Beijing / AFP One of the disinflationary pressures that’s gripped the global economy for the past five years is abating. China’s factory gate prices — falling since the start of 2012 — turned positive in September, squeaking out an increase of 0.1 percent from a year earlier. Given China’s status as factory to the world, that means prices of …

  Bloomberg Essar Group, controlled by India’s billionaire Ruia brothers, signed binding agreements to sell a combined 98 percent stake in its refinery unit to Russian energy giant Rosneft PJSC and a consortium of Trafigura and United Capital Partners. The Indian conglomerate agreed to sell 49 percent each of Essar Oil Ltd. to Rosneft and the consortium for an enterprise …

  BLOOMBERG Steinhoff International Holdings NV agreed to buy Fantastic Holdings Ltd. of Australia for A$361.4 million ($275 million) as the South African retailer seeks to expand its footprint in the southern hemisphere. The company offered A$3.50 a share in cash, a 43 percent premium to Thursday’s closing share price, Fantastic Holdings said in a statement on Friday. The deal …

  Bloomberg It turns out Masayoshi Son isn’t ready to retire after all. Just a year ago, SoftBank Group Corp.’s founder looked poised to fulfill his long-stated plan of stepping aside in his 60’s. He had a global telecom empire, track record of spectacularly successful investments and a bright young successor. Instead, the 59-year-old edged aside his heir apparent, cut …

  Bloomberg Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa is beginning to scare some investors. Almost a year into the role, Costa has succeeded in rolling back some austerity measures without alienating Portugal’s euro-area partners and creditors. Now, as his Socialist government prepares to raise indirect taxes and levies on property in its 2017 budget to help pay for higher pensions and …

  Bloomberg London house prices fell for a fifth month in August, the worst streak for the U.K. capital since the depths of the recession seven years ago. The 0.6 percent drop, taking the average value to 580,930 ($708,000) pounds, followed a 1 percent fall the previous month, LSL Property Services and Acadata said on Saturday. The annual pace of …

Bloomberg The UK government should learn from California and incentivize energy-storage technology to help move away from dirty fuels, a cross-party panel of lawmakers said. Ministers should reform the Capacity Market, a subsidy program designed to lower the risk of blackouts, to reward both energy-storage projects and power users who lower consumption at times of high demand, Parliament’s Energy and …

  Bloomberg Belgium’s government averted a political crisis by relegating plans to cut the tax rate on corporate profits and calls for a capital gains levy to further review as the conflict threatened to derail a last-minute budget deal. “You can’t let things like this depend on the outcome of a deal struck in early hours,” said Deputy Prime Minister …

  Bloomberg France’s lowest water reservoir levels in a decade are helping to bolster power prices that are 50 percent above last year’s levels even as a reduction in nuclear supply is expected to ease. Hydropower generation is forecast to be the lowest for 10 years this month, according to consultants Pira Energy Group. It’s already 1.4 gigawatts below last …

  Bloomberg Self-driving technology promises to pretty much transform the auto industry as we know it. It may also change the business of selling motorcycles—but in a very different way. It all comes down to safety, according to Karl Viktor Schaller, head of development at BMW Motorrad. When robots are at the wheel, far fewer bikers will die on the …