Bloomberg Almost 4 million new jobs, rising wages and eight interest-rate cuts in Indonesia should have been enough to spur consumers into action in the world’s fourth most populous nation. Instead, an increasing number of people are keeping a tight grip on their purse strings and putting their money in the bank, leaving policy makers and economists perplexed. “All the ...

Bloomberg Shares of jewellers climbed in India after the government withdrew an order that brought the industry under anti money-laundering legislation, a move that comes just as gold buying improves before the Hindu festival of Diwali, the peak season for demand. Jewellers were included in the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act in August, increasing compliance requirements. Buyers have been shying away ...

Bloomberg Consumption was India’s big story. Its 1.3 billion population was expected to guzzle everything from iron to iPhones, driving global growth and cheering investors such as Apple Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. For a while everything seemed smooth. Indians were the world’s most confident consumers and the $2 trillion economy was the fastest-growing big market. Then, last November, ...

Bloomberg ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ Christmas shopping may get more hectic and crops might go unharvested unless the UK government ensures access to unskilled migrant labour after the UK leaves the European Union, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) warned. The government must make it easy for workers from the EU currently living in the UK to secure settled status and establish an immigration ...

Bloomberg General Electric Co.’s new boss has barely uttered a word in public during his first two months on the job. But he’s already sending signals that his tenure could bring one of the most sweeping makeovers in the company’s 125-year history. Chief Executive Officer John Flannery is seeking deep cost reductions, weighing portfolio changes and reshaping management from top ...

Bloomberg Accor SA, Europe’s biggest hotel operator, offered to buy Australia’s Mantra Group Ltd. in a deal valuing the hotel and resort company at $930 million. The French company offered A$3.96 per share in cash for Mantra and was given access to its books, the target said in a statement on Monday. Mantra shares jumped by a record 18 percent ...

Bloomberg From the 300-plus crystal chandeliers to the gold-plated taps in the bathrooms, Donald Trump has transformed a hotel overlooking one of the world’s most legendary golf courses into an eponymous glittering palace. Members gathering for their tee times say they love many of the changes at the Trump Turnberry resort in Scotland, but they doubt the president will ever ...

Bloomberg Telkom SA SOC Ltd., South Africa’s largest landline operator, won’t award any new business to KPMG LLP’s local unit pending the outcome of an investigation into the firm by the country’s accountancy body. Any contracts underway with the auditor and consulting firm will be completed and their expiration dates will stand, the Pretoria-based company said in an email to ...

The “spoils society” is a phrase I coined some years ago to illustrate a basic problem of wealthy societies, including, of course, the United States. After all, our annual GDP (gross domestic product) is approaching $20 trillion. The problem is that, as societies become richer, so does the temptation for people to advance their economic interests by grabbing someone else’s ...

My thoughts tend to go to dark places these days. And so when I watched Google on Wednesday trot out one after another of its homegrown computing devices for every task and every nook of our homes, I went straight to dystopia: R.I.P. digital competition. Today most people experience computing through devices controlled by a handful of companies: principally Microsoft ...