Bloomberg The euro-area economy strengthened further at the start of 2018, bringing with it signs of a long-awaited pickup in inflation. The improvement lifted IHS Markit’s Purchasing Managers’ Index to 58.6 from 58.1 in December, higher than economists had forecast. The gauge is now at a level suggesting quarterly economic growth of close to 1 percent, according to the report. ...

Bloomberg The UK labour market displayed unexpected resilience in the three months through November as employment jumped and wage growth ticked higher. The number of people in work rose 102,000 to a record high, confounding market expectations that employment would fall. Basic pay growth quickened to 2.4 percent, the highest in almost a year, though it still lags well behind ...

Bloomberg Daimler AG, Siemens AG and other German manufacturers are under pressure to make concessions to employees as more disruptive walkouts loom in a contract dispute over wages and work hours. At talks, the IG Metall union is pushing employers to raise pay 6 percent and subsidise wages for workers reducing hours to care for kids or older family members. ...

Bloomberg Google is willing to pay more tax globally, Sundar Pichai, the CEO of the largest business unit of Alphabet Inc., said on Wednesday at the WEF in Davos, Switzerland. “We are happy to pay more tax, whatever the world agrees to,” Pichai said. But he said the question was where Google should pay it. Critics have accused large US ...

Bloomberg Billionaires, world leaders and investors are gathered in Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting to hobnob and discuss topics ranging from the global economy and harassment, to the risks and opportunities of artificial intelligence. Not to mention hear a speech by US President Donald Trump. The second day at Davos saw German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French ...

Bloomberg Chinese conglomerate HNA Group faces rising bond maturities this year even if it’s able to navigate current difficulties in repaying debt to banks. HNA is under mounting pressure as several banks are said to have frozen some unused credit lines to its units after missed payments. That follows a $40-billion-plus buying spree that saw the conglomerate emerge from obscurity ...

Bloomberg JSW Steel Ltd., India’s biggest producer, is interested in snapping up two struggling rivals, Bhushan Steel Ltd. and Monnet Ispat & Energy Ltd., as part of an industry-wide wave of consolidation sparked by a new bankruptcy law designed to clear-out distressed assets. The Mumbai-based company will partner with Japan’s JFE Holdings Inc., which holds a 15 percent stake in ...

Bloomberg India is still open to Tesla Inc. setting up operations in the country, even though the electric-car maker has chosen China for its first car assembly plant overseas. “If they are coming, if they are ready to come, we will welcome, we are ready to offer them land and all type of help,” Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said. “Presently ...

Bloomberg To understand why President Donald Trump slapped a global tariff on washing machine imports rather than singling out offending countries, it helps to follow the years-long cat-and-mouse game between US officials and South Korean manufacturers LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics. In 2011, US rival Whirlpool Corp. accused the two Asian companies of dumping machines made in South Korea and ...

Bloomberg The influential Koch political network is urging President Donald Trump to reject a proposal made by the US Chamber of Commerce to increase the federal gas tax to help modernise American roads, bridges and other infrastructure. Last week, the chamber called on Congress and the Trump administration to raise federal fuel taxes by 25 cents a gallon, pass initiatives ...