Bloomberg China’s official factory gauge stabilized near a post-2012 high in December, capping a year of steady improvement and signaling policy makers have leeway to curb financial risks while keeping growth humming. The services gauge remained elevated. Input prices jumped. Manufacturing purchasing managers index stood at 51.4 last month, compared with a median estimate of 51.5 in a Bloomberg ...

  Bloomberg Goodix, a supplier of mobile chips to Amazon.com Inc. and major Chinese smartphone makers, plans to begin shopping abroad for semiconductor and software developers to gain an edge in an increasingly competitive market. The company wants to become the world’s biggest supplier of fingerprint sensors, Chief Executive Officer David Zhang said in an interview at the Consumer Electronics ...

  Bloomberg After six straight years of annual job gains topping 2 million, America’s labour market is as tight as ever, and it’s entering the next phase: an enduring pickup in wages. Average hourly earnings jumped by 2.9 percent in the 12 months through December, the most since the last recession ended in June 2009, according to the Labor Department’s ...

  Bloomberg The US trade deficit widened to a nine-month high in November as exports fell and companies and governments imported the most since August 2015. The gap grew by 6.8 percent to $45.2 billion from a revised $42.4 billion in the prior month, Commerce Department figures showed. The November shortfall was in line with the Bloomberg survey median for ...

  Bloomberg Apple Inc.’s top executives saw their compensation fall last year while Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook had his biggest payout yet from his record 2011 award. Cook’s five top lieutenants received about $22.8 million each for 2016, according to a proxy statement. The pay packages included $2.8 million in salary and cash bonus, and $20 million in equity ...

  Bloomberg Volkswagen AG is close to reaching a multibillion dollar settlement with the Justice Department over its cheating of diesel emissions tests, according to people familiar with the matter, wrapping up the company’s exposure to US authorities in the long-running scandal. The resolution, which could come as soon as next week, would include criminal and civil penalties, said the ...

  Bloomberg France is setting out to entice Tesla Motors Inc., boasting the country’s anti- pollution stance and incentives for consumers to go electric. France’s Economy Minister Michel Sapin is due to tour the company’s production site in Fremont, California, to argue that if Tesla is going to expand, it should do so in France, a ministry spokeswoman said. Sapin ...

  Bloomberg For years, the biggest names in tech crammed the Consumer Electronics Show floor with fridges, light switches and microwave ovens to preview a futuristic world where you could control every appliance in the home with your voice. But most of these products, bogged down by glitchy software and hard-to-navigate interfaces, failed to go mainstream. This year may be ...

  Bloomberg Microsoft Corp. is rebooting its push to sell software for cars with a new set of programs and services in a bid to keep up with rivals like Google and Apple Inc. that are expanding in auto technology. “We’re not getting into self-driving cars ourselves but we can be an important element of it by providing the platform,” ...

  Bloomberg Carnival Corp. is unveiling wear- able technology that allows cruise ship staff to personalize service at sea, whether it’s knowing a guest’s favourite drink or wishing them a happy birthday. The world’s largest cruise operator plans to roll out its OceanMedallions on Princess Cruises starting in November. The quarter-size medallions can be worn like a watch, a necklace ...