December, 2018

• 22 December

  UK retailers get boost as sales surge

  Bloomberg Black Friday gave UK retailers an unexpected boost in the run-up to the key Christmas trading period. The volume of goods sold in stores and online jumped 1.4 percent in November, the most in six months, following two months of declines. An increase of just 0.3 percent was forecast in a Bloomberg survey. Office for National Statistics says increase ...

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• 22 December

  Gatwick resumes flights after drone causes brief suspension

  

  Bloomberg London’s Gatwick airport resumed flights after another reported drone incursion caused a brief interruption on December 21. “The sighting was confirmed, so there definitely was a drone in the area,” an airport spokeswoman said. Military measures “have given us the reassurance we need that it is safe to reopen.” Service had been halted as a precautionary measure while the ...

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• 22 December

  Ghosn’s demise exposes France in showdown with ally Nissan

  

  Bloomberg An hour’s drive north of Paris along the River Seine lies Flins, home to Renault SA’s biggest and oldest factory, where 2,700 workers and 900 robots toil in tandem to churn out a steady stream of compact cars. More than half of the vehicles rolling off the line, however, don’t carry the Renault diamond badge. Instead, the factory’s most ...

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• 22 December

  Huawei expands 5G testing in UK

  

  Bloomberg Huawei Technologies Ltd. has signed contracts with all four UK mobile networks to test its fifth-generation wireless equipment, deepening the Chinese vendor’s involvement in UK’s telecom industry as officials weigh whether to ban the company over security concerns. Huawei’s 5G gear was already being tested by BT Group Plc’s EE, CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd.’s Three UK and Vodafone Group ...

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• 22 December

  SoftBank plows $400mn into synthetic bio firm Zymergen

  

  Bloomberg Joshua Hoffman has done plenty of experimentation at Zymergen Inc., the robot-powered microbe factory he founded and leads. By building an army of AI-powered robots to genetically engineer more efficient microbes — the biological building blocks used to create all material — Zymergen revamped existing agricultural and industrial products sold by Fortune 500 companies and helped them increase profits. ...

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• 22 December

  China signals tax cuts for 2019

  Bloomberg China’s financial regulators appeared to confirm that tax cuts for 2019 are currently being finalised at a meeting of policy officials in Beijing, in a statement aimed at quelling online speculation that the opposite was the case. Online rumours saying Central Economic Work Conference decided not to cut taxes or fees are “contrary to the facts”, according to a ...

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• 22 December

  Humans beat robots as door opens for migrants in Japan

  

  Bloomberg The country that brought robots to car factories looks set to stay resolutely old school in agriculture as it seeks to attract more foreign workers to replenish an aging workforce. This month’s vote by Japan’s parliament to open the door more widely to overseas labourers confirms that despite government support and millions of dollars of investment in high-tech agriculture ...

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• 22 December

  Post-Brexit immigration plan angers UK businesses

  

  Bloomberg The UK published its long-awaited immigration plan for life outside the European Union, to end freedom of movement from the bloc and prioritise skilled workers regardless of nationality. Home Secretary Sajid Javid said the aim was to bring net migration down to “sustainable levels.” Reducing immigration has been a major issue for British voters and was a key motivation ...

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• 22 December

  Brexit: BBC in talks for new EU permits

  

  Bloomberg The BBC is in talks with Irish and Dutch authorities to obtain licenses allowing it to continue broadcasting across the European Union in the event of a no-deal Brexit, according to two people familiar with the matter. The UK licenses that the taxpayer-funded British Broadcasting Corp uses to beam hit shows including nature documentary “Blue Planet 2,’’ “Top Gear’’ ...

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• 22 December

  Global trade may dictate Canada’s bond market liveliness

  

  Bloomberg Global trade developments may dictate how lively Canadian corporate bond sales are next year. Trade tensions, which increased volatility and caused sales in the Canadian corporate securities market to collapse in the fourth quarter, are poised to continue. Issuers pulled back from the market in the fourth quarter and in 2019 volatility may put investors in the driver’s seat ...

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