Bloomberg The Japanese government cut its formula-based assessment of the economy to indicate that economic conditions were worsening in August, an outcome signaling a higher risk that Japan could be entering a recession. The coincident economic index fell 0.4 point to 99.3 in August, the Cabinet Office reported on Monday, compared with an economists’ estimate of 99.4. The leading economic ...

Bloomberg This year’s railroad slump is getting worse as a slowdown in manufacturing threatens broader weakness in the US economy. There’s no bottom in sight as the decline in carloads for large US railroads widened to 5.5% in the third quarter, the biggest drop in three years, according to weekly reports from the Association of American Railroads. Shipments are down ...

Bloomberg General Electric (GE) Co took a bold step to cut the debt hampering Chief Executive Officer Larry Culp’s effort to turn around the struggling manufacturer, freezing pension benefits for about 20,000 employees in the US. The company also plans to pre-fund $4 billion to $5 billion of its estimated requirements for 2021 and 2022, according to a statement on ...

Bloomberg Volvo Cars and China’s Geely plan to merge their engine operations into a standalone company, a step the Swedish automaker says will cut costs as it shifts to a fully-electrified lineup. The combined unit would supply two million diesel and gasoline-powered engines, versus the 600,000 Volvo produces, giving the two companies more scale to reduce material costs. It could ...

Bloomberg Shares of UK construction suppliers slid after a profit warning from SIG Plc provided the latest sign of a weakening industry outlook amid concern over slowing growth and Brexit. The vendor of roofing materials, insulation products and partition walls saw its stock plunge as much as 27%, the most in a decade, after saying that adjusted profit would be ...

Bloomberg The battle for control of Osram Licht AG is set to enter a new round after Austria’s AMS AG vowed to keep fighting after a sweetened 4 billion euro ($4.4 billion) offer failed. AMS, a supplier to Apple Inc, will seek a regulator nod to raise its 19.99% stake in Osram. As the biggest shareholder in the German lighting ...

South Korea’s economy is in a tough spot. Too bad the monetary-policy response has been so tame. The country is flirting with outright deflation, figures showed, as consumer prices declined for the first time on record. Exports, which account for about 40% of gross domestic product slipped for 10 straight months. The Bank of Korea says the country will struggle ...

The trade war between the US and China has already slowed down growth in Europe’s export-oriented economies – including the biggest of them, Germany – even though they haven’t been slapped by any punitive tariffs. The wholesale buyers of European products, though, should perhaps be more optimistic about signing deals: Consumers attach a lot of value to the national brands ...

The merger that created Standard Life Aberdeen Plc two years ago was designed to produce an asset manager big enough to survive the existential threats facing the fund management industry. Martin Gilbert, founder of the Aberdeen side of the equation, hoped to join what he called “that $1 trillion club” by growing assets under management. The reality has been somewhat ...

The weakness in the global bond market is surprising for one primary reason: It’s a sign central banks may finally be taking the right steps to get the worldwide economy back on track. Central banks have taken a lot of heat by trying to combat slowing economic growth and inflation with the same strategies that have so far largely failed ...