Bloomberg Asia-Pacific leaders are expected to send a strong message in defense of free trade on Sunday as they wrap up a summit that has been overshadowed by US President-elect Donald Trump’s protectionism. The broad consensus at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, which features some of the world’s most powerful leaders on both sides of the Pacific, is …

  Bloomberg Home-loan providers in Australia are selling mortgage bonds at the slowest pace in four years, flocking instead to cheaper debt that doesn’t require collateral. Just A$14.8 billion ($11 billion) of new residential mortgage-backed securities have been issued so far in 2016 by banks and other housing lenders, 36 percent less than at this stage last year, data compiled …

  Bloomberg The country’s proposed national minimum wage amounts to 20 rand per hour and brings South Africa a step closer to tackling poverty, inequality and unemployment, South African Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa said to reporters in Johannesburg on Sunday. “It is by no means the final figure of what the national minimum wage is going to be,” Ramaphosa said. …