a decade, or about seven million a year. The nation has since added only 180,877 under the scheme, underscoring the challenge in achieving that target. “It was a moon ...