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Bloomberg Toyota Motor Corp’s luxury Lexus brand posted a double-digit sales gain last year, taking its 30th anniversary in stride as strength in China and Europe offset stalled demand in North America. The brand, which debuted in 1989, grew 10% to 765,330 vehicles worldwide, Toyota said in a statement on Monday, powered by strong sales of its UX subcompact crossover ...

Bloomberg India is gearing up for what could potentially be a slew of mega initial public offerings. PM Narendra Modi’s government surprised investors on February 1 by saying it will sell part of its stake in state-run behemoth Life Insurance Corp of India to meet its record asset-sale target. The jumbo sale could fetch the government between 850 billion rupees ...

Bloomberg Asian manufacturing gauges stumbled in January, suggesting the US-China trade agreement failed to spur sentiment for an industry now bracing for supply-chain disruptions and a blow to demand from the spread of the coronavirus. South Korea’s purchasing manager index — often viewed as a key barometer of global demand — fell to 49.8 from 50.1 in December. Malaysia’s reading ...

Bloomberg The hits just keep coming for Hong Kong. In 2019, there was the escalating US-China trade war, which squeezed exports. Then came violent protests beginning mid-year, with street-fighting between police and protesters driving away tourists and shoppers, hurting the services industries, and tipping the economy into its first contraction in a decade. Now, with advance figures on Monday confirming ...

Bloomberg The Brexit battle between the UK and the European Union (EU) resumed as British leader Boris Johnson clashed with the bloc’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier at the start of 11 months of talks on a future trade deal. The pound fell. Barnier said in Brussels that a “highly ambitious” trade deal is on offer for the UK — but ...

Bloomberg Facebook Inc agreed to pay $550 million to resolve claims it collected user biometric data without consent in one of the largest consumer privacy settlements in US history. The accord, which requires a judge’s approval, will avert a trial that may have exposed the social networking company to billions of dollars in damages. Facebook fought unsuccessfully to persuade the ...

Bloomberg Chancellor Angela Merkel’s efforts to rule out a ban on Huawei Technologies Co have hit a wall of resistance in parliament. While the UK and the European Union introduced policies that allow Huawei’s partial participation in next-generation wireless networks, Merkel has failed to forge a compromise with hard-line lawmakers in her Christian Democratic-led bloc who want to ban China’s ...

Bloomberg Aside from F-Series pickups hauling in gobs of profit, Ford Motor Co’s automotive business isn’t carrying much weight lately. Thank goodness for the finance guys. Ford Credit, the lending arm that’s become accustomed to propping up the company in good times and bad, now generates about half the automaker’s profit, up from 15% to 20% in the past. Ford ...

Bloomberg UK manufacturing output unexpectedly avoided a contraction for the first time since April at the start of 2020, providing further evidence that ebbing political uncertainty is supporting the economy. IHS Markit said its Purchasing Managers Index for the sector climbed to 50 in January, right at the level that separates contraction from expansion. That’s also an improvement from an ...

Bloomberg The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and its allies considered how to respond to a plunge in oil prices, with Russia signaling for the first time it was open to Saudi Arabia’s push for an emergency meeting. Potential dates being discussed are February 8-9 and February 14-15, though for now the next regular meeting on March 5-6 remains ...