Bloomberg Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is getting its digital assistant into Mercedes-Benzes, Audis and Volvos in China, enlisting a clutch of global automakers in an effort to popularise the year-old technology for everything from shopping to home security. Daimler AG, Volkswagen AG and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co.’s Volvo join some 100 brands Alibaba says it’s partnered with. The Chinese …

Bloomberg International Business Machines Corp., a group of four gold and diamond industry companies and an independent laboratory are developing a blockchain network for tracing the provenance of finished pieces of jewelry from mine to store. The TrustChain Initiative, which will run on IBM’s technology, includes precious-metals refiner Asahi Refining, US jewellery retailer Helzberg Diamonds, precious-metals supplier LeachGarner, jewellery-maker the …

Bloomberg Economists abandoned predictions that the Bank of England (BoE) will increase interest rates next month after two weeks of disappointing data and the public doubts of Mark Carney. The shock near-stagnation of the economy proved the final straw after the BOE governor raised questions about such a move last week. Firms including NatWest Markets, SEB, Berenberg and ING have …