Bloomberg China’s official factory gauge unexpectedly rose last month to the highest level in almost two years, suggesting the economy’s stabilization remains intact and that a weakening in July was flood-related and temporary. Manufacturing purchasing managers index rose to 50.4 in August from July’s 49.9 and compared to the 49.8 median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Non-manufacturing PMI ...

  Bloomberg The strength of Australia’s jobs market is being overstated by a surge in casual positions and an inability by workers to secure more hours. While the unemployment rate fell to 5.7 percent in July from 6.3 percent a year earlier, 87 percent of the jobs created in that period were part-time: a definition that covers anything from 1 ...

  Bloomberg Samsung Electronics Co. unveiled its new wristwatch device in Berlin, which includes support for contactless payments, as the company pushes to catch up to Apple Inc. in a still nascent market of wearable products. At the IFA technology tradeshow, the world’s biggest smartphone maker introduced the Gear S3 Classic and Gear S3 Frontier — two variations of the ...