Bloomberg European car sales rose 4.5% in November, the third straight monthly gain for automakers that have been battered all year by economic woes, trade wars and a broader industry slowdown. The monthly rise wasn’t enough to turn the year around so far, with cumulative sales since January still down 0.3%, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association said. Four of the ...

Brits haven’t felt very much like shopping this year, and understandably so. There’s been political gridlock and upheaval, the repeated threat of a hard Brexit and an election in December for the first time since 1923. No wonder despite strong employment, and wage growth outpacing inflation, UK consumers have been acting as if they’re in a recession. As a result, ...

A core function of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) — founded in 1995 to govern the rules of trade between 164 countries — ground to a halt. The reason for that was US President Donald Trump, who has never really had much time for multilateral institutions. The WTO has been on his hit-list for some time as an entity that ...

Even China’s IPO-mad retail investors are souring on the country’s banks. Postal Savings Bank of China Co. began trading with a whimper in Shanghai, after a 32.7 billion yuan share sale that was nation’s largest since 2010. The stock rose as much as 2.7% in the trading, a fraction of the 44% limit that most newly listed shares hit on ...

For weeks, drifting clouds from bushfires around Australia’s east coast have settled on Sydney. Thick smoke has rendered the Sydney Harbour Bridge invisible. Ambulance calls for breathing problems have risen 30% on typical seasonal levels. Beaches are black from settling embers. You’d think that Australia’s political class would be under pressure to come up with solutions to the disaster spreading ...

After almost two years of tariffs, counter-tariffs, meetings, bad-tempered tweets, and backroom maneuverings, we may finally be on the brink of the first part of a hoped-for trade deal between the US and China. It wasn’t worth it. President Donald Trump has signed off on an agreement to de-escalate his conflict with Beijing. Discussions will focus on the US reducing ...

As food delivery companies gobble up their competitors around the world with mounting haste, the firms’ customers risk being left with scant choice when it comes to ordering nosh online. Regulators need to take notice. Last week, Germany’s Delivery Hero SE agreed to buy Woowa Brothers Corp. in a deal valuing the South Korean company at $4 billion. The acquisition ...

Michael O’Leary of Ryanair Holdings Plc is an unlikely spokesman for how aviation can avoid killing the planet. The budget travel evangelist has delighted in disparaging “eco-warriors” and casting doubt on climate science. But as chairman of the European airline association, A4E, he’s now front and center of the effort to persuade governments not to impose new climate taxes on ...

Bloomberg Stocks declined in Europe and US index futures dipped on Tuesday as the global rally in equities eased, with the sugar rush of a partial trade deal between the two largest economies fading and investors on the hunt for fresh catalysts. Treasuries were steady. Declines in banks and consumer-goods companies undercut European stocks. Unilever tumbled after a sales-growth warning ...

Bloomberg Unilever slumped after Chief Executive Officer Alan Jope backed away from his predecessor’s growth targets as consumers around the world jilt mainstream brands. The maker of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and Dove soap said sales gains will be slightly below guidance for 2019 and in the lower half of its multiyear range of 3% to 5% in 2020. ...