Asian stocks were set for a fairly muted open following modest US gains on Friday amid thin trading as investors kept their focus on economic data and an expected Federal Reserve interest-rate cut.

Popular with individual investors, fixed-maturity funds are hoovering up the debt of big companies, reducing borrowing costs but obscuring repayment risk.

EQT AB and CVC Asia Pacific Ltd. scrapped talks with AUB Group Ltd. about a possible takeover offer that had valued the Australian insurance broker at around A$5.2 billion ($3.4 billion).

OPEC+ will stick with plans to pause production increases during the first quarter, amid growing signs of a surplus in global oil markets.

Italy’s Borromeo family is listing a company managing real estate sites including a group of islands on Lake Maggiore, aiming to turn the area into a tourism and business hub to rival nearby Lake Como.

OPEC+ set out its methodology for a sweeping review of how much members will be capable of pump in years ahead, turning to a consultant that once audited the reserves of Saudi Aramco.

As the US options market heads for a sixth straight year of record volume, some of the best-known names in the industry are growing nervous about its over-reliance on a small group of banks to guarantee trades for the biggest market makers.

Global bond investors are beginning to view select emerging markets as safer than many far richer nations, a momentous shift that’s setting the stage for the next phase of outperformance in the asset class.

Switzerland voted to reject a 50% inheritance tax on super-rich residents after wealthy entrepreneurs threatened to leave the country.

Australian home prices extended gains in November as demand continued to outstrip supply, a dynamic that could add to inflation pressures and keep the country’s central bank from cutting interest rates further.

OPEC+ is gathering to assess global oil markets on Sunday, with the producers still on track to pause supply increases in the first quarter amid growing signs of a surplus.

In the ranks of the world’s 20 best-performing stock markets this year, every second index is European.

Hong Kong’s government moved to stamp out mounting public anger in the wake of the city’s deadliest fire in nearly eight decades, which left at least 146 people dead and raised questions about missed warnings.

At the Bloomberg Africa Business Summit, influential leaders, investors, and innovators gathered to discuss the forces reshaping the continent’s economic future. From policy shifts and technology breakthroughs to sustainability, finance and trade partnerships, Jennifer Zabasajja brings you key insights and exclusive conversations with the people driving Africa’s next era of growth, including African Rainbow Minerals' Patrice Motsepe, Rand Merchant Bank's Emrie Brown, Egypt's Hassan El Khatib, Standard Chartered's Benjamin Hung and South Africa's Ronald Lamola. (Source: Bloomberg)

China’s factory activity improved but remained in contraction in November, extending its streak of declines to a record as the country’s economic slowdown deepens.

Japan’s Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said it is “clear” that volatile yen swings aren’t “moving based on fundamentals,” in the latest expression of the government’s frustration over the currency.

After one of India’s worst years of market underperformance in decades, some of the biggest names on Wall Street are calling for a rebound.

Several Barrick Mining Corp. employees, who had been detained in Mali for more than a year, were released this week as part of a deal with the government, the company’s legal representative in the country said.

A euro-zone inflation reading that’s likely to stay close to 2% should be enough to satisfy officials that they can avoid tweaking interest rates in December.

Italy’s Finance Ministry said it acted in compliance with rules and procedures in Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA’s purchase of rival Mediobanca, as the deal faces a probe by prosecutors.

President Emmanuel Macron will meet his counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Paris on Monday for discussions about the conditions for a “fair and lasting peace” in Ukraine, the French presidency said.

With bonus season just a few months away, corporate bond traders are one of the few groups on Wall Street expected to see their overall compensation slip for this year.

The Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which handles most of Kazakhstan’s crude exports through Russia to the Black Sea, halted loading after one of its three moorings was damaged amid overnight Ukrainian attacks in the region.

A Japanese singer was forced to stop her performance in Shanghai on Friday as the fallout from Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks on Taiwan continues to sour ties between Asia’s two largest economies.

The searing rally across South African assets this year risks running out of steam unless economic growth picks up enough to make a dent in the nation’s sky-high unemployment rate.

The Chinese government will inspect fire risks in high-rise buildings after the deadly blaze in Hong Kong earlier this week, according to a statement posted Saturday on the Ministry of Emergency Management’s website.

Micron Technology Inc. will spend ¥1.5 trillion ($9.6 billion) to build a plant in western Japan to make memory chips for artificial intelligence applications, Nikkei newspaper reported.

Daniel Vorcaro, the controlling shareholder of the failed Banco Master SA, was released from custody on a Brazilian judge’s order that requires him to wear an ankle monitor.

Ukraine’s security service claimed strikes on two ocean-going tankers sanctioned for carrying Russian oil, which were hit by blasts off Turkey’s Black Sea coast over the past day.

This video was updated to correct spelling of the guest’s name at 1:02 and 3:49 Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades has intensified scrutiny of the city’s safety inspection system. It has also put the focus on Hong Kong’s iconic bamboo scaffolding. Huang Xinyan, Associate Professor in the Department of Building Environment and Energy Engineering at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Anwar Orabi from the School of Civil Engineering at the University of Queensland, joined Insight with Haslinda Amin to discuss this. (Source: Bloomberg)