Bloomberg Australian building approvals suffered the biggest annual back-to-back drop in almost a decade as a housing slump deepens. Building permits fell 22.5 percent in December from a year earlier after plunging 33.5 percent in November, Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed in Sydney on Monday. That’s the worst two-month result since January-February 2009, during the depths of the global ...

Bloomberg Acquisitive Chinese luxury apparel firm Shandong Ruyi Group is planning an initial public offering (IPO) for The Lycra Co., maker of the elastic material used in yoga pants and skinny jeans. Ruyi aims to list the business within three years, the group’s chief strategy officer, Kelvin Ho, said in an interview in Hong Kong. Lycra Co. owns some well-known ...

Bloomberg China’s consumers have cut back on purchases of everything from Apple Inc.’s iPhones to Swiss watches as the trade war with the US hits the economy. Landing just days after hundreds of local companies issued profit warnings and multinationals sounded the alarm about softening demand, the week-long Lunar New Year holiday will provide the next litmus test of the ...