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  Bloomberg China posted a 26th consecutive annual auto sales record with a month to spare, fueled by a cut in levy covering a large swathe of the industry. The lurking concern is that the streak may end if the tax break isn’t extended. With three weeks left until the tax break expires, the government has yet to indicate whether ...

  Bloomberg Nissan Motor Co., the Japanese automaker that’s become symbolic of what it means to be a truly global manufacturer, has a simple plan to navigate an unprecedented level of uncertainty around policy and regulation: focus on what’s in its control. “The regulations are not in our control, but what is in our control is that we stay competitive ...

  Bloomberg China’s crackdown on illegal steel mills, which has sent prices to two-year highs, would target about 6 percent of output in the nation’s biggest steel-making city of Tangshan, according to consultancy Mysteel Research. Tangshan’s total output of about 100 million metric tons — around an eighth of the nation’s supply — includes about 6 million tons of steel ...

  Bloomberg Japan unexpectedly cut its reading of third-quarter economic growth to an annualized 1.3 percent, from a preliminary estimate of 2.2 percent expansion. The revision was driven by drops in business spending and in private inventories. Meanwhile, the government’s projection for the overall size of the economy rose, thanks to changes in the way gross domestic product is calculated. ...

  Bloomberg Starbucks Corp. wants to persuade its coffee-loving customers to come back for lunch, after stumbling several times in previous attempts to expand its food offerings. The beverage chain is seeking to boost the food category to about 25 percent of total US sales, compared with 20 percent now, said Chief Operating Officer Kevin Johnson, who will take the ...

Bloomberg SunPower Corp. is following through with a planned restructuring effort that will reduce its workforce by 25 percent to cut costs after solar prices plunged in an oversupplied market. The second-biggest US panel-maker will cut 2,500 employees to reduce operating expenses next year to less than $350 million, San Jose, California-based company said in a statement. It’s closing a ...

  Bloomberg US health insurers signaled that they’re willing to give up a cornerstone provision of Obamacare that requires all Americans to have insurance, replacing it with a different set of incentives less loathed by Republicans who have promised to repeal the law. Known as the “individual mandate,” the rule was a major priority for the insurance industry when the ...

  Bloomberg Growth in UK home prices accelerated in November as the market overcame a stamp-duty surcharge and mortgage-approval rates picked up, though confidence slid to a three-year low. Values rose 6.6 percent in November from a year earlier, according to data published by mortgage lender Halifax. Prices were up 0.2 percent on the month, the third consecutive increase, pushing ...

  London / AFP Britain will ban junk food ads aimed at children from both print and social media from next year, the advertising rules watchdog said on Thursday, a move welcomed by campaigners against child obesity. The new rules, which come into effect in July 2017, extend an existing ban on television ads for “high fat, salt or sugar ...

  Aleppo / AFP President Bashar al-Assad said victory for his forces in Aleppo would be a “huge step” in ending Syria’s war, as government troops battled on Thursday to retake more rebel ground. Despite pleas from increasingly cornered opposition fighters, Western countries and the United Nations, Assad also rejected talk of a ceasefire in Aleppo. Repeated diplomatic efforts this week ...