Our Business News

BEIJING Growth in China’s factory output and retail sales jumped to eight-month highs in November as consumer inflation bounced off 33-month lows in the latest sign that its economy is snapping out of a protracted slump. Analysts said Sunday’s data showed China is enjoying an enviable mix of benign inflation and rebounding economic growth that allows Beijing to stand still on monetary and fiscal policies, or switch to an easier stance if needed. “The Chinese economy is now in a sweet spot and can stay in the sweet spot through the first half of 2013,” said Ting Lu, an economist [...]

BEIJING China’s official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index rose to a seven-month high of 50.6 in November from 50.2 in October, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Saturday. The headline figure is in line with an economist poll by Reuters this week, and confirms a trend toward recovering growth in the world’s second-largest economy. A PMI reading below 50 suggests growth slowed, while a number above 50 indicates accelerating growth. While growth accelerated for large firms for the third month in a row, medium and smaller companies saw a retrenchment, with the decline more pronounced for the smaller firms, the [...]

STORY HIGHLIGHTS Bangladesh mourns the deaths of more than 100 workers killed in a factory fire Wal-Mart, C&A and other brands placed orders with factory Campaigners say worker safety put at risk by opaque global supply chains Brands moving production from China in pursuit of cheap labor Hong Kong — As Bangladesh mourns the death of more than 100 workers killed in a factory fire over the weekend, attention is turning to the labels found among the charred debris and what role they could have played in preventing the worst industrial disaster in the country’s history. The factory, owned by [...]

The output of the nation’s factories, mines and utilities fell unexpectedly in October as Hurricane Sandy held down production in the Northeast, the Federal Reserve said Friday. Production fell 0.4% in October, the Fed said. The hurricane reduced total output by nearly 1%, the central bank estimated. October’s results were well below Wall Street’s expectations of a 0.2% increase. September production was revised down to a 0.2% increase from the initial estimate of a 0.4% gain.

BEIJING China’s annual industrial output growth quickened more than expected in October and fixed asset investment also ticked higher, cementing investors’ expectations of a modest rebound in the final three months of 2012. The data, key barometers of both domestic activity and output from China’s export-oriented factory sector, offered further evidence that a cyclical recovery gained strength last month after the world’s second largest economy suffered the slowest period of growth since early 2009 in the third quarter. “October industrial output growth beat market expectations and confirmed a recovery trend,” said Jiang Chao, an analyst at Guotai Junan Securities in [...]

Factory orders rebounded 4.8% in September, almost completely reversing a drop in the prior month, the Commerce Department reported Friday. The gain was very close to expectations. Economists polled by MarketWatch had forecast a 4.7% rise. Orders in August were revised up slightly to a 5.1% fall from an initially reported 5.2% decline. In September, orders for non-durable goods rose 1.0%. Shipments rose 0.8% while inventories increased 0.3%. Durable goods were revised to a 9.8% gain from 9.9% reported last week. The gain in durable-orders was largely due to a rebound in bookings for commercial aircraft. Orders for non-aircraft, non-defense [...]

Demand for U.S. factory goods rose in September by the most in over a year, although a gauge of business investment plans pointed to lackluster momentum in the economic recovery despite a slight upward revision. New orders for manufactured goods climbed 4.8 percent, the Commerce Department said on Friday. That was just higher than analysts’ expectations and the biggest gain since March 2011. The increase was driven by a sharp gain in volatile aircraft orders that was telegraphed in last week’s report on orders for long-lasting manufactured goods. Excluding transportation, orders rose 1.4 percent in September. Manufacturing has been a [...]

TOKYO Almost a quarter of Japanese manufacturers are rethinking their investment plans in China and some may shift future production elsewhere after the spike in tensions between Asia’s two largest economies. The sentiments were expressed in a Reuters Corporate Survey released on Wednesday and in interviews conducted in recent weeks with executives in industries ranging from electronics to apparel manufacturing. The concerns suggest the recent rift between China and Japan over disputed islands in the East China Sea could mark the end of a boom that has played out over two decades in which Japanese companies have emerged as the [...]

BRUSSELS Output at euro zone factories grew much more than expected in August, helped by summer demand for food and French car production, but industry’s apparent resilience is unlikely to be enough to avoid a recession in the indebted region this year. Industrial production in the 17 countries sharing the euro rose 0.6 percent in August from July, the EU’s statistics office Eurostat said on Friday, beating expectations of a 0.4 percent fall forecast by economists in a Reuters poll. That was lifted by a strong showing in France and Italy, which along with Germany make up around two thirds [...]

HONG KONG Foxconn Technology Group shares were lower on Monday amid reports of labor problems at a Chinese assembly plant that makes Apple’s latest iPhone. The Taiwanese company said in a weekend statement that there had been two recent disputes between employees but no work stoppages at its Zhengzhou plant in China’s central Henan province. Foxconn said it had taken steps to address disputes that took place last Monday and Tuesday involving a few production line workers and quality assurance personnel. However, China’s state-run Xinhua news agency in a Saturday report said there had been a work stoppage at the [...]