Business

Under an early harvest arrangement, two trading partners significantly reduce or eliminate customs duties on a limited number of goods with a view to promoting trade.

Consulting and outsourcing services provider Accenture Plc raised its fullyear sales forecast and beat quarterly revenue estimates on Thursday, as an extended workfromhome period boosted its digital, cloud and security services.

Rio Tinto named Chief Financial Officer Jakob Stausholm as its next chief executive on Thursday, defying expectations it would pick an external candidate to repair its image after its destruction of sacred Aboriginal rock shelters.

Stocks rose to record highs around the world on Wednesday as drugmakers rolled out COVID19 vaccines and U.S. congressional leaders expressed optimism about a stimulus deal, with the upbeat mood dragging the safehaven dollar to 21/2 year lows.

Oil prices edged lower on Wednesday after a surprise gain in U.S. crude inventories and tighter coronavirus lockdowns in Europe but a weakening dollar and progress on the rollout of COVID19 vaccines offered support.

Honda is recalling over 1.4 million vehicles in the U.S. to fix drive shafts that can break, window switches that can overheat and a software flaw.

Oil prices rose 1% on Tuesday, as investors kept their focus on the rollout of coronavirus vaccines, looking past tightening of lockdowns in Europe and forecasts for a slowerthanexpected recovery in fuel demand.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson repeated on Tuesday that the most likely outcome of postBrexit trade talks with the European Union was no deal despite EU officials pointing to some, albeit slow, progress.

Indonesian motorbike driver unions for ridehailing and food delivery firms Grab and Gojek say they will kick off protests across the country if merger talks between the firms proceed without them, fearing it could result in mass job losses.

Lessor BOC Aviation Limited (BOCA) has asked a Malaysian court to dismiss AirAsia X Bhd's debt restructuring scheme as it rules out a debttoequity swap and gives too much power to Airbus as a creditor, an affidavit filed by a top BOCA executive shows.

Asian stocks drifted lower on Tuesday as worries about increasing COVID19 deaths and lockdowns overshadowed optimism about the rollout of coronavirus vaccinations.

Stocks that moved heavily or traded substantially Monday:

Benchmark U.S. crude oil for January delivery rose 42 cents to $46.99 a barrel Monday. Brent crude oil for February delivery rose 32 cents to $50.29 a barrel.

Huntington Bank will absorb Detroit's TCF Financial in an allstock deal worth $6 billion, the latest in a string of tieups that have led to a crop of new and larger U.S. regional banks.

Consumer packaged goods giant Unilever Plc said on Monday it would seek shareholder approval on its plans to tackle climate change, making it the world's largest company to put such a move up for a vote.

Gold prices dipped on Monday as COVID19 vaccine rollouts lifted riskier assets, overshadowing hopes for further U.S. fiscal and monetary stimulus.