Bloomberg Samsung, South Korea’s biggest conglomerate, plans to invest $161 billion to ramp up its ability to produce memory chips and other products vital to future growth, lending its support to President Moon Jae-in’s efforts to shore up a slowing economy. The spending will boost research and expenditure in artificial intelligence, fifth-generation wireless networks, bio-pharmaceuticals, displays, semiconductors and other key ...

Bloomberg Typhoon Shanshan continued its slow-moving approach towards the Tokyo region, with the tropical storm’s arrival likely to disrupt commuters from August 8 night through Thursday morning. Authorities are warning that as the typhoon’s approach is unusually slow, its effects may be last longer than usual. The typhoon is set to bear down overnight on the Kanto region, where Tokyo ...

Bloomberg China is increasing its monitoring of indebted state-owned enterprises by creating watch lists and setting alarm levels, underscoring that the government hasn’t abandoned the goal of controlling borrowing. The government will set two debt thresholds for state-owned firms — one level would trigger alarms and the other would require higher regulatory attention. Firms with debt above those levels will ...

Bloomberg As Nafta negotiators from the US and Mexico meet for a third straight week in a push to complete a deal on cars, they’re also preparing for a showdown over a clause sought by the Trump administration that could end the agreement altogether. The nations are nearing an accord on content and salaries for auto manufacturing, and the issue ...

Bloomberg Sun Life Financial Inc., one of Canada’s biggest life insurers, sees the country’s pension risk-transfer market growing to as much as C$5 billion ($3.9 billion) this year as more companies look to divest retirement plans. The Canadian group annuity market will probably reach at least C$4.5 billion this year, up from C$2.7 billion in 2016, Brent Simmons, senior managing ...

Bloomberg The US said it will begin imposing 25 percent duties on an additional $16 billion in Chinese imports in two weeks, escalating a trade war between the world’s two biggest economies. Customs will begin collecting the duties on 279 product lines, down from 284 items on the initial list, as of August 23, the US Trade Representative’s Office said ...

Bloomberg Salesforce.com Inc., a maker of cloud-based customer-relations software, is the latest technology company to embrace the idea of having two chief executives, by promoting Keith Block to run the company alongside co-founder Marc Benioff. Block started with the San Francisco-based company in 2013, became chief operating officer in 2016 and also serves as vice chairman. He’ll remain a director, ...

Bloomberg Dry, hot and windy conditions are threatening to expand California’s largest wildfires, which so far are burning in largely rural areas, muting their economic impact. The fires, which have killed 12 people and burned an area almost as big as Rhode Island, have hit the tourism industry around Yosemite National Park but left agricultural areas mostly unscathed. “While the ...

As the Brexit shambles rolls on, I’ve been puzzled by the hostility of Brexiteers to the proposal that Theresa May is trying to sell at home and to the European Union. A weird domestic alliance of hardline Leavers and zealous Remainers could block May’s plans, regardless of how the EU responds — and the result might well be a no-deal ...

The S&P 500 Index rallied, coming within 0.3 percent of its intraday record set in January. If a new high is rea-ched in coming days, it wou-ld cap an incredible come- back from the sell-off in late January and early February that drove the benchmark into a correction. It would also renew criticism that investors are too complacent. If only ...