Bloomberg Apple Inc. said its HomePod wireless speaker will go on sale in China next year, potentially beating Amazon.com Inc. and Google to the world’s most-populous nation. On its website in China, Apple added a banner that said the speaker will go on sale in “early 2019”. The Hong Kong website announced a similar move. The speaker will cost HK …

Bloomberg BYD Co., the electric-car maker backed by Warren Buffett, plans to list its battery business by 2022 to raise funds to expand as the global auto industry transitions away from the traditional combustion engine. The listing will occur sometime by the end of 2022 and the company hasn’t decided yet where the shares will be trading, Chairman Wang Chuanfu …

Bloomberg The European Central Bank will offer new long-term loans to banks next year while going slow on interest rates to underpin the region’s increasingly fragile upswing, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists. Almost three-quarters of respondents said they expect an announcement of such funding by March, to be handed out three months later. A deposit-rate hike is still …

Bloomberg Bets that Brazil may hold interest rates at a record low throughout 2019 gained strength after the country posted its biggest monthly deflation in 1-1/2 years. Consumer prices measured by the benchmark IPCA index fell 0.21 percent in November, three times as much as economists expected. Swap rates on futures contracts, a barometer of expected interest-rate decisions, dove following …

Bloomberg Canada’s eight big banks extended their record earnings streak this year, posting a 7.5 percent jump in annual profit fuelled by operations outside their home turf. Net income for the companies totalled C$45.9 billion ($34.3 billion) in the fiscal year ended October 31. Toronto-Dominion Bank and Bank of Montreal profited from their US consumer-lending divisions, while Bank of Nova …

Bloomberg Plans to merge two Kenyan banks will create a lender that can compete adequately with West African banks that are expanding into the region, Treasury Secretary Henry Rotich said. NIC Group Plc, one of Kenya’s mid-sized publicly traded banks, is in merger talks with Commercial Bank of Africa Ltd., the nation’s biggest closely held lender, the two said. The …

Bloomberg The German finance ministry is willing to “orchestrate” a mer-ger between Deutsche Bank AG and Commerzbank AG, according to Focus magazine. Various scenarios have been discussed, including one in which the German state would become Deutsche Bank’s largest shareholder for about five years before merging the two banks, Focus reported without saying how it got the information. Alternatively, Deutsche …

Bloomberg Indonesian flag carrier Garuda will keep taking deliveries of Boeing’s 737 Max jet, giving the new aircraft a vote of confidence while local rival Lion Air threatens to cancel its $22 billion order after suffering a plane crash in October. “Our Max jet has been performing well, we have no significant issue with it,” PT Garuda Indonesia President Director …

Bloomberg Airbus SE firmed up an order for 100 single-aisle aircraft from Avolon, the aircraft-leasing company owned by China’s HNA Group Co. The deal, worth $11.5 billion before discounts, seals an outline accord unveiled at the Farnborough Air Show in July, the Irish lessor said in a statement. Aircraft orders typically come in stages, and aren’t counted against order totals …

Bloomberg Hawaiian Holdings Inc. cut its outlook for a key revenue measure, citing low fares and sluggish demand — the second US airline to issue a gloomy forecast in as many days. “Year-over-year visitor growth from North America to Hawaii remains positive, but at a slower pace than industry capacity growth,” the parent of Hawaiian Airlines said. Revenue for each …