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Bloomberg China’s shoppers and investors lost their appetite for gold this year — and there’s little expectation of any major improvement in 2020 as slowing growth and higher prices crimp consumer spending. Jewellery consumption is forecast to drop 4% to about 660 tons this year, according to forecasts from Metals Focus Ltd, while a decline of more than 20% to ...

Bloomberg Hong Kong took measures on Monday to help banks put more money in the hands of local businesses in a move to shore up the city’s deteriorating economy after months of unrest. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority, which operates like a de facto central bank, said it would reduce the amount of capital lenders have to maintain. The move ...

Bloomberg French energy giant Total SA is spending $600 million to expand its presence in one of the world’s fastest-growing natural gas markets. Total agreed to purchase a 37.4% stake in India’s Adani Gas Ltd., a distributor of the fuel that’s developing import terminals and a national chain of vehicle-filling outlets. The deal gives the French company a footprint in ...

Bloomberg Apple Inc is seeing higher iPhone demand than it expected, thanks to two forces consumers find hard to resist: falling prices and the inevitable aging of older models. Since missing holiday sales targets last year, the company has cut some prices and offered more attractive trade-in deals. The iPhone 11 went on sale at $699 — $50 below the ...

Bloomberg Jeremy Corbyn’s promise to take UK privatised companies back into public ownership if his Labour Party wins power will cost almost $250 billion, according to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). In an analysis published on Monday, the business lobby said the 196 billion-pound cost of nationalising the energy, water and rail industries, plus the postal service, will push ...

Bloomberg Porsche is intensifying its battle against Tesla with the unveiling of $116,590 version of the electric Taycan that’s pitched at a similar price point to the top-line version of the US company’s Model S. The entry-level Taycan 4S is available for pre-orders now and will enter showrooms in early January, the Volkswagen AG brand said. The model follows Porsche’s ...

Bloomberg Volkswagen AG’s plan to review options for its Lamborghini supercar division marks a further step in Chief Executive Officer Herbert Diess’s campaign to transform the world’s biggest automaker and more than double its market value. The German manufacturer is weighing a potential sale or stock listing for the Italian brand, according to people familiar with the matter, as Diess ...

Bloomberg British financial advisers and pension managers face jail and increased fines under proposed legislation announced during the Queen’s Speech to mark the new parliamentary term. Penalties for the most serious offenses will carry a maximum sentence of seven years and a $1.26 million fine, according to a briefing note that accompanied a speech read by the Queen to UK ...

One word — “pathway” — is all it took to send the British pound rocketing against the US dollar. It had been a dire week in Brexit-land, with Boris Johnson’s do-or-die tactics failing to persuade the European Union (EU) to accept his new proposal on the Irish border. But suddenly came the surprising news that a meeting between the British ...

Big pieces of economic legislation tend to unleash the full power of unintended consequences. Consider Sarbanes-Oxley, the bipartisan law passed in 2002 in the wake of the accounting scandals at Enron Corp. and WorldCom Inc. It did what it was intended to do, which was ensure companies gave accurate accounts of their finances. But it has also led to debacles ...