News

Bloomberg South Korea’s exports slightly contracted in June, adding to concerns about the health of the country’s economy. Shipments fell 0.1 percent from a year earlier, compared with the 2.2 percent gain forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Imports increased 10.7 percent, leaving a trade surplus of $6.32 billion, according to a statement from the trade ministry. The dip ...

Bloomberg Chinese restaurant chain P.F. Chang’s Bistro, burdened with a heavy debt load and fierce industry competition, may be headed to the auction block, private equity owner Centerbridge Partners LP said. Centerbridge bought the brand and took it private in 2012. The firm recently completed P.F. Chang’s split from Pei Wei Asian Diner, a separate restaurant chain that had been ...

Bloomberg Jaguar Land Rover is planning to build an electric vehicle in China as the iconic British manufacturer steps up its game in a fast-growing market where other luxury marques from Audi to Mercedes-Benz are plowing money to gain leadership. The automaker, which already makes the gasoline-powered E-Pace compact sport utility vehicle locally with its Chinese partner Chery Automobile Co., ...

Bloomberg Canada’s oil industry just moved one step closer to getting some relief from its pipeline woes. Enbridge Inc’s planned $7 billion replacement and expansion of its Line 3 conduit, linking Alberta’s oil fields to refineries in the US, was given the green light by regulators in Minnesota, clearing the way for the project to move ahead. The state’s Public ...

Bloomberg The chairman of Libya’s National Oil Corp in Tripoli said he’s confident that the US and other world powers would help block authorities in eastern Libya from exporting any crude after militia captured key ports there. Forces loyal to Khalifa Haftar, a commander in the politically divided nation’s east, have handed over control of ports with a combined export ...

Bloomberg South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources has issued a moratorium on new applications for petroleum exploration and development in order to change its licensing process. The restriction won’t affect applications received before the date of publication of the notice, which appeared in the online version of the Government Gazette on June 28 and was signed by Minister Gwede Mantashe. ...

Bloomberg German engineering group Robert Bosch GmbH plans to sell its packaging technology division that generated 1.3 billion euros ($1.5 billion) in sales last year to focus on its core business. The main pharmaceutical and food-packaging operations have insufficient synergies with the manufacturer’s other areas and can compete more effectively outside the group, Bosch said in an emailed statement. It ...

Bloomberg Shares of German shipping line Hapag-Lloyd AG plunged as much as 22 percent after the company cut its profit forecast for the year, as overcapacity in the industry combined with rising fuel costs to put a squeeze on profit. Danish rival A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S also fell on Hapag-Lloyd’s surprise profit warning. Container-shipping capacity has been growing faster than trade ...

Bloomberg The UK construction industry fared far better than previously thought during a snow-blighted first quarter, giving an unexpected boost to the economy. Building output fell 0.8 percent from the fourth quarter instead of the 2.7 percent drop estimated last month, the Office for National Statistics said. Overall economic growth was revised to 0.2 percent from 0.1 percent. Separate figures ...

Bloomberg German unemployment fell for the 12th consecutive month in June, suggesting that companies in Europe’s largest economy are relatively optimistic that the current slowdown won’t worsen. The number of people out of work declined by a seasonally adjusted 15,000 to 2.342 million, the Federal Labor Agency in Nuremberg said. Economists in a Bloomberg survey had predicted a drop of ...